I think he was about 12 maybe 13 years old. It seemed a long time had passed and one day after a bout, Diego came over to me and said Hey Rocky, it really does sound wierd when you plug your ears when hail hits you! It sounds wierd in the shower to! It took a few minutes for me to understand what he meant, but when he took off his headgear, he was pretty close to being bald. Probably a fad the guys go thru. After that we became pretty good pals. An Ice Breaker I guess.
Some time later on, I remember a boxing club from Stockton, or somewhere would come in and spar the Sacramento boys. Me being white, older, and a bald guy must have made them wonder who I was. I got lots of hard looks from these guys and I felt pretty uneasy.
Chico must of saw what was going on so he walked over to the guys and talked to them for quite awhile. It wasn’t much later that 3 or 4 boys at a time came up to me and shook my hand, gave me their names, and were quite friendly!!!! Before leaving the gym that night I asked Chico; Hey Chico, what did you say to the Stockton boys?
I thought they were going to mob me or somethng! Diego said, Oh, I told them you were a cool dude and when it hailed, you would stand outside and let it hit you on your head, and that was a sign of a Bad Dude! He would always pat me on the head and it would bring him good luck! The boxing Club and I became good buddies.
Whenever or wherever we met we would give the old handshake and hug. Little did Diego know that he was being a good example to his club and to all those he met. Deigo was always kind and respectul in his manner to me and my boys. He was a good boy -- R. Twitchell Sr.
In most boxing gyms across the world a student walks in the gym with visions of becoming a Golden Gloves Champion or an Olympic Champion and best yet a World Champion. Hours of hard training, traveling long distances to fight for only 9 minutes it all adds up to a positive experience for some and or negative experience for very many.
When I first met Diego at the Sacramento PAL boxing gym he was just a young boy and I was a grown man. We had a lot of boxers come and go. Bruised ego's ,broken noses, black eyes, boxer complaining that "training is too hard" or " I would rather have a girlfriend" was usually the reasons many would pack their gym bag and disappear. But not Diego. His tenor as a young man was coming to an end.
I do recall one day training in the gym,Diego's father approached me and asked me to spar the then young Diego Corrales. I was going to be his sparring partner for an upcoming Blue & Gold Tournament is So. Cal. As I prepared for sparring and was getting warmed up and making adjustments' to my gloves and headgear, Diego's mother approached me and told me to go easy on Diego and promise not to bust his nose, or hurt him in anyway.
Talk about pressure, Previously I wasn't nervous preparing to spar, but I was now.! I told myself to be extra careful, let him get the best of me. Olga was ringside making sure all was going to go as planned. I remember I was shadow boxing in the ring , ready to rumble. I looked at Diego he was nervous too…
I looked over to Olga standing ringside....I became even more nervous. The buzzer rang and we began our sparring session. I recall the 1st round went very well. I blocked and parried most everything Diego threw at me. I worked a lot of defense. Ray whispered in my ear " Ok round 2 ,turn it up Rock, don't cradle him any more" I looked over at Olga glaring up at me from ringside. The ropes in the boxing ring serve several purposes, to keep boxers in and keep loving mothers out!!!!
The buzzer rang and I worked defense. Midway through round 2 I heard Ray say " Come on Rock, turn it up don't cradle him" So I let a few left jabs out and threw a power right cross that made contact with Diego's nose and stopped Diego in his tracks. Diego reacted by covering up and his face with both gloves and then noticed the blood dripping on the laces of his gloves. Olga jumped up on the ring apron and exclaimed " RAY.......ROCKY !!!!! " I remember my immediate thought " I will never hear the end of this…how I beat up Olga's little Chico.......busted his nose and made him bleed, I'm a dead man " Ray stopped the sparring and tended to Diego's busted nose and Olga stood ringside and consoled Chico.
The buzzer ended Round 2 and I thought for sure Olga would yell "pack your gym bag old man and go home." Olga would never want me around here ever again. The Round 3 buzzer sounded and Ray motioned for us to continue. What? Its not over? I looked at Olga , if looks could kill ,boy did I want to go home !!! Ray yelled " LETS GO !!! " Olga screamed " Ray ,NO !!!!!!" We touched gloves and finished round 3. I looked over to Ray then looked over to Olga still standing on the edge of the Ring.....glaring at Diego and glaring at me...…Ray calmly exclaimed " Diego needed that Rock ,boxing is tough, Diego just took a step up in the boxing world" Diego went down to that Blue & Gold Tournament and won his Division.
It was that Tournament that changed Diego from a young man to a grown man. From that point on Diego was no longer a normal boxer. Many sparring partners got pulverized ,out gunned and bruised every time they stepped into the ring. One of those sparring partners was me !!!!!Diego found that Championship aura. His attitude determined his altitude. He won Championship after Championship. Many obstacles were placed in Diego's way but with true Championship spirit ,will and zest for life, Diego over came them and became a World Champion ! I was glad to be a part of that self discovery Diego made when I bloodied his nose and he gathered himself and went on to be a World Class Warrior Rocky Jr.,
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