Retired Canadian Suffers Stroke
Paul Dalrymple
Ex-champ in comeback at hospital
By JIM KERNAGHAN -- London Free Press
Former Canadian heavyweight boxing champion James J. Parker is on the
comeback trail and he looks pretty good under the circumstances.
He hasn't fought in nearly 40 years, after all. And he's 73. Worse, he
can't throw a right cross now.
But he's back in training of sorts at Parkwood Hospital after suffering a
stroke at his Lakeland, Fla., home and the man who made some arcane fistic
history, not to mention a bit of criminal history, is looking to fight his
way back through rehab at Parkwood. It isn't easy.
You could see the determination as he accompanied a visitor to the
elevators yesterday, pushing with his left foot while pulling on a railing
with his left hand. If somebody sanctions a wheelchair race, my money is on
Parker.
"Physically, he's strong," brother Lyle said. "Communication is not but
they're working on it."
Parker's lack of verbal skills clearly bothers him. This is a guy who could
charm the birds from the trees -- or the pigeons from their savings -- in a
lifestyle he abandoned years ago in a complete turnaround of his life.
It has been some life. The Canadian champ who knocked out 70 of 81
opponents came under the influence of the mob at his New Jersey training
site. Manager Honest Bill Daley was linked to the two men who controlled
boxing in that '50s era, Blinky Palermo and Frankie Carbo, and there were
fights Parker was told beforehand "It ain't your night, kid."
Part of fistic lore is a fight that will never be seen in the record books.
It was Canada's last bare-knuckle bout and it took place in Joey Bagnato's
Toronto boxing club before a mob of gamblers, rounders and gangsters. It's
one of those stories that grows in the telling and the myth has Parker and
Toronto brawler Baldy Chard going at it for hours.
"Somebody said we fought 59 straight minutes," Parker recalled a couple of
years ago. "Somebody else said he timed us at 44 minutes. We almost killed
each other. I had no respect for Baldy. But he might have been the toughest
guy in the world."
Nobody won. Some of the onlookers jumped in and separated the torn and
bloody combatants before they killed each other.
"Joey had the club in an old dynamite factory," Toronto promoter Vince
Bagnato said yesterday. "They locked the doors. Jimmy knocked Baldy down and
some of his gang jumped in to help him up and Jimmy's guys told them to get
the hell out of there. One of Baldy's guys pulls a gun and Johnny Barrazza
goes over and tells him where he's gonna stuff it and takes it off him. It
was a helluva night."
One of Parker's most memorable bouts was with light-heavyweight champ
Archie Moore in Toronto. Parker was stopped on a ninth-round technical
knockout. There were suggestions he tanked it. He says the only setup was
Daley's insistence Moore was out of shape and to stay away for several
rounds but Moore was never in better condition.
One can never say how close Parker will get to his old self. It should be
said that as comebacks go, the one he once made was among the most
remarkable. After his boxing career, he become an accomplished fraud artist,
once taking several banks for $87,000 in four days.
He went from a provincial jail to the old London jail in August 1967 and
released on Christmas Eve. He never drank, or got in trouble, again.
The body's not working well right now but some things never change.
Parker's smile, as he bade goodbye, could still light up a cathedral.
Boxingnut
Boxingnut