‘Golden Boy’ Recalls Boos Fondly but Not This Loss

Long before Los Angeles’ present-day Golden Boy, Oscar De La Hoya, was born, the city had the original Golden Boy.

He was Art Aragon, a welterweight boxer who probably filled the Olympic Auditorium in the 1950s more than anyone else. Aragon, like De La Hoya, was booed often, even when he wasn’t fighting.

“One time I took a beautiful broad to an Olympic fight, sat down in the first row, and the booing was so bad they had to stop the fight to get everyone calmed down,” he recalled. “I loved it when they booed me.”

Forty-five years ago tonight, Aragon was matched against Vince Martinez of Paterson, N.J., the 2-1 favorite.

Martinez, before 17,158 at old Gilmore Field, cut Aragon over both eyes early and scored an easy decision win. Aragon, now 71 and a Van Nuys bail bondsman, was asked about the fight recently.

“I’ve spent 45 years trying to forget it,” he said.

There have been better Los Angeles fighters than Aragon, but none who could fill a reporter’s notebook the way he could.

In 1988, at 60, he won a paternity suit. During the trial, his attorney proclaimed: “Your honor, it is not possible for Mr. Aragon to have been the father of this woman’s child.”

Aragon stood up and quipped: “Your honor, I want a second opinion.”

In 1958, after a bad beating by Carmen Basilio, he reflected on his $104,000 purse, the biggest of his career.

“When I started fighting in 1944, I was broke,” he said. “Now I get a $104,000 purse and I owe my two ex-wives $200,000.”

Also on this date: In 1941, New York’s Joe DiMaggio, before 52,832 at Yankee Stadium, hit safely in both ends of a doubleheader to tie Willie Keeler’s hitting-streak record at 44 games.