Racine a boxing legend
More than 43 years ago, boxer Hilmer Kenty pounded out a hard-fought decision over Niagara Falls native Ralph Racine at Olympia Stadium in Detroit.
No one had to remind the 67-year-old Kenty about the bout.
“Remember Ralph Racine? How could I forget. Ralph put me on the canvas twice,” Kenty told St. Catharines Boxing Club coach Joe Corrigan in a phone conversation a month ago.
Thirteen months after beating Racine, Kenty defeated Ernesto España by TKO to capture the World Boxing Association lightweight championship. He finished his career with a 30-1 record and successfully defended his world title three times.
Corrigan was hoping to have Kenty attend the Niagara Legends Boxing Show on Friday, March 10 at the Merritton Community Centre but Kenty was unable to attend.
That night, Racine, St. Catharines Boxing Club coaches John Robertson and Paul Zahra, Napper’s Boxing Club coach Julia Dimarcantonio and Steeltown Boxing Club founder and coach Bob Wilcox will be inducted as Niagara Boxing Legends.
Racine had a highly successful pro career, compiling a 28-9-1 record with 19 knockouts, but his career was cut short after a May 7, 1980 loss to Gaetan Hart in a Canadian title fight at Paul Sauve Arena in Montreal. Then 24, Racine was ahead on points in the 12th round when the ref stopped the fight after he was punched in the head a number of times. Racine was still on his feet but he went to his corner and collapsed. He needed emergency surgery to remove a blood clot in his brain. He was in a coma for three or four days and it took awhile before he regained consciousness.
“I came close to dying and I didn’t remember too much at the time,” the 66-year-old Niagara Falls native said. “I didn’t even remember that I had fought.”
He had regrets about how his boxing career ended but there was no why me?
“Being through all the different experiences at the hospital, I saw young people like myself permanently paralyzed in different accidents and I thought to myself ‘Man. Don’t complain about nothing. You are luckier that shit.’ ”
His positive attitude is something others might not have had but he had plenty of support.
“I had my family. You don’t realize how lucky you are until something happens. Your family stays with you.”
Racine had a love-hate relationship with the sport.
“Sometimes I loved it when I went out there against a good fighter and knocked him out. It was a great feeling. But then you would go out there in your next fight and wind up getting hurt, lose a decision or get stopped. That wasn’t as much fun. When you lose, you are by yourself. You lose alone.”
When he returned to Niagara Falls after the injury, a Ralph Racine day was held at Oakes Park in Niagara Falls and $25,000 was raised on his behalf.
The City of Niagara Falls ended up employing Racine as a cemetery worker.
“He finally has to go on disability for safety issues because the (brain) injury,” brother Paul Racine said.
Ralph started boxing when he was 14 when his father, Florent (Frenchie) Racine took him into the garage and started showing him to how to hit a heavy bag. It was in response to Ralph being small and there was a bully living in the neighbourhood.
“I started doing it and eventually I did OK. I did a bunch of that and I turned amateur.”
He began his training at Davis Hall in Fonthill and then moved to Singers Gym at North Division and Washington Streets in Buffalo.
“The fellow who owned the gym, Johnny Sudak, liked me a lot and he took over from there. I liked it there too so I stayed and improved myself with a lot of working out which I didn’t mind.”
As an amateur he won a Golden Gloves title in Buffalo and numerous fights in Southern Ontario.
“Eventually, I decided to turn professional and see how I could do there.”
Fighting out of Singers Gym, he had a hard time getting his first pro fight.
“I wasn’t well-known at the time and I went almost a whole year where all I was doing was training. We were thinking it wasn’t very good until finally I had a few fights and did pretty good. I fought in Winnipeg and did well. They took to me and it was almost like a hometown to me.”
Some of the other venues for his fights were Madison Square Gardens, the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, the Forum in Montreal, the Felt Forum in New York, Long Island Arena, the CNE Coliseum, Public Hall in Cleveland, War Memorial Auditorium in Utica, N.Y., the War Memorial Auditorium in Syracuse, N.Y.
Racine is thrilled to be named a Niagara Boxing Legend.
“It is an honour to have something like this going on and it’s well-known. People hear about you and it’s nice,” the Buffalo Boxing Hall of Fame member said.
Tickets for the boxing show, which starts at 7:30 p.m., are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. For more information about tickets, purchasing VIP tables or sponsoring the event call 905-988-1244 or email the club at stcatharinesboxingclub@yahoo.ca
Several St. Catharines Boxing Club members will be fighting on the card, including current Ontario senior open champion Dennis Steingart. Also scheduled to fight are Gavin Freel, Dylan Maisonneuve, Omar Nori, Riley Willis, Kyle Dickson, Josh Erb and Phoenix Young-Lazo.
