Posted on: Friday, April 2, 2004
Fernandez was lord of ring in Hawai'i
| • | Fernandez was 'greatest' of his time |
By Ferd Lewis
Advertier Columnist
Imagine a stadium in Honolulu seating 60,000 fans. Then, picture filling it to overflowing for a boxing card and you have a modern-day glimpse of what Frankie Fernandez once meant to sports here.
Fernandez's death Wednesday, one day before his 85th birthday, recalls a time when boxing was in its war-a-week heyday here and the former world welterweight contender was its homegrown pied piper.
While the debate can rage on about who was Hawai'i's greatest fighter, there is little doubting who was its premier gate attraction.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Fernandez's rock 'em-or-get-rocked style in a 29-8-1 (17 knockouts) pro career attracted fans in huge numbers.
The 20,189 that turned out to watch Bernard Docusen pound out a 10-round decision over Fernandez in 1949 at Honolulu Stadium remains the largest paid crowd to see a boxing match here. For the population of the day, it would be the rough equivalent of about 60,000 showing up now.
It was one of four crowds in excess of 12,000 that turned out for his fights between 1947 and '49, according to Hawai'i State Boxing Commission records. The gate receipts for the Docusen fight, $56,500, remained a state record for nearly 20 years.
"The fans wanted blood and you had to spill a little to get anywhere in the fight game, that's why I turned slugger, quick," Fernandez once said.
Adjusted for inflation, Fernandez's purse for five local bouts in 1948 would have been worth nearly $250,000 in today's dollars.
"He was a tremendous drawing card because, when he fought, you knew something was gonna happen," said Bobby Lee, a former executive of the Hawai'i State Boxing Commission.
"He was durable, tough and an action fighter," said Herbert Minn, whose University Gym Fernandez often trained in.
Yet, for all of his success, fans of the day were left to wonder how far Fernandez might have really gone because Fernandez, a lineman for Hawaiian Electric by day, didn't turn pro until he was 26, and had a succession of managers.
Four years after his pro debut, a 10th-round demolition of Tommy Bell, who had gone the distance with Kid Gavilan, Sugar Ray Robinson and Jake LaMotta, earned Fernandez the position of No. 2 world contender to Robinson.
But for all the big fights Fernandez had, the local dream matchup, Fernandez vs. Sugar Ray, never came off.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.
