oming.

Garza was handled by John Montes Sr. and Bennie Georgino (who curiously also handled "Little Red" Lopez) and threw lightening fast combinations punctuated with lethal hooks. If hit squarely, most of his opponents would go; in fact, 30 went in less than three. He was undefeated and ready to achieve superstar status.

As for Juan "Kid" Meza (whose trainer was Jimmy Montoya), two years before, the Mexicali native h

On Saturday, November 13, 1984, highly touted Jaime Garza was scheduled to meet cagey Juan “Kid” Meza in the main event at the Mid Town Neighborhood Center in Kingston, NY. Meza was a distinct 5-1 underdog to the 40-0 heavy puncher from Southern Californian who was being compared to Danny "Little Red" Lopez for his full throttle offense, porous defense, and ability to come off the canvas and put his opponent out. In fact, Garza won his title some 17 months before by coming off the floor in typical "Little Red" fashion to knock out Bobby Berna in two and take the belt vacated by the legendary Wilfredo Gomez. I was well ensconced in my den in Boston, with friends, beverage and cigars, ready for action as the fight was being aired on CBS with Gil Clancy and Sugar Ray Leonard at the mikes. But as usual, I'm getting ahead of myself.

The referee for this fight was Johnny Lo Bianco. The judges were Carol Castellano, Luis Rivera, and Bernie Freidkin. Everyone sensed their work would be brief since both fighters had an astonishing 75 KO’s on their combined resumes. Garza, was 40-0, with 38 knockouts (13 in the first round). "Kid" Meza, from Los Angeles, by way of Mexicali, was 49-9, with 37 KO’s. Both men scaled 121 ? lbs. Knockout was the operative word this night. While Kid Meza had never been knocked off his feet, most experts felt the heavy handed Garza would do the trick.

But first, the limited but game Billy Costello, 140, of Kingston defended his WBC super lightweight title against tough but too old Saul Mamby in the co-feature and won a UD. Since this was Billy's home town, there was considerable interest in the card which also included Wilford Scypion. Little did the fans know what was coming.

Garza was handled by John Montes Sr. and Bennie Georgino (who curiously also handled "Little Red" Lopez) and threw lightening fast combinations punctuated with lethal hooks. If hit squarely, most of his opponents would go; in fact, 30 went in less than three. He was undefeated and ready to achieve superstar status.

As for Juan "Kid" Meza (whose trainer was Jimmy Montoya), two years before, the Mexicali native ha

won his title some 17 months before by coming off the floor in typical "Little Red" fashion to knock out Bobby Berna in two and take the belt vacated by the legendary Wilfredo Gomez. I was well ensconced in my den in Boston, with friends, beverage and cigars, ready for action as the fight was being aired on CBS with Gil Clancy and Sugar Ray Leonard at the mikes. But as usual, I'm getting ahead of myself.

The referee for this fight was Johnny Lo Bianco. The judges were Carol Castellano, Luis Rivera, and Bernie Freidkin. Everyone sensed their work would be brief since both fighters had an astonishing 75 KO’s on their combined resumes. Garza, was 40-0, with 38 knockouts (13 in the first round). "Kid" Meza, from Los Angeles, by way of Mexicali, was 49-9, with 37 KO’s. Both men scaled 121 ? lbs. Knockout was the operative word this night. While Kid Meza had never been knocked off his feet, most experts felt the heavy handed Garza would do the trick.

But first, the limited but game Billy Costello, 140, of Kingston defended his WBC super lightweight title against tough but too old Saul Mamby in the co-feature and won a UD. Since this was Billy's home town, there was considerable interest in the card which also included Wilford Scypion. Little did the fans know what was coming.

Garza was handled by John Montes Sr. and Bennie Georgino (who curiously also handled "Little Red" Lopez) and threw lightening fast combinations punctuated with lethal hooks. If hit squarely, most of his opponents would go; in fact, 30 went in less than three. He was undefeated and ready to achieve superstar status.

As for Juan "Kid" Meza (whose trainer was Jimmy Montoya), two years before, the Mexicali native h

this fight was Johnny Lo Bianco. The judges were Carol Castellano, Luis Rivera, and Bernie Freidkin. Everyone sensed their work would be brief since both fighters had an astonishing 75 KO’s on their combined resumes. Garza, was 40-0, with 38 knockouts (13 in the first round). "Kid" Meza, from Los Angeles, by way of Mexicali, was 49-9, with 37 KO’s. Both men scaled 121 ? lbs. Knockout was the operative word this night. While Kid Meza had never been knocked off his feet, most experts felt the heavy handed Garza would do the trick.

But first, the limited but game Billy Costello, 140, of Kingston defended his WBC super lightweight title against tough but too old Saul Mamby in the co-feature and won a UD. Since this was Billy's home town, there was considerable interest in the card which also included Wilford Scypion. Little did the fans know what was coming.

Garza was handled by John Montes Sr. and Bennie Georgino (who curiously also handled "Little Red" Lopez) and threw lightening fast combinations punctuated with lethal hooks. If hit squarely, most of his opponents would go; in fact, 30 went in less than three. He was undefeated and ready to achieve superstar status.

As for Juan "Kid" Meza (whose trainer was Jimmy Montoya), two years before, the Mexicali native h

eza had never been knocked off his feet, most experts felt the heavy handed Garza would do the trick.

But first, the limited but game Billy Costello, 140, of Kingston defended his WBC super lightweight title against tough but too old Saul Mamby in the co-feature and won a UD. Since this was Billy's home town, there was considerable interest in the card which also included Wilford Scypion. Little did the fans know what was coming.

Garza was handled by John Montes Sr. and Bennie Georgino (who curiously also handled "Little Red" Lopez) and threw lightening fast combinations punctuated with lethal hooks. If hit squarely, most of his opponents would go; in fact, 30 went in less than three. He was undefeated and ready to achieve superstar status.

As for Juan "Kid" Meza (whose trainer was Jimmy Montoya), two years before, the Mexicali native h

oming.

Garza was handled by John Montes Sr. and Bennie Georgino (who curiously also handled "Little Red" Lopez) and threw lightening fast combinations punctuated with lethal hooks. If hit squarely, most of his opponents would go; in fact, 30 went in less than three. He was undefeated and ready to achieve superstar status.

As for Juan "Kid" Meza (whose trainer was Jimmy Montoya), two years before, the Mexicali native had fought well before being stopped in the sixth by the legendary Wilfredo Gomez. After losing that fight, he took off for a year. During this time, Gomez left the championship vacant to challenge for the Featherweight crown. Garza won the vacant championship by knocking out the aforementioned Berna. Meanwhile, Meza worked his way back into title contention with wins over Roberto Castillo (KO 8), Pongpan Sorphayathai (20-1) whom he ko' d in three in Thailand and two 10-round decisions over Javier Barajas. The "Kid" also was a quick starter with 21 of his 31 knockouts ending in less than three rounds.

Earlier in his career, Meza made his first noticeable mark when he knocked out Carlos Ortiz in one in 1977 avenging an earlier loss. He won 29 of his next 31 bouts, earning a following on the West Coast. Included in those 31 fights were a ten-round decision over Carlos Mendoza in 1981as part of the Gomez-Sanchez under card in Las Vegas, and a 9th round knockout over Antonio Guido as part of the Bentize-Duran under card in 1982. He was then ranked the number one challenger to Wilfredo Gomez's WBC world Super-Bantamweight title. By then, informed boxing people knew that Juan "Kid" Meza was never to be taken lightly. Nor, of course, was Jamie Garza who had 23 straight stoppages coming into this fight. Which brings us to November 13, 1984

As the bell rang,Meza reached out to touch gloves, but Garza was having none of it and kept his hands up ready to fight. Clearly, there was no love lost as there had been an altercation at breakfast between the two.They came out immediately winging and trading hooks. In this case, the old adage "never hook with a hooker" did not apply, for both fighters were deadly