THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 27, 1994 TAG: 9407260130
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, BEACON SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
GROWING UP in the streets of New York City, Richard Mendez had to fight for spending money.
So Mendez and many of his southside Bronx buddies made weekly trips into Chinatown with one objective - bust some heads for cash.
This was not pure thuggery. Fights were actually somewhat organized, and Mendez gained quite a bit of experience.
But with no formal training and little desire to pursue such a career, Mendez went on to earn a degree in merchandising and marketing from the Parsons School of Design. From there, he was off to Richmond to work in the car business and from there, to the general manager position at Rowe Nissan.
Still, the desire to fight burned.
Thursday at Club Rogue's, Mendez, 34, will either put out the flames or throw another log on the fire when he does battle in his first fight sanctioned by a state's organizing athletic commission.
Mendez will face an as-yet unnamed opponent in a three-round amateur kickboxing bout.
``I'm not nervous at all,'' said Mendez, who has kept himself in pretty good shape since his street days by running and working out.
``I'm really looking forward to this. If I get my butt kicked too bad, this will just be something to get it out of my system. If I do well, I can see myself fighting every now and then.''
Mendez fought often as a youth, sometimes five or six fights in a weekend.
``These were social clubs, not gangs, and we'd get together and hold fights,'' he remembered. ``We used gloves and foot pads. You put money into a pot to get into the fights and the winners split it. I made a few hundred dollars a weekend - sometimes more, sometimes less. . . . ''
In Mendez's neighborhood, it was a good idea to have a little fight knowledge.
``You had to be able to protect yourself,'' he said. ``One of our friends was a black belt in karate, and we all started training with him. We learned quite a bit from him, but I've never taken any real lessons in karate, kickboxing or boxing. It's just something I grew up doing.''
The 5-foot-11, 192-pound Mendez wasn't just a fighter in high school. He was a swimmer and diver, competing in the backstroke and butterfly with enough skills to get him into the AAU Junior Olympics.
Mendez regained the fighting bug recently while attending cards at local bars.
``Some of us went to see some of these fights,'' he said. ``It was like, damn, I want to fight again. I can take any of these amateur kickboxers.
``So here I am, back in the ring. It's a good way to let out frustration and once you fight, you always want to stay with it. So we'll give it a shot and see how it goes. I don't have anybody working my corner or anything, but I won't be alone. A bunch of the people here at Rowe will be there.''
Mendez's fight will be one of several preliminaries in a double-main event card.
In one of the headliners, three-time world kickboxing champion Curtis Bush will face Kevin Hall in a 10-round middleweight bout. Bush is the U.S. Boxing Association's Intercontinental middleweight champion and the International Boxing Federation's No. 1-ranked intercontinental middleweight.
As a boxer, Bush is 10-3-1 with nine knockouts. Hall, also of Virginia Beach, is 8-1.
The other main event will feature Virginia Beach's Tom Dailing against Jimmy Williams of Fort Bragg, N.C., in a 12-round heavyweight Pan American Challenge match.
Dailing, 5-0 as a professional, has fought more than 200 amateur bouts. Williams is 18-2.
Other local favorites expected to fight include Brian Rogers, Gregg Gallop, Jimmy Lobsack, Donnie Pulley, Bernese Barber, Ricky Butts, Dorin Spivey and Sam Hampton.
Tickets are $10 general admission and $20 ringside. For information, call Mary's Restaurant at 428-1355, Karate International at 486-5348 or Blackhawk Karate and Kickboxing at 548-9550. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by PETER D. SUNDBERG
Richard Mendez, 34, now general manager of Rowe Nissan, will risk
his GQ looks when he makes a return to his youth with his first
state-sanctioned kickboxing bout on a card at Club Rogue's on
Thursday.
by CNB