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Ebony will honor Perez Friday
YOUNGSTOWN
Walter Perez spent many rounds in corners of boxing rings as an amateur, but six rounds as a pro was enough to pave the way for 43 years of making things at the corner of Pearl and Rigby.
Following the featherweight’s unanimous six-round victory over Tony Rutledge at the Struthers Fieldhouse on Sept. 24, 1980 at age 22, Perez saw the light.
“I beat him every round, but I got $230 and 10 percent of that went to my handlers,” Perez said of his fight against Rutledge of Columbus.
For the 1973 East High graduate, that was a purse he wanted no part of.
“They wanted me to quit my job and go on welfare, so I said, ‘Goodbye.’ ”
Perez is one of the 12 inductees for this year’s Ebony Lifeline all-sports banquet that will be Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Social Hall.
Perez decided to stay with his day job at Curveform at the corner of Pearl and Rigby streets on the East Side.
“I turned them down because I had a paycheck every week, plus insurance. They wanted me to quit and go on welfare, so that wasn’t cutting it,” said Perez, who retired from Curveform in 2010 after 43 years of making Formica countertops and cabinets. “At the time, I did what I had to do.”
For Perez, now 61, security and craftsmanship won out.
“I was dedicated,” he said. “I loved to go to work and earn my money. The welfare suggestion turned me off. I love my boxing, but I wasn’t going to make a good career out of it the way they wanted it to be.”
Perez took an interest in the sport at age 11, learning from his brother, Pete of New York. At 17, Perez got into the Golden Gloves and eventually advanced to the nationals in Albuquerque, N.M., where he lost to a No. 3-ranked fighter in the first round.
A year later, Perez fought Chester Richardson in Canton in the Golden Gloves.
“I knocked him out cold,” Perez said of the fight that qualified him for the nationals in Connecticut. But Perez couldn’t go because of work.
“I begged the other guy to go for me. I just couldn’t take off.”
Richardson’s brother was Greg “The Flea” Richardson, a former WBC world bantamweight champion.
“Nobody could touch him,” Perez said of Greg. “He was quick and fast.”
The highlight of Perez’s amateur career was fighting Ray Mancini on April 15, 1977 at Campbell Memorial High School.
Perez claims that he beat Boom Boom, who weighed 127 to Perez’s 118, in the three-rounder because he was the aggressor.
“I did beat Ray but the decision went the other way,” Perez said. “Everybody thought I did, too. I had my hands full, but I thought I taught him a lesson.
That’s one of the toughest I ever had.”
Perez said in ranking it among his nearly 170 amateur bouts, mostly in northeastern Ohio.
Perez said that he was running seven-to-eight miles a day.
“You had to be in shape,” Perez said. “I had no women, I didn’t drink, didn’t smoke and was in bed at 9 o’clock because I worked every day. I was a straight dude. That’s how dedicated I was.”
Although his dream as a fighter was nipped at the bud, Perez, now living in Campbell, has remained close to boxing as a volunteer trainer with Keith Burnside Boxing.
“I’ve been doing it for 20 years,” Walter said. “I don’t get paid, I just hope to get someone at the gym and make something out of them.”
The guy with the world-class work ethic said he missed about five days over 43 years on the job. He doesn’t want to miss his induction on Friday.
That’s why he rescheduled his dialysis treatment a day earlier, so he could attend the Ebony banquet without any ill effects.
Tickets for the banquet cost $30 and may be purchased at L.E. Black, Phillips & Holden Funeral Home or F.D. Mason Memorial Funeral Home or by calling Bob Thomas at 330-261-1825 or Pat Traylor at 330-792-0234.