Newest Interviews on TheBoxingBar Podcast

 In the next few weeks, I will be bringing on some interesting people from Ventura County to interview for TheBoxingBar podcast. The first one is historian, author, and well-known local ghost hunter Richard Senate. Mr. Senate talks about many of the local hot spots for ghosts in Ventura County. Richard has written a number of books which can be found on Amazon or his website richardsenate.com.

Ricky and I had a blast talking with the “Ventura County Ghost Hunter” Richard Senate. Check out this interview! 

 Here is our interview with 1996 boxing Olympian “Dangerous” David Diaz of Chicago, IL. He represented the United States in the Atlanta games on a terrific team which included Floyd Mayweather Jr., Fernando Vargas, and Antonio Tarver. Diaz debuted on November 30, 1996 in Albuquerque winning by unanimous decision. He won his first twenty-six straight professional bouts until losing to the crafty Kendall Holt in 2005. David took on some other very tough competitors in his career like Emanuel Augustus, Humberto Soto, Erik Morales, and Manny Pacquiao. His last fight was in 2011, ending his career with a record of 36-4-1. 

 Joel “El Platanito” Salas started his professional boxing career on June 25, 2000. Salas fought fifteen professional fights and stopped fighting in 2003. Joel is the son of Jose Salud “El Platano“ Salas. Jose was from Puruandiro, Michoacan, Mexico but later trained in Mexico City and almost made the 1968 Mexican Olympic team for the games which were held there in Mexico City that year. “El Platano” trained under the guidance of legendary trainer Lupe Sanchez and fought alongside and got to know many greats like Ruben “El Puas” Olivares, Salvador Sanchez, Jose “Mantequilla” Napoles, Lupe Pintor, Rafael Herrera, “El Chango” Carmona, ect... Great story!

 Gilbert Esquivel is what you would call a real "O.G." in the comedy world, especially in the Latino stand-up comedy scene. Gilbert started as an actor being an extra on TV shows and films. He is one of the most respected comedians around. He mostly does private shows today, but if you happen to hear he will be performing, go check him out! We had a great time talking to him on the podcast recently. 

 If you don't recognize his face, you probably don't watch boxing too much today. Jacob "Stitch" Duran is one of the most respected and popular cutmen in decades. He's even been on many films like all the Creed movies working Michael B. Jordan's corner in those films. Duran is from a small town in the Central Valley in California, Planada. Recently, he was inducted into the National Boxing Hall of Fame class of 2025. Check out his books and upcoming documentary. Cheers to "Stitch" Duran! 

 Several years back, I had a Facebook boxing page called Oxnard IsBoxing in tribute to my local boxing community. At that time, a Facebook friend stood out by the name of John Bray of Van Nuys, CA. In time, we got to talk one-on-one about boxing and he would share his story in the sport. It was pretty amazing! At one time he was supposed to be the face of the sport. He was a young good looking “White-Latino” from Southern California that was supposed to be the prospect to take the heavyweight division by storm. First in the amateurs and then hopefully in the professional ranks thereafter. But it didn’t happen as planned. Through his own admission in this interview, life and bad decisions got in the way. During his time, he got to work with some of the best of the best fighters including the likes of Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, and Tommy Morrison just to name a few. He also trained under top trainers Joe Goossen, Lou Duva, and Angelo Dundee. Due to some injuries related to boxing he can no longer participate physically in the sport that he loves. But his love for the sport is still there and the people that remember him, love him. On Sunday June 22nd of this year, he will be inducted into the WBC’s “Legends of Boxing Museum”. Congratulations, John! Well deserved.