http://www.boxingnewsonline.net JULY 4, 2019 lBOXING NEWSl 33
UIS RESTO stands on a Bronx
street corner, outside the
Morris Park Boxing Club
where he sometimes offers
valuable nuggets of advice.
The ex-fighter, notorious for
a single sickening moment in
the sport’s chequered history,
is now 63 years of age, the passage of time
evident in his lined face, though not in
his well-sculpted body. Our small
talk involves me telling the smiley
New Yorker that I’m from the
same city as The Beatles and,
afforded that information, a
jovial Resto guides his right
hand to a firm stomach
before imitating a cheery
guitarist. Initial conversations
centred on music and
accents but now, in the
comfort of Resto’s favourite
eatery, The Golden Eagle Diner,
it’s time to talk boxing; a subject
that has haunted Luis since 1983.
Throughout our chat, Luis is
intermittently disturbed by locals
of all ages playfully boxing with the jolly
pensioner who is trying to enjoy a basicbreakfast. A popular figure in this neighbourhood,
Resto is invariably addressed by his surname and
has called The Bronx home all his life. He was raised
there by a single mother who moved to New York’s
northernmost borough from Puerto Rico.
“It’s all changed now; the kids have all changed,”
opines Resto, wiping his greasy hands on a worn
tracksuit top that carries his name on the chest.
“Those streets right outside were chaos and
crazy when I was a kid. We didn’t stay in
playing phones or video games. Just
outside you would have a baseball
game. You would have kids
getting chased everywhere after
causing some trouble. Every
single night in The Bronx
you would have some sort
of fight where kids settled
their differences. There were
knives and guns, but most of
the time, kids just fought with
fists.”
Recalling his humble East
Coast beginnings as a street
dweller occasionally looking for
trouble, Resto reflects on his boxing
beginnings. He possessed a fierce
reputation inside the local Police Athletic
Boxing Club, which were once the staple of ➤L
WORLD CHAMPIONS HAVE ASKED ME TO
TRAIN THEM BUT I’M NOT ALLOWED TO.
I WON’T ASK AGAIN. WHAT’S THE POINT?’’
★LUIS★
RESTO
OPENS UP TOChris Walker sits down with Luis Resto – a man who will
forever be remembered for one infamous incident