Bobby ‘Boogaloo’ Watts + Stan Hoffman at the Shadow Box Film Festival
December 9th, 2013 by Mr. C
Last weekend, we feinted our way in for a screening or two at the 2nd annual Shadow Box Film Festival held at the School of Visual Arts Theatre on 23rd street. I caught a notable documentary called Boogaloo which featured an obscure boxer from the 1970s who came from the hustling streets of Philadelphia. Prior to the feature, we were treated to a 20 minute trailer on a work in progress covering an old school flamboyant jewish boxing promoter and manager – the one and only Stan Hoffman from Brooklyn and the Bronx! You can say the two personalities from these two films couldn’t have been more polar opposites of each other but they were both very intriguing in their own way! Hell, I guess you can say Boogaloo needed a manager like Stan to attact more boxing bees to his hive!
First up was the feisty Stan Hoffman, a now 80+ year old lion of the boxing game and once tough city kid from the NYC. This future feature documentary was dubbed for now as – The Stan Hoffman Project. The doc is basically about the trials and tribulations of Stan and his dealings in the fight game as big city of dreams boxing manager of Hasim Rahman, James Toney, & other colorful characters from the boxing hood fraternity. You will see the multidimensional Stan the man talk about how boxing and the music game are basically the same and how he talked Chuck Berry into recording a record that would earn him a fortune. It will be interesting to see the final product of this film. Stan Hoffman was in attendance at the Shadow Box Film festival for the screening of the trailer but he bobbed, weaved, and was whisked away before planet chocko can interrogate the old master of the game!
(Bobby ‘Boogaloo’ Watts wanted to stick & move on Mr. C at the lobby of SVA Theatre!)
Bobby Watts was the subject in question in Boogaloo, a story about a humble upbringing of a country bumpkin from South Carolina who ended up moving northeast to the rough and tumble streets of Philadelphia at 10 years old. So wouid begin the unassuming ways of Boogaloo Watts and his strong desire to earn his keep through the art of sweet science! Philadelphia fighters were where it’s at and were noted to be some of the toughest breeds around. The fab 4 of middleweights in Philly during the 1970s were no exception. Willie The Worm Monroe, Bennie Briscoe, Eugene Cyclone Hart, and Bobby Boogaloo Watts were the Fab 4 and they were the stars of Monday Night boxing in Philadelphia’s legendary arena – The Spectrum! Bennie Briscoe and Eugene Cyclone Hart were the bruisers, the pure punchers, knockout artists of the bunch while Willie the Worm and Bobby Boogaloo were the tall, lanky, slick rick pure boxers of the four. The Quad would have good boxing careers in their own right but all basically faded away into the obscure sunset with Bobby Boogaloo being one of the most underrated and mismanaged journeyman fighter of the four horseman from Phila. Boogaloo managed to beat Marvin Hagler before he was Marvelous and never got the opportunity to fight for a title belt. Mind you the times were a bit different with less title belts, less divisions, more competition, and many deserving fighters that never got a chance to fight for the throne.
The documentary would feature interviews with the likes of Stan Hochman, Harold Lederman, Angelo Dundee, Bert Sugar, Charles Brewer, Al Bernstein, and the darth vader of promoters in some peoples eyes – the director of Monday night fights at the Spectrum – Russell Peltz! All different angles and words are thrown in the pot as to why Bobby Watts never had the recognition and fights that he deserved. All agreed that his style of fighting of sticking and moving, holding, and just having savvy ring generalship & technique in controlling his opponent was not conducive for exciting fights going toe to toe, tit for tat. Also the argument that fighting Watts would be too much of a risk to take to an upcoming boxer’s flight to success were viable. All guests did end up agreeing that Boogaloo was a very good fighter and most certainly deserving of a title shot at one point in his career. I guess Marvin Hagler could of attested to that, though the 2nd fight between Watts and Hagler did not help Boogaloo’s situation.
Boogaloo was a fun documentary paying homage to just no average joe in boxing, but it does prove that being associated with a more rambunctious manager/promoter could lead to other pots of glory and spotlight that might not otherwise be available. One thing is for sure, this was a feel good story that started with a ripple of positive family outlook and ended with a wave of family unity. It’s refreshing to see that not all boxers come from a train wreck background and noice to see that nice people flourish, too. Bobby Boogaloo Watts certainly danced and pranced to a different type of success. Bobby was in attendance for the screening looking mean and fit while donning his cowboy hat! I wouldn’t want to mess with that Philadelphia outlaw! Boogaloo, the documentary was tagged as a work in progress and I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product when it arrives!
(Bobby Watts getting introduced to the audience after the screening of Boogaloo!)
Tags: boxing, documentary, shadow box film festival
Posted in movies, mr. c, photos | Comments (2)
December 14th, 2013 at 10:43 am
Hi my name is liam mulvey,
Director of boogaloo, just wanted to say thank you for the very kind write up. Secondly, the video clip you are showing is not the trailer for the movie.
Thanks again for your positive outlook on film and will keep you posted as it gets to a more finished state.
Regards
Liam mulvey
December 14th, 2013 at 3:20 pm
Hi Liam. Thanks for the comments and for the fun documentary! Yes, I know that clip from youtube wasn’t the trailer but I thought it was a fun video to introduce Bobby Watts! We look forward to checking out your film with the official release/premier of Boogaloo!