Arkansas was home to many solid trainers

At the age of 23 in 1971, Tom Hankins was barely back from Vietnam when he registered for an amateur boxing tournament. He didn’t win that one but he came close. “All I did,” he said recently, “was to run for endurance and speed.”

Another major tournament was on the way, and he won that one. In 1973, he won the Golden Gloves championship.

By then, the late Aubrey ”Buddy” Holderfield had spotted Hankins.

A short-armed welterweight and a veteran of about 60 pro bouts, Holderfield took charge of Hankins’ training.

By then, Hankins estimated, he had been in 40 matches as a 6-0, 165-pound middleweight. And - outside the ring - he still follows a tough work schedule that has little or nothing to do with boxing.

“I guess Buddy Holderfield was the best trainer or manager I worked with,” Hankins said. “At least, it seemed he could keep everybody working. I fought James Cotton in three bouts. He lost two and I won one. Bob Fields beat me once. But I think I’m improving. In fact, I’m sure I am.”

Ask any Arkansas fight fan below the age of 75, and they might give you the late Bob Sikes, Holderfield, the late Troy Gray, Sonny Ingram, Ray Rodgers, and heavyweight Ragon Kinney as their favorite trainer. And, sufficiently alert, they could inform you that former world middleweight champion Jermain Taylor, of Little Rock, won four championship belts on his first try for the title.

Sikes once owned both the Southern and Arkansas heavyweight titles in 1938-1941, and drew gates of 6,000 to 10,000 until he started slipping in the late 1940s. He was really on the skids in 1949 when an Indianapolis promoter offered him something like $500 to box Archie Moore. At the time, Moore was considered the No. 1 contender for the light-heavyweight title.

The fight lasted three rounds and six knockdowns until the referee halted the match with a thirdround TKO. Sikes retired from fighting and switched to automobile work.

“I think Sonny Ingram is one of the best fighters around,” Tom Hankins said Monday, “at either middleweight or light-heavy. Good skills and great power. He must take good care of himself.”

Ragon Kinney was one of the slickest and smartest heavyweights until he retired in 1949, after losing a disputed decision in Little Rock’s Robinson Auditorum to Buddy Scott. Kinney didn’t announce any plans, but neither did he box again.

Hankins said, “I like what Ray Rodgers has been doing for boxing in this state the last several years. I hope they can keep him a long time.”

Sports, Pages 18 on 04/30/2013

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