Eddie Martinez’s boxing portraits began with a 1972 painting and decades of research into the sport’s history. The 91-year-old artist is returning to Southern California this weekend to discuss that work and the book it inspired at Hendo's Barrel House, 27901 Jefferson Ave. in Temecula, from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday. He’ll be joined by a Rocky trainer and a world boxing chairman.
Martinez, who grew up in Los Angeles and now lives in Colorado, will discuss his 1972 painting, “The Golden Age of Boxing,” and “The Art of the Square Ring: Painting the Golden Age of Boxing,” according to The Press-Enterprise. Before beginning the project, he spent five decades as an illustrator and production designer for organizations including 20th Century Fox, NBC, Walt Disney Imagineering, Universal Studios and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, Patch reported.
Research That Started at Knott's Berry Farm
Martinez began researching the painting in February 1972, consulting fight archives, original photographs and vintage posters at the James J. Jeffries Barn museum at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, according to Patch. Years later, he gave his daughter, Annette Brown, 20 handwritten pages about the stories behind the painting. Brown, chief marketing officer for Visit Temecula Valley, founded Penmar Books to publish the project, according to posts shared by the company on Instagram.
Martinez will be joined by Jimmy Gambina, an 83-year-old fight trainer. Patch reported that Gambina trained Sylvester Stallone and Carl Weathers for the original 1976 film Rocky and appeared onscreen as Mike, the gym assistant to Mickey.
A Mouthpiece Doctor and a WBC Chairman Round Out the Lineup
Rudy Tellez, chairman of the WBC Legends Boxing Museum, is also attending, per The Press-Enterprise. Tellez is known across combat sports as “The Mouthpiece Doctor” for four decades spent crafting custom mouthguards for championship fighters, a nickname detailed by MyBoxingFans. Tellez's path into the sport's community side began after he met Sugar Ray Robinson, which led him to help establish the Sugar Ray Robinson Youth Foundation and later found the Alhambra Youth Boxing Club, the outlet reported.
The Temecula appearance is part of a four-city Southern California tour. Additional stops are planned in Laguna Hills, Los Angeles and East Los Angeles, according to a Penmar Books schedule announcement posted to Instagram in September.
Temecula’s Arts Programs
The City of Temecula says its Culture Days program began in 2019 and has honored more than 40 different cultures through arts, entertainment and activities, according to the City of Temecula.
Old Town Temecula's Own Boxing Past
Temecula also has a boxing history of its own. The Press-Enterprise reported that heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey trained for a major fight in Old Town Temecula, in a building now occupied by the Temecula Olive Oil Company. The building, known as the Welty Building, operated as Joe Winkels' Ramona Inn in 1902, with an upstairs boxing ring where Dempsey and Jack Sharkey sparred, according to the Old Town Temecula Association. Buster Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle also visited the Ramona Inn speakeasy to drink and watch boxers train upstairs, according to a 2013 report from PBS SoCal.
The Press-Enterprise also reported that Pechanga Resort Casino began hosting championship fights in the late 1990s, with Julio Cesar Chavez attending one of the early title bouts. Pechanga spokesperson Ciara Green said Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran attended a fight there as special guests around 2000 and are scheduled to return to the venue on Nov. 27. The paper also cited an old newspaper article sent by Jeffery Harmon describing Dempsey appearing with Gene Tunney in Lake Elsinore. Rebecca Farnbach said notable boxers trained at Murrieta Hot Springs in the 1930s and 1940s, when the resort was owned by Hugo Guenther, a friend of Jim Jeffries.
A Local Connection Decades in the Making
Martinez's ties to the region predate this weekend's event by decades. The Temecula Valley Museum displayed his work roughly 20 years before the book's publication, and he once gave a talk there, according to The Press-Enterprise. He also created a historical map titled “The Journey of Nahachis and How He Named the Places,” which traced the names of southwest Riverside County communities back to their Native American roots. Martinez first visited Temecula about 60 years before the book's release and has returned many times since — a history that predates even his daughter's own move to town, as Annette Brown has lived in Temecula since 1992.
