BY CHRIS PARRY

cparry@tylerpaper.com

 

While most boxers were worried about cutting pounds in preparation for their weigh-in, Bobby Vascocu once was forced to eat hours before so he could beef up enough just to make the minimum 100-pound requirement.

He boxed all over the world before becoming a professional in the late 1970s, was a trainer and mentor to hundreds of prospective boxers.

Vascocu died on Tuesday at the age of 62 succumbing to lupus and Parkinson disease.

During an amateur and professional career that spanned over two decades, Vascocu boxed for the United States as a national team member all over the world and once faced off with the pride of the Soviet Union, Boris Kuznetsov in Moscow.

“He was a fighter and that is what his whole life has been,” his son Shawn Vascocu said about his father.

Robert Emerson Vascocu was born on Feb. 8, 1952 in Tyler. His father, Edward, or E.A “Lucky” Vascocu was a well-known boxing promoter and trainer for Roy Copeland. In a piece written last month in Henderson County Now, it talks about how Bobby at 5-years old would run behind Copeland during training sessions.

Bobby Vascocu stepped into the ring for the first time at age 6 in a bout held at the East Texas Athletic Club. By the time he was 8, the skinny Vascocu was competing and winning in East Texas Golden Gloves.

When he was 9, Vascocu won the Silver Globe Boxing Tournament, fighting in the 50-pound flyweight division. His weight did not go up much from there during an 11-year amateur career.

As evidenced by Vascocu’s forced chow session that was reported by Odessa American in 1968.

The paper went on to state, “While most fighters were worried about having to lose weight to fight, one boxer was having to go eat before the weigh-in. He was the smallest member of the 118 boxers, Bobby Vascocu. Minimum weight requirement is 100 pounds. Vascocu weighed 103 opening day but was down to 99 on the day of his fight. He went and had a big dinner to reach 101 and earn a chance to fight. He lost the flyweight match although he displayed some good boxing skills.”

Shawn remembers his father telling him of another story about how he made weight at the last minute.

“He told me the first time he ever made it to the state golden gloves, and back in those days they didn’t make you strip all the way down, he got on the scale and he had filled his pants and underwear with quarters,” Shawn said. “He did that just to make the minimum weight.”

Vascocu kept finding ways to make the weigh-in. One he stepped into the ring, everyone noticed him. He wore white shorts with green trim and white shoes with long green and white tassels that would bounce with his constant movement.

His skills kept improving as he got older and he kept stacking up victories. Vascocu won the Amateur Athletic Union Championship and Golden Gloves Championship to be selected for the U.S. national team.

In February of 1972, just four days before he turned 20, Vascocu boxed for the USA against Great Britain in Glasgow, Scotland. In his bantamweight bout, Vascocu was behind in points through two rounds to Gary Davidson of Britain. But as the Glasgow Herald described it: “failed to match the American’s finishing burst. Vascocu threw a lot of punches in the final round and many of them landed to give him the victory by the slenderest margin.”

This was followed by a matchup against the USSR. The U.S. team traveled to Moscow and Vascocu was able to win his first bout, but suffered a fractured right hand in the process.

He was set to face Kuznetsov, the Soviet champion, in the final. Vascocu considered pulling out of the bout because of the injury, but as Shawn recalls his late father’s account, the Soviet federation made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

“They told him it was going to be a long walk home. Those were their exact words if he didn’t fight,” Shawn said.

Forced to use only his left hand, Vascocu did what he could to get through the first round before deciding to try and throw a right in the second round. It landed and Kuznetsov went down, but as Shawn describes Vascocu’s account, “He got up. I couldn’t raise my right hand because it was numb and fell down to my side.”

He fought the rest of the fight like this. Vascocu said Kuznetsov was the best fighter he ever faced and after making his right hand worse, “Took a whooping.”

Vascocu finished the fight but lost on points. Kuznetsov would go on to win the gold medal at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

Vascocu could’ve met him there, but got food poisoning during the Olympic Trials and was upset in the quarterfinals.

“It was just bad luck,” Shawn said. “He had beat that guy twice before.”

Even with those two setbacks, Vascocu’s amateur career record was a very impressive 160-14.

Vascocu boxed as a professional featherweight for the first time on March 5, 1977 in Marshall and needed one round to knockout Mevlin Young. He followed that up a month later with a second-round knockout in Marshall against Robert Pineda. Another month after that Vascocu delivered a third-round knockout against Luis Rico.

Another bout in Marshall and another victory, Vascocu traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, to fight Weal Wilson at the Holiday Inn Rivermont. This one also ended in knockout, but it was Vascocu, who suffered his first professional loss with a fifth-round TKO.

He rebounded in October to defeat Shannon Williams back in Marshall on points. He lost his next fight on points to stand at 5-2 when he once again went to Mississippi for a bout. It was against Williams again and Vascocu won on a points decision. That began a run of five consecutive wins for Vascocu in bouts held in Tyler and Dallas.

On Nov. 14, 1978, Vascocu stepped in the ring with Eddie Freeman. Freeman was 26-2 and finished 26-3 with a fourth-round knockout of Vascocu.

“He was never in shape for any of his pro fights,” Shawn said. “He was trying to raise me as a single dad and try to train himself. He told me he was never in shape for a professional fight and never out of shape for an amateur one.”

He hung up his gloves after that fight and focused on coaching, training and supporting Golden Gloves while also becoming a successful businessman.

“He was such a strong person. He was a tough guy in the ring and he would never back down and never quit,” Shawn said. “Outside of the ring he was the kind of guy you wanted to know. He had a big heart and would help anybody.”

Memorial services are set for 2 p.m. Sunday at the Methodist Church in Troup.