Ray "Wild Red" Robles

The above two photos are of my uncle, Ray “Wild Red” Robles, I don’t know what weight he fought at but he was about 5’9” or 5’10”.Judging from his photos he could have been a welterweight or possibly a lightweight. He fought in or around Merced, Stockton and possibly Fresno. He was born in Kansas but was raised in El Paso, Texas until he was about sixteen or seventeen years old. He hopped freight trains and hitchhiked to Northern California, somewhere around Sacramento. He got a job picking fruit and because he spoke both Spanish and English, he ended up with a foreman’s position. He worked alongside the Filipinos, Okies and Mexican American fruitpickers. He eventually sent for his family; mother, siblings, etc. At some point they moved to a two bedroom cabin in Sonora and he found work as a lumberjack.

I don’t know what year he started fighting but according to his son, my cousin David Robles, he fought in Los Angeles a few times and believes it was at the Olympic, according to what his mother and some other family members recall, but it’s vague at best. He may have had a dozen or so fights.

In the late 1940's and early 1950’s , my grandmother owned a cafe/bar and this is where he met my aunt Beatrice (Bea). They lived in an apartment on Macy Street, with their two sons, Ray and David, in the area that is now the Los Angeles County jail facilities. “Wild Red” eventually became one of the regulars at a local bar. He would eventually get into a fight with a Russian immigrant at the bar and was stabbed to death with a butcher knife. According to witnesses he was dead before he hit the ground. A quick thinking bar patron wrote down the license number of the car, as it sped away, using the cue chalk to write on the sidewalk. "Wild Red" Robles died on his son Davids's birhday, November 6 1953 or 54.

This is about all that is known about Ray “Wild Red” Robles. Perhaps someone will remember the name, or remember seeing him fight. If you have any information please contact me.