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 In the Company of Fighters
By Steve Kim (October 24, 2002)
Photo © CHIKA
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They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and if that's the case then plenty will be said when boxing photographer Chika (she only goes by one name, I guess all the great ones do, like Prince) begins her photography exhibition at the Perfect Exposure Gallery in Los Angeles this Thursday night. 'In the Company of Fighters', which features Chika's best work in the game of boxing, will run from today, October 24, to November 19th.
"The idea began with the gallery owners - who are also the curators - and one of them is a photo-journalist on the side," said Chika, a fixture for the past 17 years at all the big fights. "He knew of me through the years, we have many mutual friends and on one occasion, when I ran into him, they asked me if I would be interested in showing boxing photography. They knew I photographed other sports, but why boxing?
"It was because they have never had boxing photography exhibited so they were very much interested in that. And I was in the right mood, I guess. So I said OK. Something like this there's no heavy pressure, no nothing. It was a very cordial conversation and that led to this point."
Chika, like most photographers, does free-lance work involving a myriad of subjects and she also has been associated with the Nikkan Sports News, one of the largest and oldest Japanese publications in Japan that has a circulation of more than 2 million. But boxing is a favorite subject of hers.
"I like boxing," Chika explains. "The reason is that my first professional assignment happened to be professional boxing. That was Larry Holmes against Michael Spinks, the first one. And prior to that I had an assignment to do a photo essay on Larry Holmes, that was May of '85. And anyway, I had never seen boxing in my life before and I had never heard of Larry Holmes at all."
That fight which took place on September 21, 1985, is dear to her heart. A photo from that historic battle, in which Spinks made history by becoming the first light heavyweight to win the heavyweight championship, will be on display at the exhibit. She says that Holmes-Spinks I is still her most memorable fight.
"It was very controversial," she recalled. "That's a sentimental thing because he (Holmes) had been very, very supportive of me and he was probably the reason I continued to photograph boxing, I suppose. He taught me many things about boxing and the people and what may happen at ringside for a photographer."
She says out of all the fighters she has photographed, Holmes is her favorite.
"Because he's the first person I have ever met in my life who was boxing as a professional," explained Chika. "So Larry was very special and we remain
friends. I met him quite a bit in the first three years, then of course I like Mike Tyson."
MIKE TYSON!?!?
"Well, because I happened to be exposed to the nice part of Mike Tyson that has never been seen," she says laughing.
She recalls the infamous press conference in Los Angeles to publicize his bout with Andrew Golota a few years back.
"He didn't come for like two hours and he was very loud and irritated. He started taking off his shirt and all that stuff and everybody was after him and he was in a bad mood and among all this going on, he saw me down there and he said, 'Hi Chika'."
And they say chivalry is dead.
Her most memorable shot is of George Foreman when he was in the early stages of his comeback.
"That particular photo is one that I did with my photo editor for one of the huge Japanese publishing companies," says the native of Tokyo, Japan, who now resides in west Los Angeles. "My editor and I won the photo essay of the year. This George Foreman picture was one of them in the photo essay."
For this particular shoot, she had to travel all the way to the Caribbean Islands to corral 'Big George'.
"So I arrived (there), I was sitting in the lobby - and this was a Club Med hotel - and lots and lots of people were asking for George's autograph and getting pictures. So I was waiting and waiting and waiting, our meeting was supposed to be 3 p.m. I arrived at one or so, I arrived at the hotel at 2 o'clock. Anyway, it's getting dark and I was getting nervous because I wanted to photograph him outside and he thought I would be photographing him in the hotel.
"So I said,' Can we do the photo's outside?' And he said, 'Well, I thought you wanted to photograph here in the lobby, it's a beautiful hotel' So I told him,' I would like to be outside where you are.' So George continued to sign a few more autographs and then we went out to the beach and along the way everybody was greeting him and by the time we arrived at the beach it was getting rather dark.
"And then George said to me, 'I will go run to the end of the beach and then come back'. I really didn't understand what he meant. So I said to George, 'Well, then I'll wait here for you' and he said, 'No, no, you come along with me'. So I went and I started to take some pictures and that was one of the pictures and the sun was really going down and that you can really see in the picture."
That photo along with her other work can be viewed for the next several weeks at the Perfect Exposure Gallery, 3513 w. 6th Street, Los Angeles, Ca. 90020. For more information call 213-381-1137. Gallery hours from Tuesday through Saturday are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For Questions or Comments
E-Mail Steve Kim at k9kim@maxboxing.com
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