Larger than life: Remembering Borderland boxer Earl Large

Earl Large didn’t win many championships, but his contributions to the sport of boxing here in the Borderland will live on forever.

Large died Saturday in El Paso at the age of 72.

Large was born in Clovis, New Mexico, but spent a big part of his life in El Paso where he and his wife raised their 8 children.

He was a 2X Golden Glove Champion and fought professionally from 1968 to 1979 facing some of the top boxers in his era.

His record of (39-17-2, 17 KOs) included two bouts with bantamweight champion Chucho Castillo and one against lightweight champion Sean O’Grady.

One of his most famous fights was the fight against Castillo that took place at the Plaza Monumental Bullring in Juarez.

Large lost the fight, but always maintained throughout the years that he won.

Large’s daughter, Francine Bone, spoke with ABC-7 over the phone from her home in Tennessee.

Bone says that Large would often talk about the fight against Castillo and how her father felt that he was robbed of the title that night.

“He would say that he fought Chucho Castillo, and he won, but everbody was booing,” Bone said. “You know he felt loved by the Mexican people. I mean they saw that he won the fight, and they didn’t give him that fight, and he earned that fight, but it was taken from him.”

After his fighting days were over, Large stayed in El Paso and worked at the Asarco smelting plant.

He continued to contribute to the boxing world by training other local fighters.

In 2017, Large was inducted into the New Mexico Boxing Hall of Fame.

Bone says that even as her father battled dementia in his elderly years, his love for boxing never wavered.

Bone recalled the last time she saw her father in 2017.

“He’d still pose in his boxing poses and his punches,” Bone said. “I’m always going to have that memory of him. I wanted to see him before he left this earth, but I’m always going to remember him. My dad loved me very much.”

Funeral services for Large will be in El Paso Sunday, June 30th at Crestview Funeral Home from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Crestview Funeral Home is located at 1462 North Zaragoza.

“I’m just wanting to give my father the respect that he deserves, so he won’t go unnoticed,” Bone said.