Mayday and his siblings were all impressive and well built but Mayday always stood out. He was BIG, CONFIRMED, and fearless, He walked out of the van as a puppy after the long drive, barked, and marked my kennel as HIS territory right when he hit the ground. He had a huge head, long ears and barked at the other dogs from the start. His head was always up high. He really thought he was the MAN. He was a happy and energetic pup. The first time we put him in the box, we did it with Ch. Leroy (heavy Paladin). Leroy was a HARD biter. He got a hold of Mayday's chest and bit hard. Finally, Mayday got a hold of the head and got him out. After that, Mayday was PISSED. For the next 5 minutes, he mopped the floor with Ch. Leroy. We had to stop it cause he was killing him. Of Course, Leroy was pushing 9 pounds, and it was not fair. BUT from that Moment on Mayday SCREAMED in the corner. He really was impressive.
1.-We go into, SLK & Dennis Ls HI VOLTAGE (2X), at Catch Weight. This match was special to me because of the adverse circumstances.
A. - Mayday, (First time out)
B. - Choice, (First time out)
C. - Leroy (1X)
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| Gr Ch Mayday ROM young |
We arrived late Monday night in PR and we went with Choice and Leroy. Both of them won. Ch. Choice won in an impressive match against a HARD biting daughter of Garner's Frisco ROM. We arrived at 2 AM to the kennel and I knew something was wrong. Whenever Mayday heard my voice, he would SCREAM and bark, and go crazy cause he knew it was time to work. The problem was that it was SILENT. We took a flashlight into the kennel and to our surprise we find Mayday inside his cell but with another DEAD bulldog. The dog was a brother to Southern Kennels Xuxa. He had gotten loose and they fought fence to fence, but I think Mayday grabbed the fence and pulled it enough for the other dog to come through. It was no big deal that he killed a smaller dog but the match was that Saturday and he looked exhausted. We cleaned him up; we locked him in a totally dark room with all the food and water he could handle and on the next day's walk. He looked better; we did the same thing the next day. I was really worried that the accident might have tired his mouth. One b/c of making the hole in the fence, the other in killing the dog. At the time of the show, Mayday only had some scratches and swollen lips. hehe HI VOLTAGE; weighed 67Lbs, and was a monster, Mayday weighed 59 pounds. He looked Tiny next to High Voltage. But catch weight is catch weight. Finally, Mayday won in 35 minutes, He never showed tired, and after the 25-minute mark, he took control and finished.
2.-Soulman & Plumb Dave BIG RED (2X), Southern Kennels had taken 5 dogs to PR and won 4. We lost one game to Stone City Kennels Ch. NICO (4x)(ROM) with a son of Ch. Rattler at 1:13. The time before, we took 3 dogs to PR and won ALL 3. People in Southern Florida said that Southern Kennels was only winning in Puerto Rico and they weren't quality wins. Especially Soul man he was really being vocal. He said Ch. White heads toughest match was against a pure Red Boy-Jocko dog. Southern Kennels had lost to BIG RED before with a different son of Ch. Rattler who stood the line at 1:05. After that, BIG RED had won his second match in 1:25, and now he was ready for his championship. I had lost to BIG RED before and wanted a piece of him with Mayday so after many calls, it was hooked. Mayday's pit weight at that time was 60 but we conceded to bring him at 58 to make it happen. I was crazy about beating BIG red to prove that the previous wins in PR were the real deals and that the dogs in PR were also the real deal. As much as we tried, Mayday only came in at 58.5. We paid the forfeit and they gave me an hour to lose .5 pounds. We did and the party started. It was Mayday's easiest fight. He used big red like a punching bag. He mopped the floor with him. People watching wanted to change his name to PAYDAY. Others were calling him KILLING MACHINE. Havana Tito was screaming. "It's Gr.Ch. Rodney. Gr.Ch. Rodney, Gr.Ch. Rodney reincarnated. Big Red stood the line at 37 minutes and it ended with Mayday SCREAMING in the corner. He was just getting started. He wanted another hour. It was an impressive victory. Later Soulman called me and said that his dogs were still better than the ones in Puerto Rico but only 2 minutes better.
3.-After this 2nd win it was extremely difficult getting him hooked again. We had to change his name and so forth. He had won impressively and no one wanted any of Mayday. My GREAT friend Angel hooked him with the Gator Boys in NYC area against a supposed 4x winner. They ended up bringing Pete Jr. who was in my opinion half CROCODILE. This dog could BITE. He was more to the ground and thicker than Mayday. He looked like a typical Bullyson/Cowboy, but 60 pounds. hehe. That dog was a true killing machine. It was Mayday's toughest fight at that time. It was the shortest but the most SAVAGE. Mayday somehow knew that he had to kill this Croc before he got killed. He finished in 29 minutes BUT with TERRIBLE chest injuries. At about 2AM at the Vet's Mayday was cold and dying. The wound was only an inch from his lung. It was a miracle he lived. We worked on him long and hard and my friend Angel kept him for a few months. After that He was Southern Kennels Ch. Mayday.
4.-For #4 we didn't have to look for anyone, they came looking for us. We didn't have to change names or nothing like that. We hooked into Big Dust's Ch.Budda, (6X); he had won 6 but only had reported the last three to the SDJ. This time it was 65 pounds. In the first 5 minutes, Budda BROKE Mayday's Leg. Budda was a rough dog, after that Mayday stay there with three legs, and still coming and coming, it was a classic match. After 30 minutes even, they both slow down and pace themselves. At the 45-minute mark, Mayday started to take control and I urged him to finish. I would yell, and Mayday shook violently. at 1:05. Buddah stood the line.!! Mayday once again SCREAMED in the corner. After this match I retired him for a year. This is when I first bred Xuxa to produce Gr. Ch. Lukane. I never thought to match him again because he only walked on 3 legs after that. Then I met Cuban Missing Link who probably knows more than Vets do. He told me that Mayday walked on three legs only because he THOUGHT his leg was still hurt. I had seen the x rays and told him he was crazy. He replied that that break in the leg only made it stronger and that a pre-keep would fix the problem. I tried it and to my surprise, Missing Link was right. He not only fixed the leg, but Mayday looked 2 years younger again.
5.-The best match was Gr.Ch.Mayday against Tant's Cody, not only because of how good Cody was, who later on showed to be DEAD GAME, but also because of all the circumstances surrounding the contest. It was almost impossible for Mayday to win this match. The odds were stacked 99% against us. Mr. Tant didn't know that he was going into Mayday. My good friend Angel hooked Mayday into Mr. Tant for us. We respect Mr. Tant like as a good breeder and dogman, but we had to show that Mayday could handle any Red Boy/Jocko dog as well. So, we went into the main source of Gr.Ch.Yellow blood, Mr. Tant.
We conditioned Mayday in Fla, and flew into SC a few days before the contest. That match was hooked at 65 Lbs. We made a mistake on his last feed, and we were at 65.5 Lbs, just half pound over weight, so we had to pay the forfeit. Mr. Tant was OK with that and he still wanted to do it. At 65 Lbs, a half-pound would not make that big a difference. We paid it and started to wash Mayday. Toward the end of the wash, Mr. Tant started to look at Mayday, and he started saying "That is a nice looking dog, "He looks just like my Yellow dogs, "Is he who I´m thinking he is?????? ". At this point we were getting edgy. Then asked us directly, " Is this dog Ch.Mayday???? " Well, what could we say? We had to admit it. He was very UPSET. I couldn't blame him. He said, he didn't want to go into his dogs. I told him that "YES, Mayday is off of Gr. Ch. Yellow, BUT you weren't the breeder. The breeder was Mr. Hollingsworth who paid the stud fee. All you did was collect the money.
He is only 50% your bloodline. The other 50% is Hollingsworth's careful blend of Bolio-Tombstone. "Any ways, after he collected our forfeit, he ran out of the place with his dog, and left us there with Mayday all wet. We didn't even have a chance to finish washing him. We were very frustrated. I told myself that was the last time, I will condition Mayday!! It was extremely difficult finding any dog able to go into him. A few friends like Cuban Missing Link were there in car, and I ask him to just take him (Mayday) back to Miami in his car that same night. Of course we didn't feed Mayday that night, he was in the car all night long, until they arrived home in the morning. At that time, they just gave Mayday a cup of dog food. Everything was gone. We already lost the chance to make the match. That Sunday's morning on March 1996, when I wake up, I was very hyper and disappointed. I decided to call Mr. Tant and have a meeting with him. I wanted to renegotiate the situation and make that match possible, after a 2-hour conversation, we agreed to the following terms….
A. We will do it Thursday night
B. Not 65Lbs but catch weight.
C. We will play only 1K, against Ch.Dragon Lady (Champion Dragon lady was well known as the best 47lber in the world and Mr. Tant wanted to snatch her from us.)
D. I had to take it or leave it, like that, so I took his offer.
Immediately I called my friends in Fla, and told them what I had decided to do. ALL OF THEM SCREAMED over the phone that I was crazy!! All of them told me that Mayday looked TERRIBLE. He was completely stressed, skinny, and under Pit Weight. ON TOP OF THAT I had to put him back on the airplane. My friends refused to send me my dog but I told them that he was MY DOG, and that I would take responsibility for him. I spoke to them firmly and they finally sent the dog. Dr. PEPE from the lab was the one who sent Mayday. After he shipped him he called and said Mayday was in terrible shape. He said he was very stressed, tired, and unrested, not to mention, way under pit weight. All my friends said I was crazy, and that all I was going to do was lose a great dog. They said it was impossible for me to win, especially against a seasoned dogman like Mr. Tant. When he arrived in SC for the second time HE WAS JUST BONES. I started to think that maybe my friends were right. The circumstances were too much for even the greatest dog of all time. He looked completely destroyed. I have a picture of him that day; He was a completely different Mayday. A package of Bones. My great friend Angel was the only friend I had left that was willing to help me in my task. He helped me try to recover Mayday in only 4 days. He stayed with me and worked alongside me. We had him on IV. Forget conditioning, forget the keep, all we were trying to do was recover Mayday from all the long hours of travel and malnutrition. Well, we arrived there Thursday night, and Mr. Tant brought Cody, at 72 Lbs, he was a horse.That was a smart move He gave Cody all rest he needed and very good food. On top of that he let him gain 7 pounds. Now, we had to go into a bigger, stronger and completely rested dog, Things were looking bad. Mayday looked a lot of smaller than Cody, and was all stressed out from the travel back and forth. RELEASE YOUR DOGS and the party started. As was expected, Cody led the contest early pushing and punching very hard into Mayday for the first 35 minutes.
Mayday was just trying to keep that big strong dog out with defence. He held on to the nose, face and throat. A few times Mayday tried to go into the back-end but Cody was too strong and kept him out. Finally, Mayday understood that he was in front of a lot of stronger dog than he. So, he never tried to go into the back-end again. He just kept working up front...... nose, face and throat. After 35 - 45 minutes, Mayday started to show the lead a little bit!!! Mayday had got a good throat hold on Cody. He held that spot for a few minutes. At the 51-minute mark Mayday was on top of Cody and was really working his throat hold. Mr. Tant asked us to scratch to continue, Cody. Cody wasn't moving, wasn't breathing, or anything. He was like a dead dog. So we said OK. We didn't think there was any way possible Cody could scratch. Boy were we surprised when that CODY dog started to scream in the corner like a maniac. !!!!! We were in front of a DEAD GAME DOG!Cody worked Mayday over really hard for a few more minutes. Then, Mayday caught him in the same throat hold again at the 1:03 mark!!!!! Tant asked us again to scratch Cody to continue, and we said NO!! " YOU EITHER PICK THAT DEAD GAME DOG UP OR MAYDAY WILL FINISH HIM RIGHT THERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BOX!!" Mr. Tant made the right decision and both boys made good hard courtesy scratches. Mayday was on fire!! He was screaming and pulling in the corner and looked like he was ready to party for another hour!! We were finally able to calm him down after about 15 minutes. This was his 5th match, and is also the greatest fight I have ever witnessed.
Some photos of GR CH:
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| Gr Ch Yellow x Dolly ROM |
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