Was just reading through 100 Greatest Pound For Pound Boxers Of All Time. It says Willie Pep is famous for winning a round without throwing a single punch. Can you guys please tell me more about that. It's sounds fascinating.
JJ, we've mentioned this on here several times before. I think it was debunked but, there's an interview where Pep himself swears it happened later in life. Bert Sugar has been known to take the most fun myths and tell them as fact and he likes this story, as Pep is a favorite of his. Maybe it's an "almost true" kind of thing. :conf
I think some ringside reporters say they saw it, he didn't throw a punch, and they checked the scores and he'd won the round. But some postors on here probably know better, have the film footage or something.
Myth. There's a round by round from the fight and apparently the supposed round in which it occured was actually a bit of a tear-up.
i heard that the myth was born out of pep's pre-fight remark that he'd aim "not to throw a punch in anger" or something of that ilk.
It was suppose to be in the 3rd round against Graves But here's the real story. http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/w0403-jw.html
H,a great article you discovered about the Willie Pep and Jackie Graves fight. As I have posted, I saw the immortal Pep once in his very prime,before his near fatal plane accident, and Pep was everything that Jackie Graves implied. Jackie Graves was a hell of a featherweight also,alongst Chalky Wright,Phil Terranova, Harry Jeffra,Charley Riley,and Sal Bartola from New England. The article also mentioned the name of Tony Janiro,who was so good a prospect,that after winning the GG title at age 16,they were calling Janiro the next Tony Canzoneri. So good was he,before wine, women and song ruined Tony Janiro, that at one of Janiro's prelim fight at MSG, VP Harry Truman shook his hand. Thanks Henry for the article, it brought back great memories for me.:good
In Peter Heller's interview with Pep in the book 'In This Corner', he admitted to having 'thrown a few punches', but generally moved about without throwing. The brunt of contemporary opinion is that Pep wasn't quite as zippy as he had been after the crash, but in the Saddler rematch of 49' it was the opinion of many that he briefly recaptured his prime years.
That's nothing Johnny Nelson won a draw with Gillermo Jones while not throwing a punch for the first 9 rounds. He probably didn't deserve the draw but in fairness to Johnny he had just woken up from a nap in the dressing room
Graves gave Pep a hell of a fight and there were certainly no rounds in which either fighter didn't throw a single punch. Bert Sugar later went back on his claim and said it's more probable that Pep won a round without landing a punch. I believe that's what Pep (or his manager) originally implied as well, that he was good enough to win a round without landing a real solid punch.
I spoke with Pep circa 1996 about that round and he spoke proudly of the feat. It seems he believed it anyway.