A Look At The Career Of Sammy (The Clutch) Angott - The Only Man To Ever Beat A Prime Willie Pep By Carl Thompson/Eastside Boxing For many fighters that would have been the end of the road, but Angott wasnt just any fighter. After a successful operation on his hand and a few months of healing, he began his comeback. His first opponent was the featherweight king, Willie Pep. The fight was scheduled for the 19th March 1943 at Madison Square Garden. At the time Peps record was without equal in the history of boxing; he had partaken in sixty-two bouts and had won every one of them. This, and the fact that there were doubts over the complete recovery of Angotts right hand, resulted in Pep entering the ring a 2-7 favorite. The fight was a scrappy affair in which Angott displayed his full repertoire of wrestling skills. He mauled, held, and wrestled Pep throughout the fight, even tossing in the occasional headlock for good measure, giving the smaller man virtually no chance to do any actual fighting. He also landed several punches, which was more than Pep was able to do. In the first five rounds of the fight, Sammy made Pep come to him, stinging him with lefts to the head whenever Pep came within punching range. By the second half of the fight Peps youth started to show. In the sixth, seventh and eight rounds he managed to force his way inside and despite Angotts incessant holding managed to land several blows. In the final two rounds of the fight, Sammy regained control and mauled the now weary Pep around the ring throwing just enough punches to take both rounds on the scorecards. By the end of the fight Pep had lost and with it went his unbeaten record. With the victory Angott was named The Ring Magazines fighter of the month.
Sammy was just the sort of guy to put Willie on the front foot, something outside of Pep's comfort zone. Angott's next opponent though was somebody extremely comfortable coming forward, and Sammy's tactics weren't quite so effective against Armstrong. Hank versus Willie could have been extremely interesting even at this stage. (Burt, what say you?)
Hya D. I saw Willie Pep in his prime, but Henry Armstrong i saw past his prime against Beau Jack and Ray Robinson. Henry was 10 years older than Willie was ,so one zigged and the other zagged. In a fantasy bout between Henry Armstrong and Willie Pep at 126 pounds, my money would be on Armstrong. I feel that Henry had to trap him sooner or later and Pep didn't have the firing power to hold Armstrong off. Of course there is the possibility that the Will of the Wisp, could avoid being trapped and fight from long range, but Armstrong was expert at cutting off the ring... I know Pep foolishly tackled Sammy Angott, who broke up Pep's amazing winning streak, but Willie never hinted at a fight with the powerful LW Beau Jack who I believe was too strong for Willie and hit much harder than Sammy the clutch Angott...Ah the memory of those 1940 fighters as Pep Armstrong, Williams, Jack, Saddler, Montgomery, Joyce, Wright,Dawson evokes nostalgic feelings in me D. I left out a fair to middling Welter named Ray Robinson who early fought as a LW... Cheers D.
