fritzie zivic

To me, Zivic was the epitome of a first-class journeyman in the best sense of the word, but not an all-time great.
The best film that I have found to judge him by is the non-title footage with Freddie Cochrane.

 

When Ray Robinson, Henry Armstrong, Billy Conn and Beau Jack all say that fighting him was like going to boxing university, he must have been pretty good.
On Facebook, look up Pittsburgh Boxing: A Pictorial History. In the last week or so there has been quite a bit about Fritzie and even some about his brothers.

 

Theres a good article out there on his first 2 fights with LaMotta. According to the article Zivic won hands down the first fight but LaMotta got the nod. Second fight Zivic got the nod but it should have went to LaMotta. No info on the last 2 fights. I may start a thread to see if anyone can provide any info that I cant find.

 

1933-12-16 Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA) (pages I5, I6)
Fritz Zivic, Pittsburgh's pride and joy junior welterweight, put on a fast fourth-round spurt to catch the referee's eye in his special-event bout with Vincent Martinez.


1934-01-24 Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA) (pages II9, II12)
Fritzi Zivic, who states with pride that he is the fifth of the famous fighting Zivics, crashed into local fame with a two-round technical kayo over the perennial Baby Sal Sorio in the special.
Zivic, who displayed a nifty left hook, switched suddenly in the second heat and cracked over a right cross that dropped the Baby. Sal took the count of eight, got up, was dropped again, after which Dolan stepped in to save the local welter from further punishment.


1934-02-07 Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA) (page II11)
Fritzie Zivic won a well-deserved six-round decision over Perfecto Lopez, aggressive Mexican, in the special event. In the third frame Zivic clipped Lopez with a right uppercut that blasted the Mexican up against the ropes and put him down for a nine count. Zivic lacked the wallop to stow his foe away, however. Lopez started strongly, copping the first two rounds.


1934-03-07 Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA) (page II9)
Fritzie Zivic and Lloyd Smith fought a six-round draw. Smith plastered Zivic's ribs with a few well-aimed belts.


1934-05-09 Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA) (pages II11, II14)
Fritzie Zivic, of the fighting Pittsburgh Zivics, failed to gain the nod over Lloyd Smith, slugging local welter, for the second successive time when the six-round semi-wind-up between the pair was declared a draw by Referee Frankie Van. The first meeting resulted in a surprise defeat for the battling Fritzie.
The decision last night surprised even the most blase ringsider, as Zivic had a slight to a wide margin in each and every one of the six heats. However, the tempo of the fight, as a whole, was slow, so the unexpected raising of Smith's hand failed to excite the fans much. Fritzie finished fresh as a daisy and unmarked, while Slugger Lloyd was considerably cut up.


1934-05-30 Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA) (pages II7, II9)
Luis Carranza outfought and outgeneraled Fritz Zivic in the special spot, but a weak chin spelled defeat for him. The Pittsburgh welter clipped Luis twice, knocking him down each time to gain the winning margin, a nine-count in the first round and a no-count trip to the resin in the third taking their toll.

 

SRR was referring to Zivic's fouling, he said he could make you so mad you would butt your own eye open.

 

1934-07-03 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, PA) (page 15)
The Zivic family continues to bat a thousand in a fistic way. Last night, it was Fritzie Zivic who entered the squared arena at Hickey Park, Millvale, and at the end of 10 slow rounds with Eddie Ran, veteran Chicagoan, came out with a split verdict.
The decision didn't meet with the approval of the two thousand or more fans who attended, and the booing was loud following the announcement that Fritzie was awarded the verdict, which found Judges Carl Kohen and Stan Phillips voting for him and Referee Al Grayber giving the nod to Ran.
Like his brother Eddie, who fought here last week, Fritzie had a tight squeeze, but unlike Eddie couldn't come through with the last-minute kayo punch. His bout with Ran was a slow-moving affair, and it was indicated early that the younger Zivic was not himself.
He had a slight edge going into the ninth round, but Ran opened up in this session and had Fritzie hanging on for dear life. The Strip lad managed to weather the storm and finished up even with his opponent in the next stanza. Fritzie weighed in at 139 and Ran at 144½.


1934-09-28 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, PA) (page 19)
Fritzie Zivic, of the Strip Zivics, and Harry Carlton, of the Jersey City Carltons, were billed as the headliners in the opening of the local indoor mitt season at the Northside Arena last night, but as far as actual fighting was concerned they wound up behind the "eight ball," or in plainer words, sixth on a six bout card.
Zivic won the unanimous decision of what did occur. The lightweights were lightweights in almost every thing they tried to do, which was so little that the fair sized crowd began loosening up their lungs with protests as early as the second round of the scheduled eight-rounder. And in the third round Referee Orsini became so disgusted with having to listen to the Bronx cheers that he stepped between the lads and warned them to come out of the shell and fight.
Both boys might have been trying their best, but it was a weak effort on the part of both.
They did show signs on sporadic occasions, but not enough to satisfy the growling cash customers and when the boxers came to the center of the ring for the last round there was a general exodus, with as many fans wending their way to the exits as there were in the seats.
In the fifth round Zivic spurted for a minute and upset Carlton with a right to the chin. But the Skeeter State boy was up without taking a count.
Carlton's clumsy style and clinching no doubt ******ed Fritzie's offensive, but nevertheless the joust was terrible, to put it mildly.
The local boy tipped the scale at 138¾ and the visitor 139.

1934-09-28 The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA) (page 46)
In one of the slowest fights seen in these here parts, Fritzie Zivic won a decision over Harry Carlton last night in the opening card of the indoor boxing season in the Northside Arena. The boys didn't do much but give a Garbo-Gilbert exhibition of the Merry Widow Waltz--but of what they did, Zivic did most.
Referee Orsini tried to bolster things up in order to satisfy an obviously dissatisfied clientele, but couldn't do much.

 

1935-02-05 Springfield Daily Republican (Springfield, MA) (page 15)
By J. EARL CHEVALIER
Holyoke, Feb. 4.--Nearly 2500 boxing fans, hungry for the sight of something other than run-of-the-mine fighters, taxed the Valley arena here to capacity tonight and saw Jimmy Leto of Hartford, Ct., methodically wrest a decision from Fritzie Zivic of Pittsburg, Pa., in the 10-round feature bout. The outpouring of the faithful went beyond expectations, bore striking testimony to Jimmy Leto's magnetism and led to the belief that another Golden Era in boxing hereabouts is at hand provided the officials of the Valley arena continue to supply the Paper-city club's clientele with fighters whose names have some appeal.
Back in the Valley arena for the first time in nine months Leto, the Bouncing Benedict, put on one of his usual good shows. The Hartford Italian displayed his habitual willingness to take a couple of punches in order to get inside where he might beat a tattoo on his rival's short ribs and stomach. Leto's hands moved with their usual rapidity and his brain worked faster than that of Zivic, who utterly failed to take advantage of a longer reach. Leto won all three official votes cast and hardly granted as much as one round to his rival, who hails from a family that has given several boys to the boxing game.
Leto weighed 137¾ for tonight's scrap with Fritzie Zivic, while the Pittsburger tipped the scales at 136½. Jimmy seemed a little shy of speed in the opening round but managed to distribute some solid thumps over the anatomy of his opponent. In the second round Leto rocked Zivic by virtue of a right hook to the ribs and left to the head but Fritzie weathered the storm and tagged Leto with a couple of stiff shots prior to the round's end.
Early in the third round Leto sustained a slight cut over his left eye. Encouraged, Fritzie Zivic let loose a series of rights to the head. Undismayed by his foe's attack, even though Zivic has a sharp right hand, Leto waded in for the sake of pounding Fritzie's midriff. Suddenly Jimmy planted a driving right beneath the Pittsburg lightweight's heart. Zivic wilted. He went on the defensive and even resorted to holding to pull himself out of a predicament.
From this point to the finish there were times when one wondered why Manager "Pie" Traynor of the Pittsburg Pirates made repeated overtures to the Phillies for the services of Catcher Al Todd when Fritzie Zivic is within such easy reach. Zivic did not miss many of Leto's offernings. That curved right to the ribs especially bothered Fritzie. More than once it looked as though the Pittsburger, who threw punches only in infrequent spasms, would cave, but he managed to go the distance.

1935-02-05 The Hartford Courant (Hartford, CT) (page 13)
BY ALBERT W. KEANE.
Valley Arena, Holyoke, Mass., Feb. 4.--Jimmy Leto, welcomed back to Holyoke tonight by a crowd of 2500, which jammed the Valley Arena to the rafters, outsmarted and outpunched Fritzie Zivic of Pittsburgh to win the unanimous decision of Referee Phil Pugliese and Judges William Kenney and Jack Cunningham after 10 rounds of lively milling.
The crowd, the largest in a year to watch boxing in the Valley Arena, saw Leto give a convincing display of ring technique against a younger, taller and seemingly harder hitting opponent. Zivic had at least two inches in height on Jimmy, had longer arms and a flashing right hook to the head which carried plenty of power. The Floridian, who makes his home in Hartford, was a bit the heavier, weighing 137¾ this afternoon, while the Pittsburgher tipped the beam at 136½.
For three rounds the youngster from Pittsburgh gave Leto plenty of trouble. His long left hand and his right arm cross scored often and in the third round, just after the action started, Fritzi opened an old cut over Jimmy's left eye with a zipping right to the head. The cut gave Leto little trouble afterwards.
The Hartford resident did not take long to find that the most effective method of fighting Zivic was to throw rights and lefts to the body. Jimmy started a body barrage in the second round and he did not cease firing at Zivic's midsection until the final bell.
Such a method of attack is not as spectacular nor crowd pleasing but is very effective and round by round Zivic weakened and slowed down under the body punishment he was taking. Jimmy drove hard left hooks to the stomach, swung wide and snapping rights to the kidneys and two or three times nearly put Fritzi in the slag with right hand uppercuts to the midsection.
From the fifth round, when Jimmy pulled Fritzie out of position and caught him with seven consecutive rights to the body, the fight was a soft one for Leto. Jimmy shifted his firing range to the head often enough to keep Zivic puzzled and the youngster from Pittsburgh was tired and anxious for the bell long before the tenth round.
Prior to Leto's convincing finish, the young fighter from Pittsburgh had made the going very interesting for Leto. Standing up straight and punching with the same style and class shown in college rings, Zivic scored often. His footwork, which carried him out of range, often made Jimmy miss and look foolish. But nevertheless Jimmy shaded the youngster in the first two rounds, had to fight like mad to get an even break but clinched the fourth with a body attack which had Fritzie on the ropes as the round ended.
Zivic started like a champ in the fifth, catching Jimmy with three rights to the chin before Leto feinted him out of position and swung seven club-like rights to the body without a return. Jimmy carried the sixth round, his most effective blow being a jarring left to the head.
They fought on almost even terms in the seventh, Leto being unsteady and missing many punches while Zivic doubled up and blocked Jimmy's attempts to land on the body. It was Zivic's round but in the eighth Leto opened up at a killing pace and soon had the Pittsburgher backing around the ring trying to keep away from the damaging body blows but a right to the stomach nearly floored him. In the ninth Leto continued to force matters and Zivic tired, grabbed and held whenever he could. In the tenth the Pittsburgher made a flash but he did not have stamina enough to hold off Jimmy's attack.

 

1935-02-18 The Evening Star (Washington, DC) (page A13)
BY FRANCIS E. STAN.
Jabbing Johnny Jadick's chances of becoming Washington's top drawing card and putting professional boxing back on its feet seemed no brighter than the proverbial snowball's prospects in hades today, despite a unanimous victory over Fritzi Zivic in perhaps the easiest fight of the ex-junior welter champion's lengthy career.
In 10 of the dreariest rounds since the Morrie Sherman-Frankie Hughes waltz, Jadick and Zivic last night just about blasted Matchmaker Charlie Cornell's fond hopes of building up the victorious principal--preferably Jadick--for a big shot calculated to open the ourdoor season. All they accomplished in the Washington Auditorium ring, it seemed, was the probable conversion of 695 cash customers to the spreading collegiate fistic faith.
Jadick, who scored a big hit locally a few weeks ago when he whipped the home-town pride, Phil Furr, failed miserably to display any of the form he exhibited previously. In the Furr fight he looked the part of the world champion he used to be. Last night, it seemed, he was looking for a dancing partner. Zivic, last of the fighting Zivics of Pittsburgh and owner of a peanut business and a pants-pressing business, had no business in the ring with Johnny.
The result was an unexpected relapse for professional boxing, which had been sinking into a coma anyway. Jadick, if anybody is interested, weighed 137½; Zivic, 139. Denny Hughes was the referee and Carroll Dunn and Frank Schuyler were the judges. The gate was a mere $876.
The card was not without its entertaining features, however. Early sensing what was to come, the 695 customers and 106 "deadheads" turned the show into one of those neighborhood movie "amateur nights." The amateur angle was in keeping with the tenor of the show, but the talent was much better.
After Jadick had won the first three rounds by freeing himself momentarily of a clinch in the first round, scowling in the second, and walking to his corner faster in the third, the customers stepped in. The fourth round was marked by a solo from the balcony, the gent singing "Let's Fall in Love." In the fifth round a customer in the orchestra rendered a full chorus of "Rockabye Baby" and drew the biggest hand of the night. A duo whistling the "Merry Widow Waltz" featured the seventh round.
Up until the eighth round the ringside customers were kept awake by Referee Hughes' pleas of "Let's have some fight," but Denny went hoarse at this point, and the fans who hadn't walked out already slumbered in peace.
Zivic was credited with only one round--the fourth--on The Star's scoresheet. Three were called even.