Hi everybody, I wanted to mention an old friend of mine. He was a fighter from the 20's and 30's. He should have gotten a shot at the title, but never did. He sparred with Gene Tunney right thru to Joe Louis. He beat Jimmy Braddock in the papers. He beat Two Ton as well. Rest in Peace, Paul, you always were a champ to me.
I knew Paul very well. When he passed away, I had the honor of giving the Eulogy and "9" Count at his wake. I took him to all the boxing functions during the last several years of his life. For his 85th birthday, I arranged a surprised party and I presented him with a World Championship belt saying, Paul Cavaliere, the Uncrowned Heavyweight Champion of the World. After his boxing career, he became one of the top referees and years later a boxing judge.
I was just about to say, didnt he become a top referee? What prevented him from getting a shot? Injury? Avoidance?
yes, I came across an old magazine article about his career written when he was active as a referee. he wanted to break into newyork as a reff but aparently he had trouble getting "invited". big time boxing could be a "closed shop". He did ref the last zale-graziano fight.
