Tony Galento --- today. I would say he would be up there. He would knock Joe Mesi out --- thats for sure.
He'd lose so many fights by DQ, he'd be banned in most places. The guy could hit, and he take a punch. He didn't train much though, if at all. (There's a good story about when Dempsey was managing him, and Jack came into Stillman's one day, and Tony's loafing around in the ring, Jack says "Are you gonna do some work today?", and Tony just starts making small-talk and joking and loafing some more. Jack asks him again, and Tony just brushes it off, and this goes on until Dempsey gets so pissed off he takes off his jacket and tie, puts on some gloves, and gets in the ring and gives Tony a real bad pasting, until Galento is begging him to stop. Eventually Dempsey lets up, and says something like, "Now, that's how we used to fight, you lazy bum. That's how we used to rip it up in my day!". I think that marked the end of their manager-fighter relationship.) I read that in a book about Ray Arcel. I sometimes think of Tony Galento as what Rocky Marciano could have been if he didn't have his amazing work ethic.
He would get destroyed by anybody in the top 50, at least. He'd be one of those guys prospects beat up on the way up. I'm not one of these people who think that modern fighters are automatically better, or that the old-timers couldn't be competitive in the modern game - but in Galento's case, it applies. He's too small, too fat, too out of shape, and too dirty.
Funny, that's exactly the sort of guy I was thinking of. :nod Truthfully, Butler is about the best he could hope for. Garing Lane would be more likely, imo.
I remember reading on another site (CBZ) that Ron Lipton saw Galento hit the heavybag harder than Liston did with a thunderous left hook...When he was a diabetic old man and in bad health...
Yeah, I read where Ron wrote that too. There's no doubt that Galento had incredible power. He knocked guys out of the ring, knocked guys flying, out cold. No one should under-estimate Galento as a power-puncher. He hit hard, no question. People need to factor that in before they dismiss him out of hand, and consider that he was tough as hell too. He was fat and crude but he was no 4-round fighter, he was a legit fighter and a danger man.
Galento is no better than Sam Peter. I'd imagine Peter would school him, actually. Galento was a fat bum, hyped by Louis fans, mainly. He wasn't anything special in any way. History is full of figthers who can take a punch and hit like a mule. Galento is one of the lesser ones. I don't think he'd make the top 20. A guy like Brock or even old Holyfield should and probably would make him look ridiculous.
