Tony Zale vs the MW of the last 30 yrs

No doubt a very tough man.
What kept him on his feet so long against Cerdan must have just been pride and will power.:good

 

"...Zale fought black opponents before he went into service, and when he came out of the Navy after 4 years living on Navy pay and at the age of 32 ,needing money, Zale fought the top boxing draws in the MW division."

Well said Burt. Before I forget, I noticed a comment in this thread saying that Soose defeated Zale twice. They only fought once. As a possible point of interest, in 1937 when Zale resumed his professional career he was working out in black gyms after he had difficulty finding men who were willing to spar with him in the predominantly white gyms and as his reputation began to spread throughout Northwest Indiana and South Chicago there was a period of time when Tony was referred to in those gyms as the "Dark Town Destroyer?"

I'm working and have neither the time nor the desire to spend a lot of time defending him in this thread. All I'd end up doing is repeating a lot of material from the book that his nephew Thad Zale and I wrote about him anyway.

I'll just say that I strongly disagree with a lot of what's being said about Zale here and that Burt and I are very much on the same page on this subject.

 

And Ray Robinson COULD have if he wanted to give a deserved money shot to a Cocoa kid, Holman Williams, Charley Burley, Kid Tunero etc if he were so inclined but he NEVER did.
And a Joe Louis, great as he was COULD have somehow given a money bout to some deserving black heavyweights such as Harry bobo, Lem Franklin,
Lee Q Murray, Elmer Ray etc who were every bit as good as most of Louis's
white opponents, but his braintrust never did...Why is there always a double standard with some fighters and not others ? Tony Zale was as brave a fighter who ever lived. He did fight several black opponents during the beginning of his career such as Nate bolden, Qscar Bulldog Harris, Milton Shivers, Jimmy Clark and others I am sure. Who of you doubters could say that if Zale did not lose 4 prime years serving in the Navy, He would not have fought a SRR who also was a huge gate attraction ??? Should you blame Zale who lost 4 prime years in the Navy, when discharged at age 32 ,then getting a few tuneup fights before tackling the greatest ring attraction of that time
{I should know] Rocky Graziano 3 times, and finally making a great amount of money...??? Hell I don't...Boxing was and is foremost a business, and some boxers are targeted most unfairly whilst others get a pass. T'aint fair !

 

I haven't attacked him.I don't know how many of his pre war opponents were black ,and I gave him a pass for his post war record because, like Burt I think he knew he was past his best and was looking to make some much needed money before Father Time finally dropped his scythe on his career.
That said, he did not fight any of those I listed.
He isn't on his own there Apostoli didn't either, nor Hostak,but,and it's a big but;
Apostoli fought:
Abrams
Overlin
Zale
Steele x2
Corbettx2
Thil
Kriegerx2
Brouillard
Risko
Connx2
Garcia
Seelig
Lee x3


Hostak fought:
Kreiger x2
Steele
Risko
Zale x3
Raadik
Lee
Overlin
Mathews
Belloise
To imply either were 2 protected fighters is unjustified, besides there wasn't so many top black fighters at middleweight in the middle to late 30's.Richards, Bolden, and Marshall in39, that's about it.

 

Bottom Line: zale did not fight the best of his era drew the colorline and did not take on the top black murderers row fighters

 

Why do you old-timers insist on making this a moral referendum on Zale's character? Doesn't matter why he didn't fight them... And I've gone on record criticizing the Louis' quality of opposition during his title reign, so I'm all for throwing him under the bus too.

 

Zale did not fight ANY of the black murders row! Not one!

 

Hagler L
Kalambay L
Hearns:think
Nunn W
Mugabi W
Graham L
McCallum :think
DuranW
BarkleyW
OladjideW
Collins W
BennW
AbrahamW
TaylorW
Martinez:think
SibsonW
ShulerW
Jackson JW
JacksonJD W
SturmW
PavlikW
JoppyW
WrightW
KinchenW
McClellan :think
WatsonW
EubanksW
27 opponents 20 wins 3 losses 4 undecided.

 

The difference is so apparent S, if you were truly unbiased...
Rocky Marciano. Jake LaMotta, Benny Leonard did NOT lose FOUR of their prime years in the service...TONY ZALE DID.
Living on Navy pay for 4 years S, what would you have done to
make up this money deficiency when you at 32 rusty and past your peak ? Would you not feel obligated to yourself and your family to finally make up for the loss of finances for 4 years
SERVING your country ? Would you not have taken the great money match with the greatest MW ring attraction in the world ?
I was around those days and Rocky Graziano was the match that would draw mayby 3 times the amount of money any other MW
contender would have netted Zale. So Zale took this match with the tremendously popular Graziano and their 3 bouts were the greatest MW series in history, for I think one reason. Tony Zale at this stage of his career was half the fighter he was before he went into the Navy...The prime Zale would have flattened Rocky much sooner...As would have the middleweights of his prime before WW2, Freddie Steele, Fred Apostoli, Al Hostak, Solly Kreiger, Billy Conn etc. But to defame a great fighter Tony Zale who Served his country for years honorably, and when discharged way past his peak, chose to fight the best money making attraction of that long ago time so he could recoup his finances is sheer revisionism. Well S I'm not aboard...

 

"Zale did not fight ANY of the black murders row! Not one!"

Which opportunity of equal or larger dollar amount did his management team turn down from any promoter to fight one of those men during his career?

 

I'm an old-timer sir, and I'm PROUD of it !

 

All white guys. Not one mention of the black murders row like Charley burley Holman Williams Lloyd Marshall ezzard Charles Archie Moore Eddie booker cocoa kid Bert Lyell Jack chase.....these were the best of the early 40s

 

Nice post.