two ton tony galento....

1. Battling Bozo? So he went down without being hit. So did Ron Lyle against Cooney--oh yeah, there was that brutal shot to the ribs. Bozo was, if you will pardon me, a bozo. He might have dumped it but who cares and who really knows. He was a tomato-can.

2. This business about where Galento had his fights seems a stretch. Galento was managed by Harry Mendel. Mendel was the silent partner of John Chapman, who ran bike and dog racing in New Jersey back in the thirties. Chapman owned venues so it is not surprising he put on wrestling, boxing, etc, on off nights, and it is not be surprising that he kept a stable of fighters available to fill his programs.

3. Someone picked Buddy Baer, a California fighter in an era when hardly anyone lived in California except in San Francisco and LA, to compare to Galento. I selected at random Lem Franklin. He had 48 fights, 25 in Chicago and almost all the other ones in nearby midwest venues.

4. Anyway, on his march to the title, Galento fought in order in New Jersey, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Madison Square Garden, St Louis, Minneapolis, New Jersey, Detroit, and Miami. I don't see that much of a pattern.

5. Galento was not that highly thought of. Dan Daniel wrote in the June, 1939, issue of Ring:

"It has been the contention of this magazine that Galento has not shown enough fighting skill and a record sufficiently impressive to warrant his being matched with Joe Louis.
"It has been the contention that Galento has not done anything to merit a big outdoor fight with Louis, at big, outdoor prices.
"But the public seems to want this fight, even if it does go only two rounds."

Daniel tells how Mendel sold Galento with a clever publicity campaign, going so far as to hire Hollywood writers to write some funny "tough guy" dialogue to give to Galento for quotes. The beer and hot dog stories might be largely press agentry.

Daniel also pointed out the "who else is there" argument. Nova was the top contender, but his people wanted to wait and season him before matching him with Louis. Louis had already slaughtered Baer and Max would be a hard sell. Farr had lost fight after fight. Galento became the opponent by default.

And a last interesting point from Daniel about Galento and his place in history:

"As a matter of fact, is this Galento match so much worse, let us say, than the Dempsey affair with Georges Carpentier?
"The Gallic Orchid Man was much too small and light for Jack. But Rickard saw the big chance. Carpentier had fought in the World War. The memories of that struggle were fresh in the public mind.
"So Carp was built up into the great opponent for the American mauler. It was the battle of the century.
"Carpentier was hidden away at Manhasset, Long Island, in a training camp that was closed to the writers. The wily Jack Curley, handling the Frenchman, knew that if the experts glimpsed the Orchid Man in action and knew he scaled little more than 165 pounds, they would deride the match into a flop."

 

I don't know but Tammy and Two Ton were in this scene..."Definitely."

 

goddamn you people astound me with your lack of any knowledge of the fistic sports and their history. Galento was very quick, as JOE LOUIS stated immediately and again some thirty years after his collision with him.

Sure, Wlad would kill him but for the 5 percent chance that Galento, an amateur prodigy lest you forget, ever connected. If so,lights out.

 

Solid post. Glaento was a joruneyman ranked for the wrong reasons who became famous for having Joe Louis in some trouble.

 

Watching Louis against Galento I can't help but give Frazier a quite comfortable edge against Louis in an imaginary match-up between the two.

 

Maybe at first sight they seem resemble, but further analysis shows quite a few significant differences between them.

First of all, Frazier is a slow starter who applies constant pressure, always going forward but not at great speed. A swarmer. Galento on the other hand, starts fast and is comfortable staying on the outside, biding his time, then suddenly attacking with left hooks. A puncher. On top of that, Galento probably has better one-punch power than Frazier and also takes a better shot.

 

But Galento did a good job of crowding Louis in the first round, though.
Louis himself said that he didn't like to be crowded and the fight against Galento shows this. I know that Galento and Frazier was quite different fighters, but it is how Louis looked when crowded that makes me favour Frazier over him.

Louis seemed to have some trouble getting his punches off. And even if Frazier was a slow starter he was faster in the first round than Galento was against Louis, I would say. And his defence was MUCH better. Most importantly, he wouldn't fade as the rounds progressed as Galento did. Quite the opposite.

Louis could of course hurt Frazier early and finish him off. But if there was some way to match the Frazier of 1969-1971 with the Louis of ca 30 years prior my money would be on Joe.

 

You're right. I did a google search on the film, and those guys that you listed were part of the cast.

 

Thanks for the compliment, but in all fairness I wouldn't call Tony Galento a journeyman. He was actually a decent fighter, who probably deserved to be rated for a short period of time. I will say however, that the Ring having him at #4 like Janitor claims, seems a bit high to me. Furthermore, I don't see how he'd stand much of a chance in future heavyweight eras, including the current one. His style, physical conditioning, and mixed results against questionable opposition does not warrant giving him the benefit of the doubt in my book. He might have been a respectable high end journeyman, or a brief fringe contender in other periods of the game, but the thought of him winning a title in 2008, is beyond my imaginative capabilities.....

 

That was the position of Ring Magazine and Dan Daniel in 1939.


One reason I wouldn't get very excited about an argument that Galento benefited from fixed fights is that Galento fought to a certain predictable level. When he moved up, he lost throughout his career. For example, Al Gainer, at 168 pounds, stopped the 220 pound Galento in 4 in 1936. Arturo Godoy beat him twice in 1937. Except for the foul-filled upset of Nova, Galento never proved himself against the top men. Most of his victories were against over-the-hill fringe contenders.

 

I can imagine Galento defeating Maskaev.

 

Nothing is totally out of the question of course. Anything can happen when two big punchers get in the ring and decide to trade early ( a likely scenario between Maskaev and Galento. ) I will say however, that Maskaev has been pretty well proven against decent comp for most of his career. Sure, he had some bad losses to men like Corey " T-rex " Sanders, but if you go back to his prospect days, he was fighting a fairly tough schedule and did quite well. Also, winning a belt at the age of 37 against a reasonably tough Rahman, was a notable feat. Overall, I think Oleg Maskaev is a bit more proven than Galento was, but the difference is probably marginal.

 

I would favor Maskaev, but he managed to grab a belt at 37 and with a weak enough jaw that I think Galento has a chance against him. Galento has a big edge in durability. Whatever else, he could take it much better than Maskaev. The 37 to 39 year old Maskaev was the champion that Galento would have to beat, not the young Maskaev.

 

Agreed.

 

By no stretch of the English language could Gallento be described as a journeyman.