Watching Louis v. Galento, and thats! The knockdown everyone talks about!

Also forgotten is that Galento was ringing Joe's house spewing racist abuse. This had Louis riled up badly and he fought a looser fight than was normal, with good reason too.

 

Here's a great Tony Galento story -

https://newarkmemories.com/memories/369.php

My dream had come true, I was employed Friday and Saturday nights to work behind the counter at the Pokerino Palace. The manager hired me in spite of being underage, as I was very bright. This was another way of saying that I would be paid below the legal minimum wage.

Things went along without incident the first two weeks and then disaster struck on the third Friday.

A heavy set woman was playing and one of her balls got stuck between two others. The rule, as posted was that the ball was to be returned to the player. I was told by the woman to place the ball in an Ace hole which would give her three aces and a winning hand. I pointed to the rule and returned the ball to her. She stood up, threatened me with a bad beating and left.

Another worker in the Palace told me that the woman was Tony Galento's wife and that I was in deep trouble. Tony Galento was better known as Two Ton Tony because of his squat build with a large stomach. Tony was a heavyweight boxing contender and was scheduled to fight Joe Louis in a few weeks for the heavyweight title.

A few minutes later the woman returned with Tony, pointed to me and said, "That's the one, Tony."

Two Ton came rushing at me uttering curses and saying he was going to kill me. I took off for the back door with Tony in hot pursuit. I was able to go right out the back door, but Tony had to get over the counter I was behind. He made a good jump for a man his size and shape but luckily for me his toes caught on the counter and he went down on his face.

While running across the park I would glance back and could see that I was easily outrunning my pursuer. I found a good hiding spot behind a trash can next to a custard stand. Two Ton never found me.

About fifteen minutes later I returned to the Palace and learned that I no longer had a job. The manager explained that if either Mr. or Mrs. Two Ton came back and saw me there Tony would take the place apart.

A few weeks later the big fight took place and I was among the millions of radio listeners. Needless to remark I rooted for Joe Louis. Each punch Joe landed was for me. The fight was stopped with Louis being the winner by a TKO. I couldn't have been happier.

In later years Two Ton became a wrestler, had an act in which he wrestled an octopus and ended his career owning a bar in Orange, N.J.

Many times I passed his bar and often thought of stopping in. I never did though as one thought always hit me, Suppose he's still angry?

 

Totally agree that the KD has been somewhat overhyped.

If it actually defined Louis as much as some would have it, then Joe wouldn’t have enjoyed the breadth and length of the successes that he did enjoy - and that very breadth and length simply increased the statistical probabilities of a few trips - aka Louis suffering a flash KD, as that clearly was.

But for that glitch, Louis did pulverise and stop Galento in impressive fashion.

 

Marshal was a LHW.

Douglas was a fringe contender with 4 losses, hence the odds being 49-1

Rahmen was all right. By then he had losses to Tua and Maskeav, and his best win was probably Corrie Sanders. Hardly, "really good."

 

Awesome story. That’s what this place is all about. Thanks man.

 

He wasn't when he fought Liston. Unless Ezz Charles, Gene Tunney, Mike Spinks, etc. were.

Anyone with eyeballs knew that Douglas had the physical goods. He also beat Page, Berbick, McCall, Cobb... The 49-1 was BS as proven by, well, reality.

Rahman holds a victory over the greatest head to head heavyweight of all time.

Compared to Tony Galento, these guys were untouchable.

 

His natural weight, and the wight that he was a ranked contender, was 175. It's pretty paradoxical that a fighter that is held up as one of the head-to-head GOATS had his jaw broken by a natural LHW, and the fact that some people just refuse to come out and call that for what it is shows a bit of the depth of denial on here.

Which he never capitalized on before Tokyo, or after. This is a SHOCKING rewrite of history. You understand 49-1 odds, right?

You are spectacularly failing to put the cart and horse in the right order, here. We are talking about this being an embarrassing moment for Lewis. You are citing Lewis as an example of how good Rahmen is. Tautological. Yes, he caught lighting in a bottle and re-denied his legacy somewhat, although, like with Douglas, he would never be that good again. But at the time it was a humbling loss to a fringe contender.

 

Terrible post. Hypocritical as well - you know better.

Liston was having his 8th pro fight. His amateur career lasted less than a year. Marshall had 27 pro bouts under his belt. Just two fights later Liston belted the living christ out of Marshall. He did it again 5 fights down the track. Marshall ko'd Bob Satterfield a handful of fights after Satterfield had KO'd Cleveland Williams. Marshall beat Satterfield just 2 fights after he beat Liston.

Anyone can break anyone else's jaw. It's virtually irrelevant.

You don't get to play the denial card when you are including Usyk's cruiserweight career in a desperate effort to elevate his Heavyweight stature.

 

Totally agree. It was, however, a clean shot, and he etched his place in boxing lore with that flash KD. Galento probably wouldn't be mentioned much at all on this forum if that fight unfolded the way it probably would have 99 times out of 100, with Louis dissecting him with no problems. Aside from maybe Ketchel-Johnson, I can't think of another flash KD in a losing effort that did more to basically immortilize a guy like Galento's of Louis.

I'm not exactly a fan of Tony, but I have to give that fool credit, he did take some insane abuse and still managed to hang in and make it a watchable, memorable fight despite the huge gap in skills between him and Louis. The fact it still gets talked about 86 years later says a lot.

 

Lol, terrible posts. I don't see too many supermen having their jaws broken by natural LHWs, even in their eight fight. Satterfield was a LHW himself, and was knocked out even my middle Lamotta. Hardly a durable guy.

Again, shows the level of denial. It was an embarrassing moment.

 

You don't understand how anyone can have their jaw broken? Seriously? I know a cop way over 6 feet that had his jaw broken by one punch. The bloke that broke it was a comparative puss. It happens. Are you trying to magnify the result due to a broken jaw? Why did Norton break Ali's jaw, but not Foreman, Liston and Shavers? If it's some sign of weakness, or significant why did it never happen again despite Liston fighting bigger and better men? Bizarre.

I get it, you see Liston's resume as the first domino you can topple on your way to getting Usyk to the top of the heavyweight tree. Maybe try sitting back and letting it happen vs forcing it.

 

Dear god...

What LHW broke Lennox Lewis's jaw? Or Foreman's? Or Mike Tyson's?

It's not hard to understand that it is a low point for a heavy to have his jaw broken by a career LHW.

 

Marshall had about 11 fights at light heavyweight and 29 at heavyweight. Career light heavyweight?

If you think a fluke broken jaw is significantly resume defining (in their 8th fight mind lol) then i truly don't know what to say. I've dumbed it down as much as i can.

 

Galento was a top contender three years in a row per the Ring, once as #1. He had outstanding chin, nuclear left hook (if nothing else), was absolutely dirty, tough as nails, and while not overtly technical or nuanced in his game, had strong aspects of his game which carried him through along with natural attributes. Some posts would make you believe he was an obese clown who was ranked so high because some writers wanted a funny conspiracy to laugh at years down the road. That's not true. He was an underrated, dangerous clown.

 

The reason that Galento was number 1 contender is that Lou Nova beat Max Baer and Farr for him and then he "beat" Nova. Braddock and John Henry Lewis were gone and Farr and Schmeling were about to be gone. During Louis's era the would be "number 1 contender" rarely snuck around long after losing to Louis. Later on Godoy went back to South America, Buddy retired right after the Louis fights.

The HW division was great in this era there was around 40 fighters you could justify putting in the top 10. But the ring rankings kinda sucked and don't do this period justice at all. The same with the late 30s. They were constantly putting head scratchers in the top 10. At HW this was their worst era for rankings.

Galento wasn't a bum but he was closer to the bottom of Louis's list of title opponents than to the top. He had talent and not anyone could have done what he did but he was a weight bully and a dirty fighter.