Willie Pep - would his fans please justify his placement in their top all time lists

Very well put, M. You're a keen student of the game It's exactly what an opponent faced.

 

John, if you'll allow me to ask, what struck you most about Willie? What was he like in flesh and bones? What kind of man was he? Thank you.

 

I could go on for days about him, D. I shudder to think how good he'd have been if all meant anything to him.

It was all about the laughs, the horses, the broads, and the booze for Willie. Like his good buddy Graziano, he was just a goombah hangin' out on the corner. Everything he did in the ring was God-given -- could do it from day one. He only came to the gym to kibbitz.

For those who knew him, he wasn't so much a boxer but a stand-up comic 24/7.

 

Thank you! This is exactly the kind of impression that I had of him, and some more other old-time greats...they had different values back then, they saw life in a different way...they were less mercenary and machine-like...or am I looking back trough tinted glasses?

 

Tinted glasses.

 

You reckon? I think they had more fun back then, and knew what was really important in life. They didn't think of themselves as gods...just fortunate men, and filled life to the brim and drank it all down.

 

I can't make a sweeping statement like that about all of them, but more than a fair share fell outta gin mills to flatten opponents, like Lou Jenkins.

 

Pep was great, I mean he wouldn't do anything like say....wait 12-13 years into his pro career before facing a world titlist/champion.

 

Behaviour like this has no place in our englightened Communist regime.

 

Well put, Willie was amazing, his record was 183 -5 -1 when he lost to LuLu Perez....Pep was 62-0 when he lost his 1st fight to his paisan Sammy Engott (SAMMY ENGOTTI) he had a record or 134-1-1 already when he fought 86-5 Sandy Sadler and he beat many great fighters

 

They were boxers sure, but they knew how to live life. They didn't suffer from the overly-high self-regard that turns so many celebrities these days into monstrous automata. This must have been advantageous sometimes.

(I am guessing, alas!...maybe John will tell it how it was!)

 

Personally I think Angott is extremely underrated, even if he was a bit boring to watch.

 

I'm tryin' to imagine how Harry Greb, Mickey Walker, Lou Jenkins, and Fritzie Zivic would have reacted if you'd pointed out how "self-destructive" their drinking was.

 

Hmmm, those cold winter nights [in Siberia??] spent in self-flagellating self-criticism! Lovely!:smooch