I like Tony Zale. He was a gritty working class fighter. He had a hell of a left hook. His annihilation of Rocky Graziano in the rubbermatch is one of the most spectacular knockouts I have ever seen. But I have some questions. Zale's early record is pretty bad. Did he have any amateur experience? Was he working at the time and couldn't devote enough time to training? In 1939 his career takes off, and he does beat some big names, but most of his wins (and even some losses) are against fighters who do not sport impressive records. After Zale came back from the war, except for Graziano and Cerdan, he fought nobody of much count. So his knockout streak was against journeymen or worse. What do you guys think about Zale? How competitive was his era? Does he make it into the top 10 best middleweights? Top 20?
For his pre war wins over Al Hostak , Fred Apostoli, Steve Mamakos, and George Abrams, Zale might warrent consideration for an all time top ten ranking.Even his losses around the same time were to very formidible guys like Billy Soose and Billy Conn, that wouldn't seem to diminish him much. In his early career he was mismanaged and often fought hurt or unprepared.Zale was fighting without the benefit of a protective promoter or a savvy matchmaker.He was one of hundreds of guys trying to scrape a living together in an era of hard times.So basically, Tony fought anybody, anytime, and back then ,when there were a lot of hungry , desperte fighters around to exploit any weaknesses or apathy, a surprise loss was not too uncommon.But Tony battled back from his early failures, and became champion.If not for WWll , Tony would have had an easier career to evaluate, but considering everything, if Zale isn't a top ten all time middleweight, he's certainly in the top 15.
I like Zale he is a by word for toughness and guts ,but there are a few dangerous black middles conspicous by their abscence on his record,I think he was pretty much shot after the war,otherwise the Graziano series wouldnt have happened ,Zale was a hard man who could hit especially with his left hook but he could be outboxed,top 15,maybe even no 10but in place of who?
However you choose to rate Tony Zale on the balance of his career, one thing you have to admit, that the rubber match knockout of Rocky Graziano was a thing of sheer, brutal beauty. A picture book left hook ko if I've ever seen one. Funny, that left hook gets overlooked so much when talking about alltime ko's or all time left hooks, but that one ranks right up there. He was a killing machine that night. All business and no nonsense. I'm always impressed when I see it.
