The Great One
Versus Two Ton Tony
by Don Drewniak
Two Ton Tony
Galento began his professional boxing career on
his 18th birthday — March 12, 1928 —
with a third round knockout of Floyd Shimarra.
Shimarra had a short career of seven wins and
seven losses. Two Ton's last fight was fought on
December 4th, 1943. It was also a third round KO.
This time his win was against Jack Conley, who
apparently disappeared into the dustbin of boxing
history.
Two Ton
finished with 76 wins, 26 losses and 6 draws.
Notable opponents were Joe Louis, Max Baer, Buddy
Baer, Lou Nova and Arturo Godoy.
Godoy is most
remembered for two fights against World Champion
Joe Louis. The first was held in Madison Square
Garden in February 1940. It went the full 15
rounds. The two ringside judges split their
decisions, while the referee called the bout for
Louis. A good portion of the spectators thought
Godoy won the fight. A rematch was held four
months later with Louis winning by an eighth
round TKO.
While not a
slam dunk, Galento's most notable nickname —
“Two Ton” — most likely was
derived from his days of delivering ice in a
horse drawn wagon. He was once called out by his
cornerman for being late to a fight. His excuse?
“Take it easy, I had two tons of ice to
deliver on my way here.”
Galento was
either 5' 8” or 5' 9” and weighed in
the vicinity of 230 pounds during much of his
boxing career. Hence, it has ofien been
erroneously believed that Two Ton was a reference
to his weight. Other nicknames include The Beer
Barrel That Walks Like a Man, Jersey Nightstick,
One Man Riot, Orange Orangutan and TNT Kid. He
was noted for his outlandish behavior and
unschooled wit.
Gene Tunney
was a light heavyweight champion twice in the
early 1920s and the heavyweight champion from
1926 to 1928. He defeated Jack Dempsey once in
1926 and again in 1927.
When Two Ton
found out that Tunney read Samuel Butler, William
Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw while in
training, he supposedly remarked, “Shakespeare?
I ain't never hearda him. He must be one of dem
European bums. Sure as hell I'll moider dat bum."
To him, nearly
all competitors and opponents, including Joe
Louis, were bums.
His first job
after leaving school was that of working for a
neighborhood iceman. He also shined shoes. By the
time he was fifteen, he owned his own horse and
ice wagon. Two Ton began boxing at the local
Orange, New Jersey YMCA when he was sixteen.
During the Great Depression and prohibition, he
was involved in running a speakeasy and owned a
saloon in Orange by the middle of the decade.
He was a
brawler who primarily fought from an exaggerated
low crouch in order to try to launch his knockout
punch, a powerful left hook. He was extremely
strong, fearless and capable of absorbing
punishment that would have floored most boxers of
his time.
Two Ton fought
three bouts on May 1st, 1932 in Detroit's Olympia
Stadium, He won the first two by round one
knockouts and the third on points. Legend has it
that he drank beer between the fights. A year
later on April 11th, he won a $10 ($230 in today's
inflated money) bet by eating 52 hot dogs. He
went on to knockout Arthur De Kuh in the fourth
round that night. De Kuh finished his boxing
career with 46 wins, 14 losses and 1 draw.
Galento was
featured on the cover the August 1938 issue of
The Ring. The magazine rated him as the number
one heavyweight contender in 1939.
The fight
between heavyweight champion Joe Louis and
Galento was held in Yankee Stadium on June 28,
1939. Most of the experts gave the first round to
Two Ton, primarily because he hit Louis with the
hardest punch. It was his money punch, a left
hook, that staggered Louis.
Galento had
blood dripping from his nose and left eyebrow
early in round two. With time running out, Louis
caught him with a straight right and then a left
to the chin that dropped Two Ton onto the seat of
his pants. He quickly jumped to his feet.
That, in his
106th professional fight, was the first time he
had been knocked down. That alone is a tribute to
the strength and toughness of Galento, especially
since he was known to do a bare minimum of
training. He managed to stay on on his feet for
the rest of the round.
He stunned the
boxing world when he floored Louis with his best
weapon, the left hook, in the third round. The
champion recovered within a second or two. From
then on the fight was all Louis. It ended by a
TKO in the fourth round.
The fight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPrsV5dc_YM.
Less than
three months later, Two Ton fought Lou Nova in
Philadelphia in what has been judged as one of
the dirtiest fights in the history of boxing.
Galento "used his head as a battering ram,
his thumbs to gouge Nova's eyes, and the laces of
his gloves to rake Nova's face...rabbit punches,
kidney punches, and low blows were followed by
verbal abuse." (Robert F. Fernandez Sr., Boxing
in New Jersey, 1900-1999, p. 21)
Both fighters
were bleeding heavily into the fourteenth round
wherein they continually traded left hand punches.
The fight was stopped with 16 seconds left in the
14th round subsequent to Nova having been floored
four times. Two Ton gained a TKO.
Galento did
not fight again until July 2, 1940 when he was
pummeled for seven rounds by former heavyweight
champion Max Baer. The fight was stopped after
the seventh round with Baer awarded a TKO.
Next came
another seventh round TKO. This time it was to
Max Baer's younger brother, Buddy Baer. A month
later, Buddy fought Joe Louis and knocked the
champion out of the ring with a left hook in the
first round. Louis managed to get back in the
ring before the count of ten, though many
observers thought that Louis benefited from a
long count. Baer was leading until the 6th round
when Louis launched a barrage of punches. The
referee disqualified Baer when his manager
stalled before the start of the seventh round.
With the
exception of three exhibition fights against no
opp name opponents in 1943, the Buddy Baer loss
marked the end of Galento's boxing career. He
matriculated to wrestling where he grappled with
the likes of Primo Carnero (a former heavyweight
boxing champion), Man Mountain Dean and Buddy
Rogers. He also fought a 550 pound bear, boxed a
kangaroo and wrestled an octopus in a giant fish
tank. Most likely, the octopus was dead before
the fight began.
During the
1950s, he appeared in four movies: On the
Waterfront (1954), Guys and Dolls (1955),
The Best Things in Life Are Free (1956)
and Wind Across the Everglades (1958).
Enter
The Great One
Music:
Jackie Gleason is most remembered for his
television programs and four of his movies. Often
overlooked is his success in the music industry
during the 1950s and 1960s.
He became
enamored of romance mood music. Music for
Lovers Only, his first album, spent 153
weeks on the Billboard Top Ten Charts.
It is a record that has held to this day. His
first ten albums all sold over a million copies.
Among his melodies were Melancholy Serenade
— the theme song of The Jackie Gleason
Show and You're My Greatest Love
— theme song of The Honeymooners.
Movies:
Beginning in 1941 with Navy Blue (1941)
and ending with Nothing in Common (1986),
Gleason appeared in 27 films. Most notable are The
Hustler in which he played the part of
Minnesota Fats, Requiem for a Heavyweight (beleaguered
boxing manager) and the three Smokey and the
Bandit films (Sheriff Buford T. Justice).
His final film, Nothing in Common, was
released in 1986. Gleason appeared opposite Tom
Hanks. The film was well received and a box
office success.
Television:
Gleason's storied four decades on television
began in 1949 with a guest appearance on Your
Sports Special. His first breakthrough came
in October of that year when he was cast in the
role of Chester A. Riley in the television
adaptation of the radio hit The Life of Riley.
The show ran from October 4th to March 28, 1950.
It was then cancelled despite positive reviews.
Then came one
successful program after another: Cavalcade
of Stars (1950 – 1952), The Jackie
Gleason Show (1952 – 1955, 1956 –
1957, 1958 – 1959 ), The Honeymooners
(1955-1956), The Jackie Gleason Special: The Big
Sell Review (October 9, 1960) followed by The
Jackie Gleason Special: The Million Dollar
Incident (April 21, 1961).
Jackie
Gleason and His American Scene Magazine ran
from September 29, 1962 – June 4, 1966, and
The Jackie Gleason Show spanned September 17,
1966 – September 12, 1970,
Six episodes
of The Honeymooners were scattered from
1976 to 1985.
He made over
one hundred guest appearances. Among the shows
were The Frank Sinatra Show, The Kate Smith
Evening Hour, Arthur Godfrey and His Friends, The
Red Skelton Show, The Jack Benny Program, The
Herb Shriner Show, The Bob Hope Chrysler Theater,
The David Frost Show, The Mike Douglas Show and
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
UFOs: Gleason
was an ardent believer in the existence of flying
saucers to the extent of having a large
collection of books on the subject and a house in
New York constructed in the shape of a flying
saucer.
As a teenager
living in Brooklyn, Gleason was a pool hustler,
an amateur boxer, a carnival barker, a nightclub
bouncer and a genuine tough guy. He began to get
gigs as a stand up comic in nightclubs, mostly
dives. One of those was in Newark, New Jersey, a
short distance from Two Ton Tony’s hometown
of Orange.
Rocky
Marciano: Marciano was the world
heavyweight champion from 1952 to 1956. He hosted
a weekly television show in 1961. One of his
guests was Jackie Gleason. The subject of Gleason's
encounter with Two Ton Tony came up.
Gleason:
“I was working in a joint called the Miami
Club in Newark and it was a real tough joint. As
a matter of fact, they called it the Bucket of
Blood. And one night I was doing a show and there
was a little, fat bald headed guy at the late
show. And everytime I came out to introduce an
act or tell a joke, he would say something
derisive, you know nasty.
“I was
twenty-two at the time and I said to the owner of
the joint, 'That guy is driving me nuts. If he
doesn't stop, I'm going to take care him.”
“So, I
came out another time and he began to heckle. And
I said, 'Ladies and gentlemen, will you excuse me
for a moment? I would like to invite this
gentleman to step out on Clinton Avenue and I
will take good care of him and then we can do the
show without any interruptions.”
“I never
saw anyone get up as fast as this guy did. Now we
went out on Clinton Avenue. I said, 'Now you're
go'... And that's the last I remember.
“The next
thing I recall, I was on the floor of the cellar
next to the furnace. A doctor was there, the
owner of the joint and they brought me to. I said
who was that guy?”
“That was
Tony Galento.”
“I said,
'Did you know that was Tony Galento?'”
“Yah.”
“But why
didn't you tell me?”
“You're a
wise guy so I let you go up against him.”
Speakng to
Marciano: “That was a big mistake. Did you
ever fight him?”
“No,
Jackie, but you picked on the roughest, toughest
street fighter in the fight game.”
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