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Tony Canzoneri (November 6 1908-December 91959)
was an Italy|Italian-United States|American
boxing|boxer who was born in the town of Slidell,
Louisiana. 

Canzoneri was one of the members of the exclusive
group of boxing world champions who have won
titles in three or more divisions. 

When he was a teenager, he and his family moved to
New York, where he campaigned most of his career.
Canzoneri fit the mold of the typical American
boxer of the era: He could box up to three or four
times in one month and up to 24 or 25 times in one
year, and he would seldom fight outside New York
City, considered to be boxing's mecca at the time.
As a matter of a fact, of his first 38 bouts, only
one was fought west of New York City, and that one
was in New Jersey. 

Canzoneri won his first title, the world's
Featherweight title, with a 15 round decision over
Benny Bass on February 10 1928. He retained that
title one time, and then went up in weight and
challenged world Lightweght champion Sammy
Mandell, losing by a decision in ten rounds. But
in 1930, Mandell was knocked out in the first
round by Al Singer to lose his title, and
Canzoneri, who had already beaten Singer by a ten
round decision before, challenged Singer for the
title on November 14, 1930, knocking him out in
the first too to become a two division world
champion. In defeat, Singer made history by
becoming the first man, and only man up until
nowadays, to both win and lose the title by
knockout in the first round. 

Canzoneri's first defense was a unification of
sorts: He faced world Jr. welterweight champion
Jack Kid Berg, who was putting his Jr.
Welterweight title on the line and trying to take
Canzoneri's Lightweight title away. Canzoneri
became a three division world champion by knocking
Berg out in the third round, on their fight held
on April 24, 1931. Canzoneri, Barney Ross and
Henry Armstrong were the only boxing champions in
history to be allowed to hold two or more world
titles simultaneously (Sugar Ray Leonard won both
the vacant world's Super Middleweight and the
world's Light Heavyweight title in one night in
1988, but he had to choose only one to keep and he
chose to keep the Super Middleweight belt).

Canzoneri lost his world Jr. Welterweight
championship to Johnny Jadick, and he lost to
Jadick again in a rematch. Meanwhile, Canzoner
kept retaining his lightweight belt, against the
likes of Billy Petrolle and his brother, Frankie
Petrolle. 

Jadick lost his belt to Battling Shaw, and
Canzoneri once again challenged for the world Jr.
Welterweight crown while keeping his Lightweight
belt. He beat Shaw by decision and recovered the
world Jr. Welterweight championship. In his next
bout, versus Ross, he lost bot belts, when Ross
beat him by a ten round decision. There was an
immediate rematch, and Ross won again, this time
by decision in 15. 

Canzoneri kept fighting and winning, and on May
10, 1935, he found himself in a ring for a world
title again, this time against Lou Ambers, who had
earned the world Lightweight title that once had
belonged to Canzoneri. Canzoneri once again won
the world's Lightweight title by outpointing
Ambers over 15 rounds. After successfully
defending his Lightweight belt once, he lost it
again, in a rematch with Ambers, by a decision in
15. There was a rubber match between the two, and
Ambers once again won a decision in 15 rounds. 

Canzoneri went on boxing professionally until
1939, but he never again challenged for a world
title. Among other world champions that he beat
were Frankie Klick, Baby Arizmendi, Jimmy McLarnin
and Kid Chocolate.

Canzoneri had a record of 141 wins, 24 losses, 10
draws and 3 no decisions (during his era, many
states and countries still had no scoring on
boxing fights, so each time a fight would go the
scheduled distance on any of those areas where
scoring was still not being held, the fight would
be declared a no-decision). He had 44 knockouts.

He is a member of the International Boxing Hall Of
Fame.