Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Tony Galento (b. March 12, 1910, d. July 22, 1979)
was a cigar chomping, beer guzzling American
heavyweight boxer. Nicknamed "Two Ton Tony" for
his beer-barrell physique, Galento was one of the
most colorful fighters in the history of the
sport. He wrestled an octopus, and boxed a
kangaroo as publicity stunts for his fights. He
also attempted to make some money by boxing a 550
lb. bear, as a stage attraction.  When asked if he
knew who Shakespeare was, Galento replied: "I
ain't never heard of him. I suppose he's one of
them foreign heavyweights. They're all lousy. Sure
as hell I'll moider de bum." 

Galento was a "no holds barred" brawler, with a
wicked left hook, who never let such niceties as
the ring rules, or sportsmanship, interfere with
his goal to knock out the other fighter. During
his prime years as a boxer, Galento owned and
operated a bar in Orange, New Jersey|Orange, New
Jersey. He was reputed to do his roadwork, after
he closed the bar at 2:00 a.m.. When asked why he
trained at night, Galento replied "Cuz I fight at
night". Not that Galento ever really trained
properly for his fights. In fact, Galento, who
claimed to be 5'9 tall, liked to weigh in at about
235 lbs for his matches. He achieved this level of
fitness by eating whatever, whenever he wanted. A
typical meal for Galento consisted of six
chickens, a side of spaghetti, all washed down
with a half gallon of wine, or beer, at one
sitting. When he did go to training camp, he
foiled his trainers attempts to modify his diet
and terrorized his sparring partners by eating
their meals in addition to his.

He was reputed to train on beer, and allegedly ate
52 hot dogs on a bet before facing heavywieght
Arthur DeKuh. Galento was supposedly so bloated
before the fight that the waist line of his trunks
had to be slit for him to fit into them. Galento
claimed that he was sluggish from the effects of
eating all those hot dogs, and that he could not
move for three rounds. Nevertheless, Galento
knocked out the 6'3 DeKuh with one punch, a left
hook, in the fourth round.

On 6/28/39 Galento fought for the heavyweight
championship of the world against the redoubtable,
all time great heavyweight champion, Joe Louis. At
this time Louis was a virtual fighting machine and
heavily favored (8 to 1) to stop Galento. Galento
was not impressed. In a pre-fight interview,
Galento summed up his perspective on the fight as
follows: Reporter: Tony, what do you think your
chances are against Joe Louis? Galento: Joe who?
Reporter: Joe Louis. Galento: I never hoid of da
bum.

He, also, predicted that he would "moida da bum",
and would telephone Louis to personally inform him
that he was a bum and that Galento would "moida
him." To show that he was serious and properly
prepared for the Louis fight, Galento stated that
he didn't drink anything (i.e. beer, wine or
whiskey) for two days before the bout.

The two fought in Yankee Stadium in New York. The
short, balding Galento stunned the crowd, and his
opponent, by staggering and hurting Louis with a
powerful left hook in the first round. In the
second round, Louis began hitting Galento with
vicious combinations, opened a cut in Galento's
mouth and floored the challenger with a powerful
left hook that actually lifted Galento off his
feet. This was the first time Galento had ever
been knocked down in his professional career. In
the third round, Louis again was hitting Galento
with beautiful, precise combinations, when Galento
caught him with a wild left hook. This time Louis
went down. Louis, however, got up quickly, but
took no chances for the remainder of the round.
The fourth round was brutal for Galento, who
really had no defense and was wide open for Louis'
assault. Louis hit him with murderous combinations
which forced the referee to finally stop the bout.
After the fight, Galento blamed his corner for the
loss. He contended that his trainers convinced him
to change his style, and fight cleanly. Galento
always regretted that he didn't fight "his" fight
and foul Louis.

Galento's other two famous fights were with former
champion Max Baer, and contender Lou Nova. The
Nova fight is reputed to be one of the dirtiest
and bloodiest fights ever fought. Nova was knocked
down five times. Both fighters, kneed, gouged, hit
below the belt, and on at least two knockdowns,
Galento "fell" with his 230 lb (104 kg) on Nova,
knees first. Galento finally knocked Nova out in
the 14th round.

Galento's fight with Max Baer ended when the
referee stopped the bout in the eight round. On
the day of the Baer fight, Galento decided to
first stop off at his bar. There he had a big bowl
of spaghetti, with meat balls, washed down with
half a case of beer. After his meal, Galento
became embroiled in an argument with his brother.
The dispute ended when his brother threw his beer
glass in Galento's face, severely cutting his lip.
Galento was forced to get the cut stitched up,
hours before the fight. Baer re-opened the cut in
the first round, forcing Galento to swallow blood
for the remainder of the fight. After the fight,
Galento blamed his inability to "hook him around
the head and butt him" for the loss.

Galento retired from boxing in 1943, and applied
his talents to the world of professional
wrestling. He also turned to acting, and was given
roles in Wild Across The Everglades (1958), The
Best Things In Life Are Free (1956), Guys and
Dolls (1955) and On the Waterfront(1954).

The entertainer Jackie Gleason used to tell this
story from his stand up comedy days. It seems he
was playing a joint in Jersey where he was being
unmercifully heckled by a fat, beer guzzling,
middle aged, bald jerk smoking a cigar. Finally,
Gleason had had enough. He invited the obnoxious
patron to step outside. Gleason swore he never saw
anyone move so fast to take him up on his offer.
The two went out into the street and Gleason next
remembered coming to in his dressing room. Gleason
had two questions: What happened?; and, Who was
that guy? What happened was that he was knocked
out cold. The guy that did it was Tony Galento.












Retrieved from
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_galento"