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Guglielmo Papaleo (born September 19, 1922 in
Hartford, Connecticut|Hartford, Connecticut) is a
former boxing|boxer who is better known as Willie
Pep. Pep had a total of 242 bouts, a considerable
number of fights, even for a fighter of his era.
It is frequently noted by boxing writers that he
once swept a round on the three judges' scorecards
without throwing a punch. Whether it is a fact or
just a favorite sweet science legend is debatable,
but he has often been called a very artistic boxer
by historians. His nickname is Will o' the Wisp.

Pep started boxing professionally on July 10 of
1940, beating James McGovern (boxer)|James
McGovern by a decision in four rounds in Hartford.
Like many boxers of the first half of the 20th
century, Pep concentrated his early fighting
career on boxing in New England, and he split his
first 25 contests between Connecticut and
Massachusetts. He was undefeated during that span,
and for fight number 26, he finally headed 'west',
beating Eddie Flores by a knockout in the first at
Thompsonville, Michigan|Thompsonville, Michigan. A
couple of fights later, he travelled further west
and made his California debut, beating Billy
Spencer by a decision in four at Los Angeles,
California|Los Angeles.

By the time Pep stepped up his quality of
opposition when he met world title challenger Joey
Archibald in 1942, he was already 41-0. He beat
Archibald by a decision in ten, and in his next
bout, he challenged Abe Denner for the New
England-area featherweight title. He won the fight
by a decision in 12, and his status among the
world's top featherweights kept on rising. 

He won ten more bouts to reach 52-0, including a
rematch win over Archibald, before he was given
his first world championship try in October of
that year. He became the world's featherweight
champion by outpointing the defending 
world champ Chalky Wright, over the 15 round
distance. He fought twice more to finish the year,
winning both by knockout.

Pep began 1943 by winning six bouts in a row to
find himself with a record of 61-0. But in his
seventh bout of 1943, he suffered his first
defeat, at the hands of Sammy Angott, another
world champion boxer. Angott beat Pep over the ten
round distance, by decision. Ten days later, Pep
was back in the ring, beating Bobby McIntyre by a
decision. He closed 1943 winning five fights in a
row, including two over future world champion Sal
Bartolo and one over Jackie Wilson (boxer). The
second win over Bartolo was in a defense of the
world title.

1944 was a very good year for Pep. He won all 16
of his bouts that year, including wins over world
bantamweight champions Willie Joyce and Manuel
Ramos, fringe contender Jackie Lemus and Wright,
who was beaten two more times, one time with Pep's
crown on the line. He also made his first fight
abroad, because the fight with Lemus was held in
Canada.

He had eight fights in 1945, winning seven and
drawing one. He beat former world champion Phil
Terranova to retain the title, and had a ten round
draw with Jimmy McAllister.
 
In 1946, Pep had 18 fights, and won all of them,
including a 12 round knockout of Bartolo and a
three round knockout of Wright. He had a 6 fight
knockout win streak during a span that year. 

Pep had 10 bouts in 1947, once again, going
undefeated. He retained the world's featherweight
belt once that year, knocking out Jock Leslie in
12 rounds at Flint, Michigan|Flint, Michigan.

1948 was a year that would become important in
Pep's life: He won 15 bouts before going into what
would be the first fight of his four fight series
with Sandy Saddler. He retained the title by
beating Humberto Sierra by a knockout in 10, and
he beat former world champion Paddy DeMarco, also
in ten, but by decision. Then, on October 29, he
lost the world featherweight title to Saddler by a
knockout in four.

After two wins, he and Saddler met in 1949, on
their rivalty's second installment, Pep recovered
the world's featherweight championship by beating
Saddler by a 15 round decision, and then he
engaged in a series of exhibition and ten round
bouts before defending the crown against Eddie
Campo, winning by a knockou in the seventh. He
finished that year beating fringe contender Harold
Dade by a decision in ten at St. Louis.

In 1950, he won nine fights before meeting Saddler
for a third time. Those nine bouts included
defenses against Charlie Riley, knocked out in
five, and Australias Ray Famechon, beaten by
decision in 15. Then came the third fight with
Saddler, and Pep once again lost his world
featherweight championship to Saddler, being
knocked out in the eighth round.

1951 brought over a hint of controversy to Pep's
life. He won eight bouts in a row to start the
year, but his ninth bout, the last chapter of the
rivalty 
with Saddler, was his most important bout that
year and the one that he lost. He was knocked out
in nine by Saddler, and some fans and historians
have suggested that he took a dive in this bout.
Whether that's true or not remains a mystery, but
most boxing experts have agreed that the
Saddler-Pep rivalty was one of boxing's most
savage and foul infested rivalties in history.

In 1952, Pep had 12 fights, winning 11. He was
knocked out in six by Tommy Collins but also held
two wins over Billy Lima that year.

Pep won all 11 fights in 1953, and entered 1954 on
a 17 fight winning streak. After beating David
Seabrooke by a decision, he met fringe contender
Lulu Perez. If the fourth fight with Saddler
brought a little of controversy to Pep's life,
this fight would bring even more. Pep lost by a
knockout in two rounds and the rumors that he took
a dive in this fight were even more persistent
than on the case of the fourth Saddler bout.
Reporters from all over the world would write
about this fight, commenting about a possible dive
by Pep. Pep ended up winning three more bouts
before the end of the year.

Pep went on boxing for 5 more years, retiring in
1960, and then he came back in 1964 and boxed for
two more years. During that last period of his
boxing career, he won 43 bouts and lost only 5,
but his only opponent of note during that time was
Hogan Kid Bassey, a future world featherweight
champion who knocked Pep out in nine rounds. Pep
boxed in Venezuela, losing to Sonny Leon by a
decision in ten, and in his last fight, in 1966,
he lost to Calvin Woodland by a decison in six.

After retiring, he and Saddler involved in a
series of exhibition bouts, and in 1980, Pep sued
Sports Illustrated for running a story suggesting
that he threw his fight with Perez. Pep won the
lawsuit, and Sports Illustrated had to pay him a
large amount of money, on the base that the
article was detrimental to Pep's personality and
not based on proven facts.

In 1990, Pep was inducted into the International
Boxing Hall Of Fame as a member of the Hall's
original class. Pep, who enjoys giving out
autographs to his fans, works there as a volunteer
alongside fellow former world champion boxer and
friend Carmen Basilio. 

Pep had a record of 230 wins, 11 losses and 1
draw, with 65 wins by knockout, making him a
member of the Ring Magazine exclusive group of
fighters with 50 or more career knockout wins.