Willie Pep

A form of entertainment that was able to fill numerous time slots in the new medium of television in the 1950s was boxing. During that era, it was one of the three most popular spectator sports, along with Major League Baseball and college football. Better than the other two, boxing is shorter in duration (a ten round bout lasts under an hour), has frequent breaks for commercials (every three minutes), and matches can be scheduled very quickly to accommodate public demand.

On Friday nights, the Gillette (maker of shaving products) Cavalcade of Sports offered a weekly boxing show (Friday Night Fights) which my mother allowed me to stay up (past my 9:00 PM bedtime) and watch (no school the next day). I remember the first time, February 26, 1954 (I was eight years-old), when the former Featherweight (limit of 126 lbs. or 57 kg.) champion, Willie Pep, fought the up and coming young boxer Lulu Perez at Madison Square Garden in New York City.  Little did I know this was not to be an ordinary fight. 

Guglielmo Papaleo (Willie Pep) was born in Middletown, Connecticut on September 19, 1922 (31 years-old the night of the fight).  He had been boxing professionally for fourteen years.  Pep's record was 183 wins, 5 losses, and 1 draw.  In 1942, he first became champion when he won a 15 round decision over the defending champion, Chalky Wright.  However, Pep lost his title in 1948 when he was knocked out by Sandy Saddler.  He beat Saddler in 1949 to regain his championship.  But, in 1950, Pep again lost the championship to Saddler as a result of a shoulder injury during the fight (which he was winning).  In 1951, the two fought for the last time and Pep suffered a technical knockout as a result of a badly cut right eye (even though he was again winning the fight).
        
Lulu Perez was born in New York City on April 25, 1933.  He started boxing professionally in 1951.  By the night of the fight (20 years-old), his record was 28 wins and 2 losses. Obviously, Pep was the more experienced fighter, which is good. However, Perez had youth on his side.  Pep was the favorite and I usually sided with favorites because favorites usually win.

Pep wore black trunks, Perez wore white.  Nothing much happened in round 1.  However, I was enjoying the show. Then, about 20 seconds into round 2, Perez shockingly floored Pep with a right cross. He got up and seemed to have weathered the storm for almost a full minute when Perez knocked Pep down again, again with a right hand punch.  Another twenty seconds, another knockdown from the right hand of Perez.  Under New York State rules, three knockdowns in one round constitutes a technical knockout.  The fight was over in less than five minutes of boxing. Time to go to bed.  I had hoped for more.

It turns out this was the highlight of Perez's career.  In the next four years, he had 10 wins, 13 losses, and 2 draws before retiring.  Pep went on to fight into his 40s, winning another 46 fights, while losing only 5 more times.  He never fought for the championship again and there was no rematch with Perez.

Unbeknownst to me, there were suspicions about the validity of the Pep-Perez fight.  According to the New York Daily News, "(Bert) Sugar (a noted boxing journalist) said Pep's behavior in the bout raised suspicion.  Pep was listless.  He was hit often.  It just smelled.  The fight was taken off the board at the last minute.  There were no bets allowed on the fight."  

Years later, Pep sued Newsweek Magazine (553 F. Supp. 1000, S.D.N.Y. 1983) for $75 Million for libel for alleging he had taken a dive in his fight against Perez.  "The jury deliberated for only 15 minutes and found in favor of Newsweek."

A video of the second round of the Pep-Perez fight is available on the Internet.  After watching it again, it seems to me as if Pep, known by some as the greatest defensive boxer of all time, was too easy a target for the right hand of Perez, who was no Sandy Saddler.  What do you think?