06.09.07 – By James Slater: As is the case with the final fight in the classic Jeff Harding-Dennis Andries trilogy, another great fight celebrates its anniversary this month. This fight, between Tony Zale and Rocky Graziano, which took place on the 27th of this month way back in 1946, was actually the first of an epic three fight series at middleweight. Over sixty years old this fight may be, but in the minds of many experts it has yet to be outdone in terms of sheer, mesmerizing violence.
Indeed, all three bouts between Tony and Rocky were not so much fights at all, they were more like – in the words of one well known boxing magazine – wars without survivors. Both men gave everything they had and then some as they battled it out in ring centre for the 160 pound title.
The thrilling and awe-inspiring action they provided while doing so is still spoken of in a hushed and respectful tone today. Quite simply, there will never be a more fierce and damaging three fight series in boxing.
Zale, born Anthony Zaleski, had won the world title six years previously with a thirteenth round TKO over the great, and recently deceased, Al Hostak. He actually defeated Hostak three times, twice inside the distance, proving his genuine world class. Still, his rise to the top hadn’t been anywhere near easy. Thirteen times in his first four years as a pro Tony met defeat, usually on points. He was, however, knocked flat in a single, sensational round, by one Jimmy Clark, a young and super fast middleweight. Eventually though, after two revenge KO’s over Clark, the title was Zale’s. And after three successful defences, in matches that had been sandwiched in-between a number of non-title bouts, as was the trend back in those days, Zale met Rocky for the first of their three epic encounters.
By now Tony was thirty-three years old, which was considered to be fairly well advanced for a middleweight boxer sixty years ago. He had also seen some of his best years wasted due to idleness forced upon him because of World War II. While in comparison, Graziano was only twenty-four years of age and had no such bouts of inactivity to his name. Despite his youthful advantage, however, it was the raw Graziano who was to lose two out of their three fights.
Rocky, like Zale, had come up the hard way in the fight game. Born in a tough area of New York, Thomas Rocco Barbella became known to the fistic press as Rocky Graziano. And after serving time in prison the tough street fighter discovered legalized mayhem was to be his savior. With his crude yet effective fighting skills polished as much as was possible, Rocky set about winning the world title. The path he traversed while on the way to his first shot at one was some hard road. Six points defeats, two of them to Harold Green in fights where both men tasted the canvas, along with a few draws, served to educate the young campaigner in the finer points of the sport. And despite the setbacks, Rocky continued to climb the middleweight ladder, closing in on the world title as he did so.
Two excellent wins over Freddie “Red” Cochrane, followed by a quick win over Marty Servo, finally earned Graziano a crack at world honours. The man who held the title was a warrior who would quickly become his number one rival in the sport. Graziano and Zale were about to meet for the first time!
The fight was staged at Yankee stadium, in The Bronx, N.Y. And what followed was truly a fight for the ages. One that would have benefited today’s fight fans massively by being filmed for posterity. Unfortunately, as all boxing historians know, only one of the three Zale-Graziano bouts was ever captured on film – the final one. Having to rely instead on the excellent written
accounts given by the top boxing writers of the day, one can still appreciate the greatness of the first two fights. Fight one especially. No less than “The Bible of Boxing”, Ring magazine, awarded the first meeting between the two with its fight of the year accolade for 1946 – the second time a Graziano fight had had such an honour bestowed upon it. Their rematch also received such a distinction. It is fight number one, though, that is celebrated in this article.
Neither man wasted any time with a feeling out approach in the first round. The war was on immediately, and how! With a crunching KO victory the overwhelming thing on both guy’s minds, the bombs started detonating with the echo of bell number one still in the air. It was Zale who scored some definite hurt first. Graziano was decked for a count of five in the first three minutes, as the pattern of the fight was established. Sheer violence was the order of the day. Rocky came back well from the knockdown, and had Tony in serious trouble himself in the same round. There was another knockdown in the next round too. This time it was the betting favorite in Graziano inflicting it. Right at the end of the second round, Zale hit the mat for a count that reached three, only to be saved by the bell. It was clear by now the fight was never going to go the full fifteen rounds.
The next three rounds were equally dramatic, yet Rocky was the fighter with the upper hand. Victory seemed to be his in round number six, as Zale was at the point of being knocked out. Somehow though, the champion survived. And then came back with his own savage blows, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat with his own pulverizing punching power. A hard right hand to the body took almost all the fight out of Rocky, sending him crashing to the mat. He staggered upright, however, only to be met by a vicious left to the head from Zale. This devastating blow flattened Graziano for the count of ten. The most action-packed and brutal middleweight championship fight in recent memory was over.
The huge crowd that had converged on the legendary venue that was Yankee Stadium had been treated to a fight that was truly special. One that just had to have a rematch. Which of course it did, the following year. And while Rocky won the return, he lost the final meeting. Needless to say, all three fights ended via KO or stoppage. It is the first fight though, that is generally considered to be the best of all. In fact, aside from their subsequent clashes, their wasn’t a middleweight title fight that could match it for sheer violence and all-out mesmerizing action until Marvellous Marvin Hagler went to hell and back with Thomas “The Hitman” Hearns in 1985.
As the saying goes, “They don’t make ’em like that anymore!” They sure don’t.