We have received and are publishing in full a letter from Stefano Clemente, an avid reader of Boxe Punch, on a fascinating topic: the many Italian-American champions who have written pivotal chapters in boxing history but whose Italian roots are known only to the most knowledgeable enthusiasts.
American boxing has given the world, and us fans, countless legendary Italian-American fighters—some of the best in the storied, century-old history of the Sweet Science. We know their names: Rocky Marciano, Jake LaMotta, Carmen Basilio, Rocky Graziano, Tony Canzoneri, Fidel LaBarba, and dozens upon dozens of other great fighters who stepped into the ring with unmistakably Italian surnames, making their origins easy to discern.
However, the history of American boxing is also brimming with other great fighters—some truly extraordinary—whose Italian heritage is often overlooked. Many of them rank among the best of all time in their respective weight classes.
Some of these fighters competed under distinctly Irish or Anglicized surnames because Italians in America were ostracized at the time due to racial prejudice. It was often more advantageous for their careers, and less alienating to hostile audiences, to appear Irish rather than Italian.
Others chose to change their surnames because their original ones seemed, in their view, unsuitable for fighting. For example, Willie Pep (Guglielmo Papaleo) considered his name “not a fighting name.” Similarly, Jim Flynn (Andrew Chiariglione), the only boxer in history to knock out the great Jack Dempsey, changed his name out of frustration with ring announcers who struggled to pronounce his surname.
Below is a list of Italian-American world champions who fought “under assumed names.” As I mentioned earlier, some of these fighters are among the elite of boxing history, with many enshrined in the Hall of Fame:
- Midget Wolgast (Joseph Robert Loscalzo, Flyweight World Champion)
- Lou Ambers (Luigi Giuseppe D’Ambrosio, Lightweight World Champion)
- Sammy Angott (Salvatore Angotti, Lightweight World Champion)*
- Joey Maxim (Giuseppe Antonio Berardinelli, Light Heavyweight World Champion)
- Sammy Mandell (Salvatore Mandalà, Lightweight World Champion)**
- Johnny Dundee (Giuseppe Curreri, Featherweight and Super Featherweight World Champion)
- Rocky Kansas (Rocco Tozzo, Lightweight World Champion)
- Pete Herman (Peter Gulotta, Bantamweight World Champion)
- Young Corbett III (Raffaele Giordano, Welterweight and Middleweight World Champion)
- Tippy Larkin (Antonio Pulliteri, Super Lightweight World Champion)
- Frankie Conley (Francesco Conte, Bantamweight World Champion)
- Carl Duane (Carl Duane Iaconetti, Super Bantamweight World Champion)
- Steve “Kid” Sullivan (Steve John Tricamo, Super Featherweight World Champion)
- Bushy Graham (Angelo Geraci, Bantamweight World Champion)
- George Nichols (Philip John Nicolosi, Light Heavyweight World Champion)
- Hugo Kelly (Ugo Micheli, Middleweight World Champion)
- Kid Murphy (Peter Frascella, Bantamweight World Champion)
- Johnny Wilson (Giovanni Francesco Panica, Middleweight World Champion)
- Joe Dundee (Salvatore Lazzaro, Welterweight World Champion)
- Vince Dundee (Vincenzo Lazzaro, Middleweight World Champion)
I’ve conducted fairly thorough research, but I’m sure I’ve overlooked some names. I haven’t included title contenders or ranked fighters of a high caliber who never received a title shot.
* Wikipedia lists Angott’s surname as Engotti, but I am confident his true surname was Angotti, a Calabrian name, and that it was misrecorded when his father or grandfather arrived in America.
** Similarly, Wikipedia lists Mandell’s surname as Mandala, but I firmly believe his original surname was Mandalà, a Sicilian name, and that the accent on the “a” was “lost” during registration in America.
Stefano Clemente