Boxing News (Obits)

[H2O Man]

There were two deaths in the boxing community in the end of January that I’d like to take a minute to talk about. The first was former heavyweight champion Ingemar Johansson, 76, of Sweden. Ingemar was a European amateur champion, who fought in the 1952 Olympics. He was disqualified in the finals, for "failing to fight" against Ed Sanders of the United States.

He went on to the professional ranks, and was undefeated in his first seven years. He won the European heavyweight title, and scored impressive knockouts over contenders including Henry Cooper and Joe Erskine. At the time, however, Americans tended to look down on the European heavyweights.

A top US contender, Eddie Machen, took a fight against Ingo as a "warm-up" for his up-coming challenge for Floyd Patterson’s heavyweight title. Machen, a very talented fighter (who suffered from a bi-polar disorder at a time when relatively little was known about the illness) was flattened in the first round. Hence, Patterson defended against Johansson, and boxing history was made.

On June 26, 1959, in a wild fight where each fighter was decked, Ingo won the title with a third-round knockout. As often happens, the young new champion spent a lot of time celebrating in the months that followed. Confident that he would easily defeat Floyd in their return match, Ingo was more focused on fine wine, women, and looking ahead to what would have been his second defense: a "forgotten" part of boxing history is that the great Rocky Marciano had decided to make a comeback to challenge Johansson, because he believed the heavyweight title should be held by an American.

Patterson went into a severe depression for a couple months, then began to prepare for the rematch. He lived in near total isolation, with his trainer, the great Cus D’Amato. And on June 20, 1960, he became the first two-time heavyweight champion, flattening Ingo in 5 rounds. (While being counted out, Johansson’s foot began to quiver as he lay unconscious, causing some at ringside to think he was dying.)

After being KOed in their third fight, Ingo would fight four more times in Europe. He recaptured the European title, and then retired. In 1969, when Ali was in his forced retirement, I remember Johansson going to the gyms in New York, and beginning to train for a possible return to the ring. Luckily, he was smart enough to recognize that his skills were gone.

Johansson was a far better fighter than most people today realize. This is no doubt because he became something of a footnote, due to Patterson’s becoming the two-time champion. Also, the American press never forgave his failure to fight in his match against Sanders.

The second fighter I’d like to talk about is Carl Delberta, who fought as a welterweight as "Carl Dell." He died at the age of 92, in Oneonta, NY.

Carl started fighting in the amateurs when this country was experiencing tough economic times. He quickly became the Civilian Conservation Corps champion (and this was at a time when the CCC had many, many good fighters!), then went on to win several Golden Gloves titles. He was recognized as the top US amateur welterweight, and represented our country very well in international competition. A high-point was at the "All America" matches in Havana, Cuba in 1936: Carl KOed five of the toughest fighters in the western hemisphere in a row. Not bad!

As a professional, he fought for legendary trainer Al Weill (who also managed Lou Ambers, Marty Cervo, and Rocky Marciano). Carl showed me a number of pictures of him and the great Jack Dempsey training together, though it was after Dempsey had retired.

Carl fought all the top contenders of his day. This included Charley Burley, who was the only fighter that Sugar Ray Robinson refused to fight. In that era, a lot of the tough black fighters had trouble getting title shots. Robinson obviously did, as did his friend Joe Louis, but they were the exceptions at the time. Carl found the "color barrier" offensive, and fought Burley and other top boxers who were being avoided by most top white fighters.

Carl also beat the champions of other countries, including Milo Theodorescu (Rumania); Francisco Montanari (Italy); and Carlos Mirandi (Mexico). But welterweight champion Freddie Cochrane refused to give Carl the shot at the title he deserved – always saying it was his manager’s decision not to fight Carl.

Carl served in the US Army in the 41st Infantry Division in the South Pacific. After the war, he worked on local railroads, before becoming a police officer. He also founded the Oneonta Boys and Girls Club. He trained and managed a number of amateur fighters over the years, including several Golden Gloves and national champions.

I fought for Carl for several years. A high-point for me was when Carl’s good friend Willie Pep came to Oneonta to referee some fights. Though I was under-age at the time, no one checked my birth certificate, and I fought a college student (who seemed "old" at the time!). I believe the guy followed Pep’s advice to concentrate on books rather than boxing after helping him back through the ropes at the end.

Every January, I’ve looked forward to seeing Carl at the Silver Gloves. He and my younger son really hit it off well. Last night, my son was recalling his favorite memory of sitting ringside with Carl, who told him "not to get into fights outside the ring …. But, if you do, here’s what I always did…"

[trumad]

1. One of the best writers here on DU---

and we get plenty of his work here in the sports forum.

H20 Man Da Bomb!

[H2O Man]

2. Thank you.

One thing that I've learned in life is not to take for granted that anyone -- especially guys in their 90s -- are going to always be here. It will be different, going to the fights in Oneonta, now that Carl is gone. But I'm happy that my son and I got to see him as often as we did. My son drove home from college last night, after hearing that Carl died, and so we are spending the day looking through the old photo albums and scarbooks of newspaper articles. There is a lot of history between my brothers and I with Carl, and of the fight cards around the entire state we used to go to .... it always seemed to be snowing, with terrible road conditions, and a packed station wagon going faster than I was comfortable with. Then, years later, our local team competing at AAU tournaments at the B&GC. I have images of one day, my son sharing these with his children, saying, "Your grandfather introduced me to this guy when he was in his 90s. Let me tell you a few stories."