On This Day In Boxing History

1913: "The Man of Steel” Tony Zale Was Born!

Tony Zale  

Born: May 29th, 1913

Birth Name: Anthony Florian Zaleski

Birth Place: Gary, Indiana

Residence: Chicago, Illinois

Pro-Debut:  June 11th, 1934

Division: Middleweight

Stance: Orthodox

Height: 5′ 7½″  

Reach: 69″  

Alias: Man of Steel

Bouts: 87

Rounds: 501

Ko’s: 52%

Record: 67-18-2, 45Ko’s

Died: Age 83, March 20th, 1997

Amateur Career

Record: 87-8, 50Ko’s

Represented Chicago at the Intercity Golden Gloves at light heavyweight in 1934. He lost to Melio Bettina, the future World Light Heavyweight Champion.

In the late 1970s and the early 1980s, Zale was the head of amateur boxing for the Chicago Park District under General Superintendent Edmund L. Kelly.

Career

Named The Ring Fighter of the Year in 1946.

NBA World Middleweight Champion

July 19th, 1940 – July 16th, 1947

NYSAC World Middleweight Champion

November 28th, 1941 – July 16th, 1947 

World Middleweight Champion

June 10th, 1948 – September 21st, 1948

Boxing historian Herbert Goldman ranked Zale as the 10th greatest middleweight of all-time.

International Boxing Hall of Fame 1991

***On November 5th, 2015, six championship belts—four belonging to Carmen Basilio and two to Tony Zale—were stolen from the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York. The thieves, part of a Pennsylvania-based crime ring, targeted the display cases holding these historically significant belts, breaking in during the early morning hours and smashing the cases to seize the items. Despite the immense sentimental and historical value of the belts, the perpetrators mistakenly believed they were made of solid gold, only to discover they were merely gold-plated. The belts were ultimately destroyed and melted down for their metal, yielding far less value than their worth as memorabilia. The theft devastated the families of both boxing legends and the Canastota community, as the belts were irreplaceable symbols of their champions' legacies. Years later, arrests were made, but the belts remain lost, with the families and the Hall of Fame left to mourn the destruction of these priceless artifacts. As of 2025, the championship belts stolen from the International Boxing Hall of Fame on November 5, 2015—four belonging to Carmen Basilio and two to Tony Zale—have not been recovered.

Tony Zale born Anthony Florian Zaleski in Gary, Indiana, 1913 was an American boxer. Zale was born and raised in Gary, Indiana, a steel town, which gave him his nickname, "Man of Steel." In addition, he had the reputation of being able to take fearsome punishment and still rally to win, reinforcing that nickname. Zale was known as a strong body puncher, who punished his opponents and steadily wore them down before knocking them out.

Zale was a 2-time world middleweight champion and made the Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time. Zale is best remembered for his three bouts over a 21-month period with Rocky Graziano for the middleweight crown.

These three bouts were among the most brutal and exciting middleweight championship matches of all time. The first match took place in Yankee Stadium, New York. Zale had served in World War II, was thirty-three years old, and had been inactive for about four years. Graziano was on a winning knockout streak and seemed to be in his prime. In their first match (September 27, 1946), after flooring Graziano in the first round, Zale took a savage beating from Graziano, and was on the verge of losing the fight by TKO. However, he rallied and knocked out Graziano in the sixth round to retain his title.

The rematch, a year later in Chicago (July] 16, 1947), was a mirror image of their first fight. Graziano was battered around the ring, suffered a closed eye and appeared ready to lose by a knockout, then rallied and knocked Zale out in the sixth round, becoming middleweight champion of the world.

Their last fight was held in New Jersey the following year (June 10, 1948). Zale regained his crown, winning the match by a knockout in the third round. The knockout blows consisted of a perfect combination of a right to Graziano's body, then a left hook to Graziano's jaw. Graziano was knocked unconscious. This fight was Zale's last hurrah. His age and the many ring wars he fought seemed to catch up with him in his next fight against European Champion Marcel Cerdan later that year, who stopped him in the eleventh round to win the middleweight championship of the world (September 21, 1948). Graziano commented that years later he would wake up in a cold sweat having had the recurring nightmare of being back in the ring with Zale, who he said really was a man of steel.

Edith Piaf, who at the time was having an affair with Cerdan, was in the audience, praying to Saint Therese for his victory. Two of the three Graziano fights and the Cerdan fight were named Ring Magazine fights of the year.

Zale was originally cast to play himself in the movie Somebody Up There Likes Me. When Paul Newman (playing Graziano) and he were sparring prior to filming, Newman got rough and Zale knocked him out. Zale was replaced by Courtland Shepard for the final fight scene.

May 29th

1900: Kid McCoy W6 Tommy Ryan

1901: Terry McGovern KO5 Aurelio Herrera

1905: Joe Bowker W20 Pinky Evans

1909: Battling Nelson KO23 Dick Hyland

1913: Harry Greb age 18 pro debut ND6 Frank Kirkwood

“The Man of Steel” Tony Zale was born in Gary, Indiana,

1914: Jack Dillon ND10 Battling Levinsky

1933: Jimmy McLarnin KO1 Young Corbett III, Los Angeles. Wins World Welterweight Title.

Referee: George Blake. The "most spectacular upset the welterweight division has known in many years." After Corbett had been floored twice and had his back to McLarnin, the "Irishman rushed across the ring and punched Corbett in the jaw again and Referee George Blake stopped the contest immediately. Corbett was out on his feet. Corbett was the seventh welterweight champion in succession to lose possession of the title in defending it for the first time." New York Times.

1957: Carlos Ortiz W10 Felix Chiocca

1971: Eric Lucas was born in Montreal, Canada

1973: Ken Buchanan W10 Frankie Otero

1977: Rafael Ortega W15 Yasutsune Uehara

1979: Charlie Magri KO3 Freddie Gonzalez

1982: Rafael Limon KO12 Rolando Navarette

1988: Don LaLonde KO5 Leslie Stewart

Daniel Zaragoza D 12 Seung Hoon Lee

1993: Billy Conn passes age 75

1998: Reggie Johnson W12 Ole Klemetsen

Hugo Soto W12 Jose Bonilla

Terron Millett W12 Freddie Pendleton

James Page KO5 Eric Alexander

1999: Felix Trinidad KO4 Hugo Pineda

Freddy Norwood W12 Antonio Cermeno

Lehlo Ledwaba W12 John Michael Johnson

Leo Gamez KO8 Josue Dickie Camacho

Michele Piccirillo W12 Juan Martin Coggi

Ricky Hatton TKO 5 Dillon Carew

2009: Oleydong Sithsamerchai TD11 Muhammad Rachman

2010: Vitali Klitschko KO10 Albert Sosnowski

Luis Alberto Lazarte WSD12 Carlos Tamara

Miguel Acosta KO2 Paulus Moses

Wilfredo Vazquez Jr TKO10 Zsolt Bedak

Roman Martinez KO4 Gonzalo Munguia

Hanna Gabriels TKO1 Gardy Pena Alvarez

2015: Amir Khan W12 Chris Algieri

Javier Fortuna W12 Bryan Vasquez

2016: Tony Bellew TKO3 Ilunga Makabu    

2021: Nonito Donaire KO4 Nordine Oubaali

Devin Haney W12 Jorge Linares