On This Day

In Boxing History!

Joe Calzaghe vs Chris Eubank

October 11th, 1997

Vacant WBO World Super Middleweight Ttile

Sheffield Arena, Sheffield, England

2021: International Hall of Fame Welterweight

Tony Demarco Passed - Age 89!

Born to Sicilian immigrants Vincent and Giacomina, DeMarco grew up in the North End neighborhood of Boston.

Due to the minimum age of eighteen, in order to box professionally, Liotta used the birth certificate of Tony DeMarco so that he could compete. DeMarco had his first professional fight when he was sixteen years old. On October 21, 1948, he knocked out Mestor Jones in one round.

DeMarco fought the top fighters in his division during the 1950s and defeated top contenders and champions like Paddy DeMarco, Teddy "Red Top" Davis, Chico Vejar and Don Jordan. The highlight of his career came on April 1, 1955, when he scored a technical knock-out (TKO) over Johnny Saxton in the 14th round of their title bout to capture the world’s welterweight title.

A statue of Tony DeMarco in Boston's historic North End

Despite winning many bouts to become champion, he is best remembered for his two championship matches with hall of famer Carmen Basilio in 1955. Both fights were toe to toe slugfests with several ebbs and flows that kept the fans at the edges of their seats. Both fights ended in the 12th round with DeMarco suffering a TKO. In their first bout, DeMarco was the defending champion. He risked his title by taking on Basilio, who was the top ranked contender. Although Basilio prevailed, the fight was so exciting that the pair were rematched. The second fight was almost a carbon copy of the first with Basilio wearing down DeMarco, but not before a wicked DeMarco left hook had Basilio out on his feet. DeMarco was unable to capitalize on this advantage and lost the match on a 12 round TKO.

Tony DeMarco's Living Room Lounge was located in this building at 4007 E. Camelback Road in Phoenix, Arizona. DeMarco no longer owns the property which now belongs to the U-Haul Co.

DeMarco's legacy is an undying part of Boston's history. Training under Boston greats such as Frankie Waters, DeMarco was able to sell out the Boston Garden, breaking attendance records. Mayor Thomas Menino even honored DeMarco with a street, named after him, in Boston's famous North End. The street, which is perpendicular to Atlantic Ave, is named "Tony DeMarco Way".

DeMarco received many honors, including an induction in the Official National Italian American Hall of Fame in Chicago. Looking back on his career, DeMarco remarked "Mainly I consider myself a slugger." DeMarco once fought on the undercard to Rocky Marciano. [1] In his last bout, DeMarco won a ten-round decision over Stefan Redl in Boston on February 6, 1962.

A statue of DeMarco unveiled on October 20, 2012 at the corners of Hanover and Cross Streets in Boston's historic North End was designed by famed sculptor Harry Weber, and a full-length documentary by filmmaker Marino Amoruso based on DeMarco's autobiography Nardo: Memoirs of a Boxing Champion is in the works. DeMarco was also featured in "The Flame and Fury of Fleet Street," a segment of the documentary, Boston's North End: An Italian American Story.

DeMarco was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2019.

Tony DeMarco

Born: January 14th, 1932

Birth Name: Leo Liotta

Birth Place: Boston, Massachusetts

Residence: Boston, Massachusetts

Pro-Debut: October 21st, 1948

Division: Welterweight

Alias: Boston Bomber

Stance: Orthodox

Height: 5′ 5″  

Record: 58-12-1, 33Ko’s

Bouts: 71

Rounds: 432

Ko’s: 46.48%

Career: 1948-1962

Died: October 11th, 2021

World Welterweight Champion

1 Apr 1955– 10 Jun 1955

Boxing Hall of Fame - Class of 2019 - Old Timer Category

October 11th

1913: George Chip KO6 Frank Klaus

1920: Georges Carpentier KO4 Battling Levinsky

1923: Tommy Loughran W10 Harry Greb

Pancho Villa W15 Benny Schwartz

1927: Baby Arizmendi pro-debut D10 Kid Laredo

1969: Nicolino Locche W15 Joao Henrique

1975: Angel Espada W15 Johnny Gant

1981: Hwan Jin Kim W15 Alfonso Lopez

1982: Shinsuke Yamanaka is born in Konan, Shiga, Japan.

1988: Bernard Hopkins age 24 debuts LMD4 Clinton Mitchell

1992: Ricardo Lopez KO2 Rocky Lin

1993: Genaro Hernandez W12 Harold Warren

1996: Floyd Mayweather Jr. TKO2 Roberto Apodaca pro-debut for both age 19

Johnny Tapia KO7 Sammy Stewart

1997: Joe Calzaghe W12 Chris Eubank

Naseem Hamed KO7 Jose Badillo

2000: Takanori Hatakeyama KO10 Hiroyuki Sakamoto

2002: Wayne Braithwaite KO10 Vincenzo Cantatore

2005: Former WBA Flyweight Champion Eric Morel, 30, is sentenced to two years in prison for his role in the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl at an apartment in Fitchburg, Wisconsin.

2007: Daisuke Naito W12 Daiki Kameda

2008: Vitali Klitschko KO8 Samuel Peter

Chad Dawson W12 Antonio Tarver

2009: Mairis Briedis age 25 debuts W4 Raulis Racilauskas

2013: Alejandra Oliveras TKO7 Lely Luz Florez

2014: Cornelius Bundrage W12 Carlos Molina 

Anthony Joshua TKO2 Denis Bakhtov

2018: Maïva Hamadouche KO1 Gabriella Mezei

2021: Tony DeMarco dies at the age of 89.