Count me as among the relatively few around today who not only know something about Tony Galento, but had the chance to meet him.
"Two-Ton Tony" (more on that in a moment) popped up a sports banquet in Elmira, New York, on a winter night in the late 1960s. As I recall, he told a few stories and signed a few autographs - in other words, a night of relatively easy money. I think I got his autograph that night. Galento came with his calling card - he was one of the few boxers who knocked Joe Louis down during Joe's championship run. Unhappily for Tony, Joe got off the canvas rather quickly and dispatched the challenger in short order.While continued excellence in anything is preferred, a one-time flash of greatness can last a lifetime in the right setting.
It also can produce a book, which is in turn can be quite entertaining if the subject has a good backstory. "Fight Night 1939" is that book, and author Joseph Monninger has come up with an fun if relatively brief look at Galento and his brief brush with immortality.
Galento was the son of immigrants and grew up in Orange, New Jersey. He dropped out of school at a young age, and picked up some odd jobs in his teens. The small but wide young man had more than his share of fights and brawls along the way, and he was pretty good at it. Tony also had a variety of jobs at that time, including one as an iceman. One time, after he started boxing, he was a little late for a bout. When asked why, he said he had two more tons of ice to deliver before he could leave. Thus, "Two Ton Tony" was born - although he wasn't exactly slim either.
Galento wasn't stylish when he was in the ring. In other words, he was no Sugar Ray Robinson. Some of his fights degraded into wrestling matches at best and brawls at worst. But Tony could throw a punch and he could take a punch, and that made him a contender in the heavyweight condition. A 10-match winning streak earned him a shot at Louis, who remains one of the great champions in the sport's history and who was at the peak of his powers in 1939. Galento was a clear underdog, but one rule in boxing is that someone who can hit an opponent hard has a "punchers' chance" of winning against anyone.
Galento surprised everyone by staggering Louis with a punch in the first round, which led to him winning the road on the officials' scoring cards. If the population of Orange was thrilled by that development, it was ecstatic when Galento tagged Louis with a sharp left hook that sent the champ to the floor. There was barely enough time to consider the possibilities before Louis got up. By the fourth round, Galento was out of gas and the fight was stopped in favor of Louis. But the champ knew he had been in a fight, and the challenger had made a name for himself.
Galento fought a while longer, losing to a couple of contenders, before World War II essentially ended his career. He kept his bar in Orange, did some wrestling and a little movie work (Hollywood always like a tough guy), and certainly told a million people about how he knocked Louis down. Tony died in 1979.
Most of the book serves as a biography about Galento, which leaves Louis in the rare position (for him) or playing the role of a supporting character. And that's OK; there are other places to go to read about Louis and his impact on America - which was enormous.
The book has a couple of areas that feel a little bit odd. Monninger didn't have a great deal of available research material, since Galento died in 1979. There are several moments when it felt like the author was expanding his descriptions of scenes in order to fill out the manuscript. At least he's a good enough writer to pull it off reasonably effectively.
Meanwhile, the book was first published in 2006 under a different title. It's hard to know from a distance prompted the re-release of a book that came out 19 years ago. I missed that one, but at least I'm caught up on the story now.
There don't seem to be many characters like Galento out there these days, and that's too bad. "Fight Night 1939" fills us in on Two Ton's story, and reading it is a pleasant way to find out about an interesting character from boxing's past.
Four stars
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