Book Review and Interview by Roger Zotti of Willie Pep Biography by Mark Allen Baker
My first recollections of Willie Pep date back to 1965/1966. My Grandfather, who adored the fighter, put me to sleep with bedtime stories about the elite boxer. Years later, as fate may have it, I spent considerable time––including an entire day on July 7, 1995––with Pep. I promised the boxer that I would one day write a book about him. I kept that promise as a salute to the centennial of his birth.
Mark Allen Baker
Guglielmo Papaleo was born on September 19, 1922, in Middletown, Connecticut, but he’s better known as Willie Pep. Nicknamed the Will o’ the Wisp, he fought professionally from 1940 to 1966, was twice world featherweight champion, and compiled an amazing record of 229-11-1 (65 KOs).
He owns two untouchable winning streaks. As Mark Allen Baker points out in his ninth boxing book, the meticulously researched, superbly written Willie Pep: A Biography of the 20th Century’s Greatest Featherweight (McFarland Books), “His mark of not one, but two, winning streaks, each over 60 victories will never be matched or surpassed.”
In 1990, Pep was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York, and in 2005, a year before his death, he was inducted into the Connecticut Boxing Hall of Fame. Also, he’s an author, having co-written with Robert Sacchi the memorable Friday’s Heroes (1973).
Call Me Ray
Pep’s 42nd amateur fight took place in Norwich, Connecticut, at the Duwell Athletic Club in 1938. His opponent, a tall, rangy, handsome youngster, called himself Ray Roberts. Outweighed by close to 20 pounds, Pep lost the three round decision. “It took every ounce of energy for the Hartford fighter to make the distance,” Baker writes.
It turned out that Roberts later became Sugar Ray Robinson, whose birth name was Walker Smith, Jr., and was perhaps the greatest pound-for-pound boxer in the history of the sport.
As an amateur Pep put together a 59-3-3 record. In 1938 he won the Connecticut State Amateur Flyweight Championship, and in 1939 the Connecticut State Bantamweight Championship. He was, Baker writes, “In a class by himself.”
Losses
Pep had 62 straight victories before losing a unanimous ten round decision to tough veteran Sammy Angott, the former lightweight champion, in 1943, at Madison Square Garden.
His featherweight title, which he won from Chalky Wright, wasn’t at stake against Angott. He was 20 years old when he won the title at MSG, on September 20, 1942, before 19,000 fans. With the victory, he became, Baker, writes, “the youngest featherweight champion since Terry McGovern over four decades ago.” Pep and Wright fought three more times, with Pep winning two by decision and one by kayo.
Six years later Pep, who had won 73 consecutive fights since losing to Angott, was a 3-1 favorite when he was stopped by Sandy Saddler in the 4th round, at Madison Square Garden. A year later, in their rematch, again at MSG, Pep outboxed Saddler to regain the title. In 1950, on September 8 at Yankee Stadium, Saddler reclaimed the title by stopping Pep in the 8th round. Then in 1951, on September 26 at the Polo Grounds, Saddler again stopped Pep, this time in the 9th round.
In Friday’s Heroes Pep writes that the fourth fight was “a real brawl . . . with wrestling, heeling, eye gouging, tripping, thumbing— you name it. . . . Now a lot of people think there was antagonism between Sandy and me. Maybe there was during our fights—but we’re friendly now. . . . When we were fighting for the championship I wanted to lick him in the worst way and he wanted to lick me. Well, we went all out.”
“Prior to the stoppage,” Baker writes, ” [referee Ray] Miller had Pep ahead in the fight 4-4 on rounds, 10-6 on points; judge Arthur Aidala had it 4-4-1 on rounds, and Pep ahead on points 8-6; and judge Frank Forbes had Saddler ahead 5-4 on rounds and 7-5 on points. . . . The right eyelid of Pep was so badly torn in the second round that the blood flow could not be contained—it blinded him in every subsequent session.”
Baker added, “In retrospect, it was one of the dirtiest fights in the history of boxing. Every trick in the book was used.”
The Elm City
When I was growing up in New Haven—which was a popular boxing city in the nineteen-forties—Pep, Julie Kogon, Nathan Mann, and Eddie Compo were the fighters most written about by the local press and discussed by boxing fans.
It was no surprise that before Compo’s title bout with Pep at Waterbury’s Municipal Stadium in 1949, the state’s boxing fans were buzzing with excitement. At the time Compo, twenty-one years old, had an impressive 57-1-3 record.
Slightly more than ten thousand people were in attendance and watched Pep floor the young Compo twice in the fifth round and again in the seventh. After the fight’s third knockdown, Compo was on his feet but referee Billy Conroy wisely stopped the fight. As Baker writes, “Compo was lucky to last as long as he did as the champion battered him unmercifully . . . Pep controlled the battle with his left jab and used his right cross to confirm his dominance.”
To Compo’s credit he didn’t let the setback derail his career. As Rick Biondi and Salvatore A. Zarra point out in their superb book, Elm City Italians, “Despite the loss to Pep, Eddie was far from a spent fighter. Until he retired in 1955, he was a difficult opponent. . . . On September 21, 1951, Compo bested an undefeated Chico Vejar at Madison Square Garden. . . .The victory rejuvenated his career.”
Compo, who retired in 1955, was inducted into the Connecticut Boxing Hall of Fame in 2019.
Skills
In Baker’s Appendix, “Skills Overview, “he assesses Pep’s many skills, including his balance, Footwork, Spin Move, and Left Jab.
Baker calls Pep’s left jab his “guidance system,” though”it wasn’t as exciting as his left hook . . . it was often the precursor to destruction. He used it to direct his opponents into position, create an opening, or launch a window if you will, before firing his heavier artillery. Because it was quicker, used less energy, and could be executed while moving, it was the elite fighter’s prolific punch.”
Photos
And those photos! Magnificent! More than 70 of them, including Pep with Alexis Arguello, sports journalist and scholar Sam Cohen, Jose Torres, and Muhamad Ali. And for fans of Rocky Graziano and Jake LaMotta, two of Pep’s closest friends, check out page 132. There’s one of a smiling Jackie Wilson, the Pacific Coast’s lightweight and welterweight champion on page 75. Then, of course, there are several of the great featherweight champion—and Pep’s number one rival—Sandy Saddler.
And check out a 1954 photo of Angelo Dundee on page 127. As Baker notes, “[Dundee] admitted to teaching his fighters (Ali, Basilio, Foreman, etc.) many of the defense tactics used by the featherweight legend.”
My favorite is a photo of an older, pensive Willie Pep on page 195. It was one of the last times he attended the Canastota Hall of Fame weekend.
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Interview with Mark Allan Baker
Roger Zotti: Mark, what would you like readers to know about your most recent book?
Mark Allan Baker: This work is an extraordinary, yet comprehensive, glimpse into the life of one, if not the, greatest pugilist ever. Presented in an appealing format––there are NO images, or language, that would be offensive to a reader of any age or background––it is also the type of work that will appeal to a developing boxer. It fills an enormous research void that has existed for years.
For me, it is the fourth biography of a five-part series that salutes the lighter weight classes. Hopefully, as with some of my other books, it will be utilized by the academic world. I believe it breaks new ground.
RZ: The standard why question—why did you write about Willie Pep?
MAB: As great as boxing fans know Willie Pep was, I believe he was even better. Overlooked is his incredible contribution to the sport of boxing as a referee, manager, and promoter. Overlooked was his tireless advocacy of the sport from multiple perspectives. From endlesscharitable causes to assisting in the return of boxing in the state of Connecticut, this elite fighter always answered the call.
Now it is our time to step up and acknowledge a man who took the role of an elite fighter to a new level. Despite a courage award named after the boxer by the Connecticut Boxing Hall of Fame, a skate park, and even an invitational boxing tournament, I believe we need to do more. There is a movement, as well as there should be, to erect a statue in his honor. It is my hope that this idea, among others, comes to fruition.
RZ: Talk about your approach to the book.
MAB: My approach was to utilize available public resources to offer a variety of features: A comprehensive view of the subject’s contribution to boxing; a thorough review of his professional and amateur boxing career; an extensive view of his ring contributions as a boxer, second, referee, promoter, and manager, and of his ring contributions as a representative and advocate; an all-embracing view of his impact on the sport in the state of Connecticut; an exhaustive review of the dynamics between a fight manager, trainer, and boxer.
There’s also a sweeping analysis of not only the bouts he participated in, but even those scheduled, canceled, postponed, or never come to fruition.
RZ: Your research was, putting it mildly, extensive.
MAB: Research, aka Appendices, represents over 25% of the book. They include: A Canastota Scrapbook highlighting his participation in events conducted by the International Boxing Hall of Fame; a skills overview including balance, clinches, crouching, feints, footwork, head movement, left jab, overhand right, slip, spin move (trademark), switching stances, weaving, and wrestling; and an Official Records comparison to associated members of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Naturally, I include a blanket look at the numerous boxing ceremonies and awards the subject attended; the subject’s influence on young fighters and his willingness to develop their skills; the subject’s influence on his community, including commerce and charitable causes; the subject’s influence on the sport as an actor, journalist, and commentator; his interaction with the two other pillars of Connecticut boxing, Kid Kaplan and Bat Battalino, and the subject’s interaction with the numerous organizations over the sport” that “includes licensing and penalties. As always, detail was paramount.
RZ: Some books are, for the author, a labor of love. Is this true of your book about Pep?
MAB: Without question this was a labor of love for me. Not only because of the subject, but also because of the friendships he developed over the years with so many people.
Ever since my early days with the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York, I witnessed the tremendous camaraderie he had with Director Ed “Eddie” Brophy. I wanted to be certain boxing fans realized this relationship. The pair even shared the same vanity license plate (different states).
RZ: Is there anything else you’d like readers to know about your book?
Yes, and it’s that the book will not only give readers a greater understanding of the talents possessed by this elite fighter, but also an admiration for his greatest quality: perseverance. The trials and tribulations facing an elite boxer and the impact on his ring performance can also be gleaned, as well as the impact of association on a nonpareil boxer. In addition, the work does correct misinterpretations of events by providing publicly available details that are often overlooked.
This book was published in August 2022 and is available at McFarland Publishing, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.Com.
*****
Roger Zotti, a regular contributor to the IBRO Journal, has written two boxing books, Friday Night World and The Proper Pugilist. He can be reached at rogerzotti@aol.com.