Louis Salica

Louis ("Lou") Salica (November 16, 1912 – January 30, 2002) was an American boxer, who captured the National Boxing Association World Bantamweight Title twice in his career, in 1935 and 1940.

His managers were Hymie Kaplan and Willie Ketchum.

Salica was born in Brooklyn, New York to a large Italian family of sixteen children on November 16, 1912.

Some sources list a different birth date for Salica, July 26, 1913.

He won the Metropolitan Flyweight Championship in 1931 and 1932, as well as the 1932 National AAU Flyweight Championship.

As a youth, Salica won the Flyweight bronze medal as an amateur at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

As an exceptional amateur, he won the New York City Golden Gloves Flyweight Championship in 1932.

Turning professional and fighting in the Brooklyn area from December 1932 to February 1934, he won fifteen of his first sixteen bouts with one draw.

On December 27, 1933, he defeated Native American boxer Pete DeGrasse in a six round points decision in Broadway Arena in Brooklyn.

He defeated Harry Bauman once on April 2, 1934 in a six round points decision at St. Nicholas Arena in New York City.

On August 10, 1934, he defeated Joe Tei Ken, a Korean San Francisco native, in a ten round points decision at Legion Stadium in Hollywood, California.

Salica was a slight favorite going into the bout.

September 7, 1934, he defeated Filipino boxer Young Tommy in a ten round points decision at Hollywood's Legion Stadium.

He came in strong in the final rounds to defeat his opponent.

Both boxers weighed very close to 118 in the weigh ins.

On October 19, 1934, in a well publicized bout, he lost to Filipino boxer Speedy Dado in a ten round points decision at Legion Stadium in California.

Dado showed greater speed and accuracy in his punching, though Salica often scored points in rounds when Dado was tiring, and clearly won the fifth.

On December 20, 1934, he defeated Carlos "Indian" Quinatana in a ten round decision at the Forum in Montreal, Canada.

He scored two no count knockdowns in early rounds, but had to come from behind in a strong finish when Quintana made a strong showing in the middle rounds.

The bout was an early match for the World Bantamweight elimination tournament.

On June 11, 1935, he defeated Pablo Dano in a ten round points decision at Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles.

As many as 10,000 were anticipated for the fight between two boxers considered bantamweight title contenders, even if only in California.

On July 30, 1935, he met Jerry Mazza in an eighth round draw at the Coney Island Velodrome in Brooklyn.

Salica was outweighed by nearly eight pounds in the feature bout.

On August 26, 1935, Salica took the National Boxing Association Bantamweight Championship against Puerto Rican boxer Sixto Escobar in a close fifteen round decision at Dyckman Oval in Manhattan.

Many ringside questioned the decision of the judges that gave the win to Salica.

Salica subsequently lost the World Bantamweight Championship to Escobar just two months later on November 15, 1935 in a fifteen round Unanimous Decision at New York's Madison Square Garden.

Escobar floored Salica for a nine count in the third round after a series of right crosses, and staggered him several times during the bout.

The United Press gave Escobar nine of the eleven rounds, in a decisive victory where only the ninth, tenth, and eleventh were given graciously to Salica, the ninth being even.

On June 2, 1936, he was defeated by Tony Marino, future NYSAC World Bantamweight Title Holder, in Queensboro Arena in New York.

Marino surprised the crowd with an unexpected ten round points decision over Salica, the former World Bantamweight Champion.

It was a victory that helped Marino rise to greater prominence.

He would fight and defeat DeGrasse again in a longer ten round points decision on May 11, 1937 at Olympic Stadium in Los Angeles.

DeGrasse normally fought as a featherweight, outweighed Salica by three pounds.

Salica opened a cut over the eye of DeGrasse in the seventh round, but DeGrasse finished strong in the close bout, making many in the crowd question the referee's decision.

On November 2, 1937, Salica scored a fourth round technical knockout against Joey Wach in Brooklyn.

Wach was down three times in the fourth round, the first time for a nine count before the referee stopped the fight after one minute of the fourth.

The fighting was fairly even in the first three rounds.

He would defeat Dano again in a ten round points decision on August 20, 1938 at Gilmore Stadium in Los Angeles.

On July 22, 1938 he defeated Mexican boxer Emilio Magana in a ninth round technical knockout at Gilmore Stadium in Los Angeles, California.