Petey Scalzo

Petey Scalzo (1917-1993) was an American boxer from Hell's Kitchen, New York.

Scazo was born in Brooklyn, New York on August 1, 1917, to an Italian family, and survived a rough childhood in Hell’s Kitchen.

To earn a living as a youth, he sold newspapers, and danced on street corners for small donations from passing pedestrians.

According to one source he spoke Italian, Greek, and sign language as a young man.

Showing remarkable talent in his pursuit of boxing as an amateur, he took the New York Metropolitan AAU championship, and International Golden Gloves bantamweight championship.

At the end of his amateur career in 1936, he won the New York Daily News Golden Gloves Open Bantamweight 118 pound Championship before a crowd of 20,000, and soon decided to turn professional.

Belloise briefly held the NYSAC world featherweight title in 1936 before being stripped of it in August, 1937.

On December 5, 1938, Scalzo defeated the reigning New York State Athletic Commission's (NYSAC) world featherweight champion Joey Archibald in a second-round knockout at Royal Windsor Arena in New York.

The bout was not a title fight, and certainly not recognized as one by the National Boxing Association (NBA), a sanctioning body with a wider range and more prestige than the NYSAC.

In the first round, Archibald received a hard right to the chin, but managed to rally to keep the round even.

After finding an opening in the second round, Scalzo delivered three powerful right hooks to the chin of Archibald that dropped him 2 minutes, and 10 seconds after the bell.

The win would cement Scalzo as the leading contender for the National Boxing Association's world featherweight championship.

Demonstrating his punching ability, Scalzo defeated Lou Transparenti at Turners Arena in Washington in a seventh-round technical knockout on January 3, 1939.

On December 1, 1939, Scalzo defeated Allie Stoltz in a fourth-round knockout at New York's Madison Square Garden.

It was Stoltz's first loss by knockout.

In the fourth, Scalzo knocked Stoltz to the mat for a count of seven with a strong left hook to the chin.

Upon arising he was knocked to the mat again with a straight right, after which the referee ended the bout when Stolz could not rise to his feet.

He was declared the National Boxing Association Featherweight Championship of the World on May 1, 1940, two weeks prior to winning a sixth-round technical knockout over Frankie Covelli on May 15, 1940.

The NBA had withdrawn the world featherweight championship from Joey Archibald the previous month for his refusal to fight leading contenders, including Scalzo.

Scalzo's manager was the hard working Pete Reilly who found monthly bouts for Scalzo as he began to rise in the boxing ranks.

His trainers were Dan and Nick Florio.

On May 15, 1940, Scalzo defeated Frankie Covelli for the National Boxing Association (NBA) World featherweight title at Washington D.C.'s Griffith Stadium in a decisive sixth-round TKO.

Scalzo had previously been declared world featherweight champion by the NBA on May 1, 1940.

Scalzo first dropped Covelli to the mat in the fifth with a left hook during close infighting that required Covelli to take a count of nine before he could rise to resume the bout.

Upon arising, Scalzo knocked Covelli to the mat again, and after he resumed the bout, Scalzo dropped him for the third and final time.

The win was probably Scalzo's single most important victory.

He followed his victory over Covelli with a decisive eight round points decision over Mike Belloise before a roaring crowd of 900 at Starlight Park in the Bronx on June 3, 1940.

On July 10, 1940, in one of his few defenses of the world featherweight title, Scalzo defeated Bobby "Poison" Ivy in a fifteen-round TKO in Hartford, Connecticut.

Scalzo showed superiority in both long range boxing and infighting, though in the twelfth, Ivy staged a comeback which brought the Connecticut crowd of 5,000 to their feet.

Ivy did not return to the ring as the bell sounded for the fifteenth round due to a badly cut and bleeding lip.

The United Press scoreboard gave Scalzo eleven rounds, with the second and twelfth for Ivy, and one tied.

A few officials present felt Ivy deserved the eleventh round as well.

On July 15, 1940, Scalzo defeated Maxie Fisher before a crowd of around 5600 in a ten-round points decision at Meadowbrook Bowl in Newark, New Jersey.

Scalzo was five years younger and had boxed professionally six fewer years.

His youthfulness allowed him to step up the contest in the final five rounds.

Fisher could not keep pace as Scalzo bored in and delivered a variety of blows, particularly his close range left hook.

Nonetheless, there were no knockdowns, and Fisher rallied at times to keep the crowd interested.

On August 26, 1940, Scalzo defeated Jimmy Perrin in a well publicized ten round unanimous decision which brought 10,000 fans to City Park Stadium in New Orleans.

Perrin, who fought defensively throughout the bout, was "completely outclassed" by the hard punching Scalzo, and took only the ninth round.

Though Scalzo dominated, the fight had no knockdowns and neither boxer left the bout with visible injuries.