Tony Marino (boxer)

Tony Marino (May 18, 1910 – February 1, 1937) was an American boxer who became the World Bantamweight Champion on June 29, 1936, when he defeated Baltasar Sangchili in a fourteenth-round knockout in New York.

Marino had the famous trainer Ray Arcel and managers Reed Brown and Bill Newman.

Tony Marino was born into a large and close Italian family on May 18, 1910, in Duquesne, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh.

Most sources list his birth year as 1912, but his headstone lists it as 1910.

Since his brother, Ralph Marino, was born in September 1912, it would not be possible for Tony Marino to have been born in May of that year.

His parents, Anthony and Mary, would eventually have ten children, giving Tony a total of six sisters and three brothers.

His older brother Charles would take the ringname Tommy Ryan, and become an accomplished boxer himself, competing for the World Bantamweight Title in 1924.

Tony was named after his father, who eventually settled the family on South Fifth Street in Duquesne.

Marino was known as a studied boxer, not a strong puncher, though he had a good left hand, and a short, but accomplished career.

According to one source, Marino fought as many as eighty bouts before becoming a professional, though many were as short as three rounds.

As an amateur, Marino represented Pittsburgh at the National tournament in Boston with teammate, Teddy Yarosz, also a Pittsburgh area native.

He fought his first well publicized professional bout at the age of eighteen on July 2, 1930, winning in six rounds against Young Ketchell in North Braddock, Pennsylvania.

Wolgast had been the NYSAC World Flyweight Boxing Champion in 1930.

He beat Ketchell again on May 20, 1932, in an eight-round unanimous decision at Stanton Park Arena in Steubenville, Ohio.

On March 14, 1932, he decisively defeated Joey Ross in an eight-round split decision at Motor Square Garden in Pittsburgh.

Marino carried much of the fight with terrific combinations of rights and left hooks, but Ross finished strong, and won the last round, when Marino may have begun to fatigue.

At least one reporter at ringside felt Marino had won all but the sixth and eighth rounds.

On January 21, 1932, he defeated Marty Gold at the Palisades Rink in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, in a ten-round points decision.

As one of his earliest bouts with a more experienced boxer, the Pittsburgh Post, wrote that Marino had "met his hardest test, ...and survived it."

He won the important and well publicized match by a unanimous decision of the judges.

Marino staggered Gold with a left hook in the sixth, but was warned for low blows in the early rounds.

In what was not entirely a one-sided bout, Gold knocked Marino to a sitting posture in the last round though some at ringside considered it one of Gold's few solidly landed blows.

He fought Midget Wolgast for the first time on June 6, 1932, at the Myers Bowl in North Braddock, Pennsylvania, losing in a ten-round points decision.

Yarosz would take the 1934 NYSAC Middleweight Championship.

On October 25 and November 12, 1934, he lost to Filipino boxer Small Montana in ten round points decisions in Sacramento and San Francisco, California.

A worthy opponent, in 1935, Montana would take the NYSAC World Flyweight Championship.

On April 11, 1936, he received his first of only two knockouts in his career from Willie Felice at Ridgewood Grove in Brooklyn, New York.

The knockout occurred in the third round.

On May 2, 1936, he showed he could avenge a dominating opponent, winning in a six-round points decision at Ridgewood Grove in New York.

New York's Democrat and Chronicle considered the win "impressive".

Though weighing in six pounds lighter, on March 28, 1936, at Ridgewood Grove in Brooklyn, he defeated Johnny "Skippy" Allen in an impressive fourth-round technical knockout.

On June 2, 1936, he defeated Lou Salica, former NYSAC World Bantamweight Title Holder, in Queensboro Arena in New York.

He surprised the crowd with an unexpected ten round points decision against the former champion.

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

Marino became the World Bantamweight champion on June 29, 1936, when he defeated Spanish boxer Baltasar Sangchili in a close and stunning fourteenth-round knockout in New York.

Marino had been down four times in the bout and was well behind in points.

In the fourteenth round Marino shot a jarring short left hook to the chin of Sangchili who thought he was close to finishing off Marino.

After landing the surprise left, Marino "rammed a right to the body (of Sangchili) and then shifted his attack to the head, hooking a series of punches with both hands. Sangchili crumpled until he fell over on his face to be counted out."

He died on February 1, 1937, of injuries he received from his bout with boxer Carlos Quintana, two days earlier in Brooklyn.

On February 3, 1937, the New York State Athletic Commission, citing Marino's death, created the three-knockdown rule.