Willie Pep

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Willie Pep boxer
Data
Birth Name Guglielmo Papaleo
Weight class Featherweight
nationality US-american
birthday September 19, 1922
place of birth Hartford
Date of death November 23, 2006
Place of death Rocky Hill
style Left delivery
size 1.65 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles 242
Victories 230
Knockout victories 64
Defeats 11
draw 1

Willie Pep (born September 19, 1922 in Hartford , Connecticut , † November 23, 2006 in Rocky Hill , Connecticut) was an American boxer.

The " Ring Magazine " described him as undoubtedly the greatest defensive boxer of all time . His battle name was accordingly Will o 'the Wisp , the will-o'- the-wisp .

amateur

Pep had a score of 62-3. One of the defeats was on points against (who boxed under the pseudonym Ray Roberts) Sugar Ray Robinson who weighed significantly more in this fight.

professional

The Italian-American Pep made his professional debut in 1940. He won his first 63 fights, beating Joey Archibald twice and Pedro Hernandez. In 1942 he defeated Chalkie Wright for the first time for recognition as NYSAC world champion, he beat him several times afterwards. He suffered his first defeat against the (heavier) lightweight Sammy Angott in 1943.

He defended his title in 1943 against Sal Bartolo , who had given him some problems in a non-title fight earlier in the same year, and in 1945 against Phil Terranova . In 1944 he beat bantamweight world champion Manuel Ortiz in a non-title fight .

In 1943 he volunteered for the US Navy during World War II . He was drafted in 1944, but served in the armed forces for less than a year.

In 1946 he won general recognition as a featherweight world champion in a unification fight against Sal Bartolo, who had meanwhile risen to become NBA world champion.

In 1947, he survived a plane crash in New Jersey that killed several passengers. He broke his back and a leg in the process, but successfully returned to the ring five months later.

In 1948 he lost to Sandy Saddler by knockout in the fourth round. He defeated him in 1949, but lost again prematurely in 1950 and 1951 due to injuries. Compromising letters surfaced after his career suggesting that these struggles were rigged.

After these fights he no longer boxed for titles and gave a kind of farewell tour of 15 years until he ended his career in 1966.

In 1990 Pep was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame .

Pep passed away at the age of 84 in a Rocky Hill , Connecticut nursing home . Most recently he suffered from an advanced stage of Alzheimer's disease .

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