On This Day: The wife of Tony Galento weeps uncontrollably after seeing what Joe Louis did to her husband

Joe Louis

JOE LOUIS w rsf 4 TONY GALENTO
June 28, 1939; Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY
ONE of the most famous quotes in boxing history from โ€œTwo Tonโ€ Tony Galento did not amuse world heavyweight champion Joe Louis one bit. โ€œIโ€™ll moida da bum,โ€ said the portly bouncer and barkeep before telling Louis what he planned to do with his wife once heโ€™d knocked him out. Mayhem followed and it would be Mrs Galento who was in for a shock. Galento, hitting the scales at 233lbs despite being only 5ft 9ins, used those beer-stained hands to stagger Louis in the first only for the champion to deck him the second. By the third, Galento was a mess but sensationally scored a knockdown himself. Order was restored in the fourth when the challenger was mercilessly pounded to defeat.

DID YOU KNOW? It took more than five minutes for Galentoโ€™s seconds, Joe Jacobs and Whitey Bimstein, to revive their charge in the aftermath. When he was led from the ring, the challengerโ€™s wife burst into tears when she saw the state of her husband.

WATCH OUT FOR: Find The Way It Was: Louis-Galento and enjoy the two fighters reminisce about the battle years later. Galento, with thick black wig and ginormous cigar, is particularly engrossing.

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