BOSTON–I understand it to be a common malady and a lifelong one as well.
I’m talking about a blind, or nearly so, loyalty to the place of one’s birth.
Me, I was hatched in Boston and the year was XYZ.
I’m not blind to the continuing miserable state of the Boston Public Schools which stand in stark contrast to such world class universities as Harvard, MIT and all the rest.
I’m not blind to the fact that this city is still racially and ethnically segregated in most neighborhoods and I haven’t forgotten the shame and violence of the forced busing era.
When it comes to sports and athletic heritage, though, the Beantown often gets it right.
On Thursday night, Boston is doing something of which all its citizens can be proud.
In the historic North End, for decade after decade an almost totally Italian enclave, they are using the annual occassion of the “Fishermen’s Feast” to honor one of its greatest fighting champions, a native son who was born as Leonardo Liotta. Advertisement
In the boxing world, he was known as Tony Tony DeMarco and he was so tough there was no need to attach that nickname in front of his adopted moniker.
DeMarco, who turns age 80 next Jan. 14, is said to be hale and hearty and I’m hoping to shake the great man’s fighting hands this evening.
More casual fight fans, when they think of the Boston area and boxing, surely invoke the magnificent names of the two Brockton Blockbusters, the native son named Rocky Marciano (soon to be memoralized with a statue in the city south of here) and the adopted son originally from Newark named Marvelous Marvin Hagler.
Some oldtimers will also mention the Fighting Fireman from Brookline, the slick boxing former middleweight champion Paul Pender.
Truth be told, DeMarco only held the 147 pound title for a few precious monthsm, from April 1, 1955, to June 10, 1955.
Through his career, he compiled a 58-12-1 record and beat the stellar likes of non-relative Paddy DeMarco, Teddy Red Top Davis, popular TV staple Chico Vejar and world champion Don Jordan.
DeMarco copped the world title with a TKO over Johnny Saxton and lost his belt in a fight against Hall Of Famer Carmen Basilio in Syracuse.
DeMarco’s name is tied to Basilio historically because they fought again, the rematch drawing an amazing 13,373 paying fans at the Boston Garden. Again, in a wicked war of attrition, DeMarco was stopped in the 12th round.
That rematch was Ring Magazine’s Fight of the Year for 1955.
DeMarco turned pro in 1948, fighting someone with a great ring name of Meteor Jones in Boston and then in nearby Salem. Meteor was KO’d in one round and then in two, just three weeks apart.
Looking at DeMarco’s industrious record harkens back to the great club fight era, a time when boxers often fought two or three times a month.
DeMarco learned his trade and plied it in Boston, in Providence, in Salem, in Holyoke and went as far north as Portland, Maine.
If that doesn’t shock the less mature, how about the fact that DeMarco was in the pro ring at the tender age of 16?
DeMarco hung up his gloves after a Feb. 6, 1962, 10 round points victory over Stefan Redl.
And now, 49 years later, his old neighborhood will show that real champions are never forgotten.
The North End became a Yuppie magnet and some of its Italian flavor has been lost over the years. Many of the sons and daughters of the neighborhood fled to the suburbs and other points.
By honoring DeMarco, the North End honors itself.
Here’s to the Fishermen and to Leonardo Liotta aka Tony DeMarco, a noble champion who, it could be said, never left the neighborhood behind.
