BOSTON–There’s only been a 44 year gap in our conversation and friendship but I’m sure we’ll pick up where we left off, which was 1968, when I meet and greet former New England light heavyweight champion Marion Conner Sunday afternoon. The Veteran Boxers Association, ably headed up by Bobby Franklin (who grew up alongside me in the Allston section of this city, is having what the Irish like to refer to as “a time” for the late heavyweight contender and title challenger Irish Tom McNeeley starting at 2 p.m. Even the venue, Florian Hall in Dorchester, is appropriate. It’s connected to the Firefighters Union and will be filled with old blue collar type fighters such as Connor. When I was a teenager desperate to break into the fight game, I wrote and distributed press releases for New England legend Subway Sam Silverman. If Sam didn’t stage three or four fight shows per week, one in Boston and then one in Portland, Maine, and then one in Mechanics Hall in Worcester, then he was having a slow period.
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My aspiration was to get to know Cassius Clay who became Muhammad Ali. That’s why I founded the grandly named International Cassius Clay Fan Club and put out an irregularly scheduled newsletter called “The Louisville Lip.” That mission was completed. But, while I idolized Ali before and after I got to hang with he and his colorful entourage, my workaday boxing buddies were slick welterweight Ted Whitfield, rugged Connor and, to a lesser extent, McNeeley. Even today, I still recall the kick I got out of seeing Irish Tom’s mug on the face of Sports Illustrated before he fought Floyd Patterson. He put the champ down, I think, four times but Patterson scored seven knockdowns in the 1961 title bout in Toronto. In between the fabled eras of Rocky Marciano and Marvelous Marvin Hagler, both of them The Pride of Brockton, McNeeley was the six state, New England ring star. I bet Irish Tom will be looking down approvingly today as ex-middleweight contender and former state auditor Joe DeNucci toast his memory. Who knows, maybe Arlington’s McNeeley, whose son Peter fought Mike Tyson, will be viewing the proceedings with Smokin’ Joe Frazier, Angelo Dundee and cigar smoking Bert Sugar, all recently departed. (I must add Goody and Pat Petronelli in the balcony as well.) It was a brilliant stroke to bring Connor in from Canton, Ohio, his hometown because he’s a touchstone to the fight careers of both Frazier, who stopped him in three at the Boston Garden, in 1967 and McNeeley, who he fought twice at the end of 1965. I’ll never forget either Connor-McNeeley bout. In the first one, held at the creaking Arena on St. Botolph Street, I seem to recall Marion switching to southpaw and befuddling McNeeley to win a deserved 12 round decision. In the rematch at the Garden, the size and power difference (McNeeley was 30 pounds heavier) told and the heavyweight won by ninth round TKO. But there’s another link for Connor and McNeeley. In 1965, they both appeared on a show in Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Connor posted a decision victory over Herschel Jacobs while McNeeley took a real thumping from light heavyweight champion Jose “Chegui” Torres. I recall seeing a bruised and battered McNeeley at the New Garden Gym after the pounding. He had lumps upon lumps and purple and black bruises. “That’s boxing,” Irish Tom told me. “I’ll get him next time.” Next time for Irish Tom McNeeley is today. Tickets are available at the door for a measly $60. There will be food, drink and fistic memories and anecdotes which are truly priceless. ([email protected])
