Given his 95 fights over what really amounted to only six years (an average of 16 bouts a year), it?s no surprise Fatta took on all comers?
?It is nice to know they remember me.??Carmine Fatta
Born Louis J. Muratore on March 31, 1919, on Manhattan?s tough Lower East Side, the equally tough Carmine Fatta fought out of Brooklyn from 1939 to 1947 (though out of the ring in ?45 and only fighting once in ?46), winding up with a record of 69 wins, 30 by knockout, 19 losses, eight by knockout, and seven draws.
Managed at one time by Lew Jenkins? fiery wife, Katie, the lightweight eventually came under the more experienced control of Lew Burston, manager of such luminaries as Panama Al Brown, Sal Bartolo, Charley Burley, Al Bummy Davis, Pedro Montanez, Marcel Thil, Dick Tiger, and Randy Turpin.
?Sugar Ray had Paris in his legs,? Burston observed after Turpin outpointed Robinson, relieving him of his middleweight title, at Earls Court Arena in London on July 10, 1951, in reference to the Sugarman having lived the sweet life in France prior to the bout. Replacing that sugar with spice, Robinson won back the title in their rematch, stopping Turpin by 10th-round TKO at the Polo Grounds in New York that September 12.
And there was the time Lew got slugged by Bummy when he unwisely sought to restrain him from killing Fritzie Zivic. But that, too, is another story.
Given his 95 fights over what really amounted to only six years (an average of 16 bouts a year), it?s no surprise Fatta took on all comers, drawing against Maxie Shapiro (who beat Sal Bartolo, Phil Terranova, and Bob Montgomery) at New York?s Hippodrome on March 10, 1939, outpointing Chester Rico at Coney Island?s Velodrome on July 31 that year, and doing the same to never-stopped Solly Gerstler at Madison Square Garden that December 1 and to Lew Feldman (who once beat Lew Jenkins) at the Velodrome on July 5, 1940, as well as knocking out Lefty LaChance (another one who beat Terranova) in the fourth at Laurel Garden in Newark on December 1, 1941. In 1942, Fatta twice faced Jerry Moore?who fought Tippy Larkin, Ike Williams (twice), Willie Joyce, Sheik Rangel (twice), Freddie Dixon, and Juan Zurita?drawing against him at the Valley Arena in Holyoke, Massachusetts, on March 2 and beating him by unanimous decision at the same venue just 21 days later. That May 25, he stopped power-punching Tommy Jessup by second-round TKO at the same arena.
Outpointed by never-stopped Billy Davis at the Garden on November 21, 1941, he suffered a similar fate at the hands of Tippy Larkin at Laurel Garden that December 22, Fatta threatening to quit the fight after being slapped in the face by his second, Fred Amorsa, who was indefinitely suspended for ?conduct unbecoming a second.? After losing a second time to Davis, this time by unanimous decision at the Valley Arena on February 2, 1942, he lost to Cleo Shans by unanimous decision at the same arena on April 20 that year before again losing to Larkin, outpointed at Brooklyn?s MacArthur Stadium that June 9.
Carmine knocked out Joe Echevarria in the second at the same venue on June 23 that year before avenging himself against Shans, winning by split decision at the Valley Arena that August 3. Fifteen days later, Beau Jack knocked him out in the first at MacArthur Stadium. Though he only drew against Bobby Ruffin on September 22 that year, in the final main event ever to take place at the New York Coliseum in the Bronx, he outpointed cement-chinned Richie Lemos at Brooklyn?s Broadway Arena that October 13, losing to him on points at the Garden that November 6.
Meeting tough Johnny Hutchinson at Philly?s Convention Hall on January 4, 1943, Fatta got stopped by fifth-round TKO. He suffered a similar fate in his bout with Sal Bartolo 18 days later at the Arena in Boston, this time by second-round TKO. In his rubber match with Shans, at the Coliseum in Baltimore on November 27, 1944, Fatta got stopped by third-round TKO. He also fought Cleo?s brother, Jimmy, outpointing him at MacArthur Stadium on July 21, 1942.
However game, he proved no match for Enrique Bolanos, (who three times challenged Ike Williams for the Lightweight Championship of the World), the ?Durango Dropper? dropping him four times in the first, winning by TKO at Los Angeles? Olympic Auditorium on January 29, 1946, in what proved to be Fatta?s only bout that year and his first since December 19, 1944, when he was outpointed by Dom Amoroso at Jersey City Gardens. Following the Bolanos loss, he wouldn?t fight again until January 14, 1947, outpointing Eddie White at the Park Arena in the Bronx.
It was at that same venue, that March 25, that Fatta scored his last win, outpointing Oscar Lewis. He quit the ring following back-to-back losses, first to Jimmy Warren, who won by second-round TKO at Brooklyn?s Broadway Arena on April 8 that year, then to Bill Eddy, who stopped him by third-round TKO at the I.M.A. Auditorium in Flint, Michigan, that May 9.
?I thought the time had come for me to hang up the gloves after those two knockouts that came in the second and third rounds,? said Fatta. ?When the canvas starts corning up and hitting you, the time has come to retire.?
Tami Mauriello may have been Frank Sinatra?s favorite fighter, but Fatta was a close second and was equally popular with Joe DiMaggio, Phil Silvers, and Jackie Coogan, among other celebrities.
And not just with the rich and famous. Over the weekend of September 18-20, 1987, Fatta and one-time nemeses Tippy Larkin and Sal Bartolo were honored by the International Veteran Boxers Association at the Friar Tuck Inn in the Catskills. In addition, Fatta, ?135 pounds of fighting fury,? was inducted into the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame on November 15, 1991.
A longtime resident of Newburgh, New York, Carmine Fatta, whose motto was, ?Keep your right hand high and your ass off the canvas,? died May 25, 2008, age 89, and is buried at Calvary Cemetery in New Windsor, New York, as is his wife of 65 years, Fannie Muratore, who died this July 13, age 92.
