Applegate should be remembered for going the distance with Rocky Marciano, one of the heaviest hitters in the history of the heavyweight division?
?There should be a little star or something by the names of the guys who did it the hard way.??Happy Birthday, Wanda June
Willis ?Red? Applegate was one of only five men to go the distance with the legendary Rocky Marciano. The others were Don Mogard at the Rhode Island Auditorium in Providence on May 23, 1949, Tiger Ted Lowry on October 10 that year and again on November 13, 1950, both times at the Auditorium, Roland LaStarza at Madison Square Garden on March 24 that year, and Ezzard Charles at Yankee Stadium on June 17, 1954. Each win came by way of unanimous decision, save for that over LaStarza, which was by split decision, and each was a 10-rounder, except for the one against Charles, which went 15. The Rock only went the distance once as champ, against Charles.
Marciano stopped LaStarza by 11th-round TKO at New York?s Polo Grounds on September 24, 1953, The Ring?s Fight of the Year, and kayoed Charles in the eighth at Yankee Stadium on September 17, 1954, another Fight of the Year.
Marciano-Applegate took place at the Rhode Island Auditorium on April 30, 1951. Though Rocky unquestionably won, he couldn?t knock Red out. Hell, he couldn?t even knock him down.
Otherwise, however, Applegate?s ring career was woefully unimpressive. Fighting out of Montclair, New Jersey, from 1946 to 1951 (though out of the ring in ?49 and fighting only once in ?50), he wound up with a record of 12 wins, four by knockout, 16 losses, three by knockout, and two draws, averaging about 10 fights a year.
True, he beat rugged Gus Dorazio by fifth-round TKO at Valley Forge General Hospital in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, on July 24, 1946, and outpointed Blackjack Billy Fox (who won 47 of 48 by knockout) at Twin City Bowl in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on June 29, 1948, but lost to Tiger Gene Jones by third-round TKO at Hamid?s Pier in Atlantic City on November 7, 1946, Lee Oma by ninth-round TKO at the Queensboro Arena in Long Island City, Queens, on August 9, 1948, Jimmy Bivins on points at Miami Stadium on February 1, 1950, Marty Marshall (the first man to beat Sonny Liston, as well as break his jaw) on points at Detroit?s Olympia Stadium on January 3, 1951, and Omelio Agramonte by unanimous decision at Palacio de Deportes in Havana that April 7.
And Tony Galento? Even though Marciano was ?a great fighter,? boxing?s Falstaff told Evans Kirkby, as reported in the April 5, 1966, edition of The Milwaukee Journal, ?it took him 10 rounds to beat Red Applegate. I knocked out Applegate in one round in my saloon in New Jersey one day. It?s in the record book.?
What record book is that? As Kirkby wrote, ?Marciano?s victory over Applegate is in the record book, but somehow or other the record book sleuths missed Galento?s historic triumph over that warrior of the early 1950s.?
Applegate last won on July 2, 1951, following six consecutive losses, outpointing power-punching Johnny Haynes (who twice stopped Lee Q. Murray) in Newark. It was in that same much-maligned city that Red had his final bout, for the vacant New Jersey heavyweight title, outpointed by Budd Schulberg-managed Archie McBride on September 10, 1951.
Red Applegate died October 1, 1965, age unknown.
Forgotten even 50 years ago, at least Red had some kind of send-off from the always reliable Jersey Jones, who wrote in the December 1965 issue of The Ring (the news coming too late for November) that ?boxing lost one of the most accomplished all-around athletes it has known,? noting that Applegate had been with the Newark Eagles, a Negro National League team, owned by Effa Manley, the first woman inducted into Cooperstown.
Jones reminds his readers that Applegate once participated in a truly quirky bout. On July 20, 1948, he faced Bill Weinberg at the Queensboro Arena, but the match was called on account of rain after the third round, continuing for another seven the next evening, Weinberg winning by split decision.
But what Applegate should be best remembered for is going the distance with ?The Brockton Blockbuster,? one of the heaviest hitters in the history of the heavyweight division.
