Will O' The Wisp
Willie Pep is considered one of the pound-for-pound greatest fighters in the history of the sport. He was a featherweight, and stood at just 5 foot 5, but is regarded as one of the great ring generals in history. The legendary Ring magazine hailed him as "the greatest defensive fighter of all time." Willie Pep was a world featherweight champion from 1942 to 1948 and again from 1949 to 1950. He's a master at footwork, strategy, deception. He once won a round without throwing a punch. Let that sink in for a moment. When was the last time you heard of a fighter that won a round without throwing a single punch?!
Seeing The "Battling" Battalino"
Willie Pep was born Guglielmo Papaleo on September 19, 1922, in Middletown, near Hartford, Connecticut. He was the son of Sicilian immigrants, Salvatore and Mary Papaleo. Pep grew up in a rough and tumble neighborhood where he would continuously get bullied and beaten up.
Pep intended to learn how to defend himself from the bullies in his neighborhood. He was drawn to Boxing after witnessing the Italian-American world featherweight champion, "Battling" Battalino" train in nearby Hartford, Connecticut. With such inspiration, he began to take up Boxing. The Great Depression hit, and Pep's father was earning $15 per week at the Works Progress Administration, an American New Deal agency, employing millions of job-seekers to carry out public works projects. Pep would soon drop out of Hartford High School at the age of 16, to help earn money for his family by selling newspapers and shining shoes, which he did alongside a future hall of fame fighter, Johnny Duke.
Pep fought as much as he could, mostly at the Du-Well Athletic Club in Norwich, Connecticut. He would fight everywhere, in gyms, basements, and attics in his home state. In 1938, he won the Connecticut amateur flyweight championship, and then in the following year, he would go on to win the Connecticut amateur bantamweight championship. Pep once said, "The best advice I ever got was from a kid in the gym who told me, 'When you're in the ring, make-believe a cop is chasing you; don't let him catch you."
Becoming Pro..
At the age of 19, Willie Pep became professional. To say he became professional would be the understatement of the year. He began his career with a 62-0 record- 62 straight victories starting from July 10, 1940, in Hartford, Connecticut. His first 25 fights were split between Connecticut and Massachusetts before heading westward, beating the likes of Eddie Flores in Thompsonville, Michigan, and Billy Spencer in Los Angeles, California, a few fights later. He beat Abe Denner for the New England-area featherweight title.
In New York City on November 20, 1942, with a 53-0 record, Willie Pep, at 20, became the youngest champion ever in the World Featherweight division by outpointing the man Pep considered the greatest featherweight who ever lived, Albert "Chalky" Wright over a 15 round distance.
Since the New York State Athletic Commission awarded his world title, the National Boxing Association didn't recognize Pep as featherweight champion until he defeated their reigning champ, who was Sal Bartolo. Pep followed through and became the consolidated world featherweight champion once he defeated Bartolo by a ten-round decision in Boston, on April 9, 1943. Pep would hold on to his world champion crown until 1948.
The Flourishing Champion
Pep began 1943 by winning six bouts in a row to find himself with a 62–0 record! In his seventh bout of 1943, on March,19th, Pep would suffer his first defeat, in a non-title fight at the hands of Sammy Angott, who was another world champion boxer.
After the loss, Pep then went on a 73-bout undefeated streak over the next five years. This streak would go down in history as one of the most dazzling and dominant streaks in sports history, let alone Boxing.
During his prime boxing years, Pep joined the American war effort in World War II, serving in the Navy in 1943. He was discharged with honors in the spring of 1944, before also serving in the United States Army in 1945. During his service years, Pep would continue his undefeated streak by defeating Wright once again in 15 rounds on September 29, 1944, in New York City.
1944 was a great year for Pep, seeing him win all 16 of his bouts. He had eight fights in 1945, with 7 wins and 1 draw. In 1946, Pep went 18-0, which included a 12-round knockout of Bartolo and a three-round knockout of Wright.
He had six straight knockout wins during that year. Pep bedazzled his boxing fans with his showmanship and ring antics. In one legendary and contested performance in Minneapolis on 25 July 1946 against Jackie Graves, Pep made a bet that he could win a round without throwing a single punch.
Putting on a rare display of ring generalship, Pep kept Graves on his heels dipping, dodging, parrying, dancing, spinning, and feinting on his way to winning the round.
It seemed nothing could stop the young dynamo nicknamed 'Will o' the Wisp'. At this point, he had a record of 109-1-1, but his fortunes made a turn for the worse, almost costing him his life to start 1947...
Tragedy and Comeback
Pep grew to legendary status by the age of 25. Pep was such an elusive fighter that some old trainers would say, “You couldn’t hit him in the ass with a handful of rice.” Pep was also a favorite with sports columnists for his ready wit and humorous nature.
At the height of his career, on January 5th, 1947, Pep had chartered a plane from Miami to his home in Hartford, Connecticut to prepare for an upcoming fight. The plane pushed its way through a snowstorm and crashed in the woods near Millville, New Jersey. The plane was torn apart. Three people died, and 18 were injured. Pep was among the injured. He broke his left leg and two vertebrae in his back.
“I woke up on my stomach. People were moaning and groaning. The plane was ripped to shreds. My back was killing me.”
The searing back pain he felt was no doubt from his two broken vertebrae. To add to the compound fracture in this left leg, he also had severe chest injuries. He spent five months in a leg and a body cast. Doctors told him that they didn’t think he’d walk again.
Once his body cast was removed in May, Pep decided to pursue boxing again to the chagrin of his doctors. Pep resumed training and six months after his accident, Pep was back in the ring.
What is not often talked about is that he won the first seven fights of his comeback in a span of only 66 days! Despite being back in the ring and winning matches, many boxing analysts felt that he had lost something as a fighter. He struggled against Archie Wilmer despite winning a majority decision and had a hard time with Pedro Biesca, who floored him in the fourth round.
Despite that, let's look at the big picture: Pep won his first 26 fights after the plane crash. That means that his second unbeaten streak lasted 73 fights altogether (his first streak was 62 fights). Pep continued to successfully defend his world title fighting ten more times in 1947, again going undefeated.
Pep not only resumed his career as a world-class fighter but cemented his place in the pantheon of legendary boxers. All this before meeting his greatest opponent in the ring in what would become one of the greatest rivalries in Boxing history.
1948 was a year that would become important in Pep's life: He won 15 bouts cementing his place as one of the greatest to ever enter the ring. He was highly favored by Boxing analysts against his next opponent, a fighter by the name of Sandy Saddler.
Saddler was a much lesser-known fighter despite having 93 fights under his belt himself prior to facing Pep. Saddler was also known as one of the hardest punchers in the sport. Saddler had freakish power despite his rail-thin physique, (103 of his career 162 wins came by knockout which is ranked third in Boxing history). Many felt that Pep being the reigning featherweight champion of the world with a record entering the ring at 134-1-1 (43 KO), was by far the favorite to win the match.
That was not to be the case as they faced each other for the first time on Oct. 29, 1948. Instead of fighting a smart fight, the overconfident Pep decided to brawl. What resulted was a huge upset, with Saddler breaking Pep's unbeaten streak by knocking him out in the fourth round. It was the first time in Pep's career that he lost in such a fashion.
Pep knew that in a rematch, to defeat this opponent he needed to put on his greatest performance yet, and many say he did. On Feb. 11, 1949, Pep would regain the title with a 15-round decision over Saddler. Boxing historian Mike Silver would say of the fight, "One of the greatest boxing performances of all time. It was two great fighters against each other. But Pep had to be at his absolute best to outbox Saddler for 15 rounds. Without question, it was one of the greatest pure boxing exhibitions that any boxer has staged since fighters put on gloves.” Pep would later tell Boxing historian, Bert Sugar of the second matchup, "When I stepped on his toes, he said Ouch. So I figured if I stepped on his toes, I’d win the fight.’
Between their matchups, both fighters would face off against other opponents. In 1950, Pep won nine fights before meeting Saddler for the third time. Each fight between the two got progressively nastier and nastier. They both cemented themselves as masters in the dark arts of dirty Boxing, as both boxers indulged in plenty of lacing, gouging, tripping, thumbing, and elbowing.
Pep had the edge in terms of points thanks to his superb boxing and plenty of clean right hands to the challenger’s jaw but was unable to come out for the eighth round due to a separated shoulder which he blamed on Saddler's dirty tactics. “He got me in a double arm lock,” said Pep. “He twisted my arm twice. That’s what did it, not his punches. Sure, he hurt me a few times, but I could have beat him.” Saddler responded to the media by saying, “I thought a punch to the kidney did it,” Sadler said. “But if they say I twisted his arm, okay, I twisted it.” Saddler added, “He thumbed me in the eye... He did the same thing in the other fights. I told the referee but that Pep never stopped thumbing.”
The judges had Pep ahead on all scorecards (5–2, 5–2, 4–2). Pep once again lost his World Featherweight Championship to Saddler.
Pep attempted to regain his title from Saddler in their fourth and final fight on Sept. 26, 1951. Rarely had matches from the lighter-weight classes attracted much mainstream attention from the sports world. All four of their fights garnered national television coverage and massive crowds.
In this bout, Pep decided to brawl with Saddler. This fight was considered the dirtiest bout of the series. They brutalized each other. So much so that Referee Ray Miller took a hands-off approach to manage the two. By the later rounds, both men had wrestled each other to the mat and gouged at each other’s eye. This fight was more chaotic than their third meeting and once again Pep surrendered on his stool, this time after round nine, because of a badly cut right eye. Saddler scored a ninth-round knockout.
The years between 1947 and 1960 were busier than ever for the slippery fighter. Although the pain from his injuries continued to plague him, he never let it affect his performance in the ring.
Conclusion
Willie Pep would be remembered as one of the greatest boxers if not the greatest featherweight ever. In 1990, Pep entered the boxing hall of fame. In 2005, the Associated Press named him the No. 1 featherweight fighter of all time. It was a fitting end to one of the most amazing careers in boxing history.
Since his professional debut in 1940, Pep would continue fighting until 1964. At the end of his spectacular career, his record stood at 241 wins, 11 losses, and 1 draw. There was no one like him before, and there would be no one like him after. Willie Pep is one of a kind.
