29 Facts About Pete Latzo

Pete Latzo took a tremendous beating, suffering particularly from shots to the body, and was knocked down for a count of three from a solid left to the jaw in the fourth round.

Pete Latzo continued to take severe punishment to the body in the sixth round but managed to stay on his feet.

Pete Latzo defeated Willie Harmon on June 29,1926, in a fifth-round knockout in Newark, New Jersey.

Pete Latzo fought one of his last defenses of the welterweight title on July 9,1926, against Georgie Levine, winning in a fourth round disqualification before a crowd of around 22,000 at New York's Polo Grounds.

Pete Latzo lost the welterweight crown to Joe Dundee on June 3,1927, in a fifteen-round majority decision before one of his largest audiences, a crowd of 30,000, at the New York City's Polo Grounds.

Pete Latzo started strong, looking best in the first, second, fourth, and twelfth, but took brutal body punishment, particularly to the kidneys, through much of the bout.

Pete Latzo lost to Tiger Flowers, former world middleweight champion, on September 30,1927, in a ten-round unanimous decision at Artillery Park in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

The crowd of 10,000 saw Flowers take seven rounds, though Pete Latzo performed well in the remaining three, and dominated much of the infighting, particularly in the fifth and sixth when he delivered several close range body rocking blows.

Pete Latzo defeated future world light heavyweight champion Maxie Rosenbloom on February 6,1928, in a ten-round points decision in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

Pete Latzo pulled ahead in the two final rounds in a close bout that ended in a decision unpopular with the crowd.

On November 21,1927, Pete Latzo had lost to Rosenbloom in a ten-round split decision at the Arena in Philadelphia.

Pete Latzo fought many notable fighters in his career, including future heavyweight champion Jim Braddock, and middleweight champion Tiger Flowers.

Pete Latzo is an inductee of the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame.

Pete Latzo challenged reigning champion Tommy Loughran for the NYSAC world light heavyweight title on June 1,1928, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, but lost in a fifteen-round unanimous decision.

Pete Latzo shone in the early rounds catching Loughran on the ropes with occasional blows to both head and body, but failed to faze the light heavyweight champion in the later rounds.

Pete Latzo challenged Loughran again for the light heavyweight title on July 16,1928, at Artillery Park in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, but lost in a ten rounds unanimous decision.

Pete Latzo was defeated by future world heavyweight champion Jim Braddock before a crowd of 4,000, on October 17,1928, at New Jersey's Newark Armory in a ten-round points decision.

The club doctor, determined that Pete Latzo had broken his jaw, likely in the fourth round when he had received a series of left hooks.

Pete Latzo was down briefly in the ninth, and he was rocked by a hard right to the chin in the fifth.

Pete Latzo defeated Larry Johnson in a close ten round points decision before 12,000 at Madison Square Garden on February 21,1930.

Pete Latzo was required to crouch and let Johnson lead in most of the bout, as he was wary of Johnson's dangerous right, and had a disadvantage in reach of several inches.

Pete Latzo fought Jimmy Slattery, former world light heavyweight champion, in a seven-round No Contest on May 27,1930, at Boston Garden.

In one of his last bouts on June 5,1934, Pete Latzo lost to Pennsylvania's state middleweight champion Teddy Yarosz in a fourth-round technical knockout in Millvale.

Pete Latzo protested the call to end the bout, but Yarosz had dominated much of the match, and had stunned him badly in the third.

Pete Latzo left Scranton to reside in Marven Gardens, a suburb of Atlantic City, in Margate, NJ, near the end of his boxing career around 1928.

Pete Latzo found work as a welder during his boxing retirement, and pursued welding as a career until his death.

Pete Latzo was married to the former Catherine McHale, with whom he had a daughter.

Pete Latzo died at the age of sixty-six in Atlantic City Hospital after gall bladder surgery in July 1968, having suffered from gall bladder ailments since his boxing retirement.

Pete Latzo had had major surgery of some form in 1937 when he fist retired from boxing, and a boxing benefit was held for him in December of that year.