1. Salvatore "Sal" "Rocky" Cenicola III was an American former professional boxer, restaurateur and actor.
22 Facts About Sal Cenicola
1. 2.
Sal Cenicola holds a record in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest interval between professional boxing matches, which was set on April 13,2013, and is a 2012 inductee into the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame.
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Salvatore Cenicola III was born July 13,1959, at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, New Jersey.
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Sal Cenicola started boxing in 1975 and was trained by amateur trainer Eddie Helbig.
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In 1976 Sal Cenicola entered and won the New Jersey Golden Gloves championship at 125 lbs.
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Also, in 1977 Sal Cenicola did well in National AAU Championships but was disqualified in the Quarter Finals for "Using a professional style in an amateur fight".
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In 1978 Sal Cenicola enlisted in the US Army where he won the "Outstanding Soldier of the Cycle" for his Basic Training.
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In 1979, Sal Cenicola began to train with the US Olympic Boxing team.
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Sal Cenicola trained until his left shoulder was injured in February 1980, just 3 weeks before the Olympic Trials team was set to fly to Poland for an exhibition match.
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Sal Cenicola was taken off of the team because of the injury and never made the trip to Poland.
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In 1982 Sal Cenicola became a professional with his first bout against Gary Gamble at the Sands Casino in Atlantic City, NJ.
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Sal Cenicola initially was declared the loser of the fight after suffering a cut over his right eye from a clash of heads with Gamble in the second round.
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Sal Cenicola went on to win his next 18 fights in a row, being trained in part by Lou Duva, Chickie Ferrara, Allie Stoltz, Richie Giachetti, Don Turner and Johnnie Torres.
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Sal Cenicola fought under the promotional banners of Top Rank Boxing, Main Events and Tiger Eye.
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Sal Cenicola's most notable win was a hard-fought decision against Robert "Choo Choo" Dixon on September 12,1986, at the Omni New Daisy Theater in Memphis, Tennessee.
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Sal Cenicola was ranked in the top ten as a lightweight in the world in 1986.
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In November 2012 Sal Cenicola announced that he would come out of retirement to fight against Nathan Petty of Louisville, KY in a 4-round fight in the Middleweight Division.
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On January 15,2014, Sal Cenicola was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as an official record holder for "The Longest Interval between Professional Boxing matches by a fighter: 25 Years and 66 Days".
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Sal Cenicola had became an actor most recently taking a role in the Ben Affleck movie: Live By Night.
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Sal Cenicola was active in local theatre playing the lead role as Samual Katz in the St Simons Players Production of The Cemetery Club.
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In 2017 Sal Cenicola portrayed a police officer in Neil Simon's "Rumors" which is produced by Island Players in St Simons Island, GA.
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Sal Cenicola lived in St Simons Island, GA and died August 31,2021, in St Simons Island, Georgia.