1. Anthony Florian Zaleski, known professionally as Tony Zale, was an American boxer.
12 Facts About Tony Zale
1. 2.
Tony Zale, who held the world middleweight title multiple times, was known as a crafty boxer and punishing body puncher who wore his opponents down before knocking them out.
3.
In 1990, Tony Zale was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by President George.
4.
Tony Zale met Georgie Abrams in Madison Square Garden in a world middleweight championship match on November 28,1941, before a crowd of nearly 10,000.
5.
Blood from a cut opened above his right eye in the third from an accidental head butt from Tony Zale caused additional vision problems from blood that dripped from the wound.
6.
Tony Zale was a two-time world middleweight champion and made The Rings list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.
7.
Tony Zale is best remembered for his three bouts over a 21-month period with Rocky Graziano for the middleweight crown.
8.
Tony Zale had served in World War II, was thirty-three years old, and had been inactive for about four years.
9.
Tony Zale regained his crown, winning the match by a knockout in the third round.
10.
Graziano commented that years later he would wake up in a cold sweat having had the recurring nightmare of being back in the ring with Tony Zale, who he said really was a man of steel.
11.
Tony Zale was a 1991 inductee to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
12.
Tony Zale was originally cast to play himself in the movie Somebody Up There Likes Me.