***** FLASHBACK *****

This article was originally published on www.dmboxing.com on June 16, 2020

By David Martinez / Boxing Historian / dmboxing.com

There have been many handicaps to boxers in the ring – one eye, broken nose, severe cuts, ankle sprain, etc, but I must say the most debilitating handicaps has to be a deaf mute .

Mario D’Agata, an Italian professional boxer, was the first and only world champion to be just that.

D’Agata was born on May 29, 1926 in Arezzo, Italy . As a child he grew up with his disability, and was a prime target for teasing and taunting.  He would resort to prove himself by turning to street fighting to demonstrate his equality .

At a young age his parents moved him from Tuscany to Rome seeking help from doctors for a cure. It was there that he saw a boxing poster hanging outside a gym . He peeked into the gym and was drawn to amazement of the boxers at that moment watching them train with such grace and perfection.

At the age of 20 years old he began to fight in amateur bouts, and recorded 90 wins in his 110 bouts .

D’Agata turned pro on October 14, 1950. After assembling a ring record of 22 wins, 3 losses, 2 draws, on September 26, 1953 he would win the Italian Bantamweight title over Gianni Zuddas.

FLASHBACK – This article was originally published on August 15, 2017 for viewing on www.dmboxing.com

By David Martinez / Boxing Historian / dmboxing.com

There is a boxer that nobody ever talks about these days. A boxer who seems to have been lost in the fog of time, but whom I rate as one of the finest to ever come out of Chicago! His name is Jimmy Barry. He was known as “Little Tiger” and this 5-feet-2 Irish kid was as good as they come .

Born on March 7, 1870 he started his professional boxing career in 1891, winning 27 straight without a loss, with 18 of those wins coming by knockout.  On December 5, 1893 he knocked out Jack Levy in 17 rounds to win the “100 pound Championship of America”.

FLASHBACK — On January 12, 2022, exactly twenty months ago, I published this article on a story line from my youth. To date, that piece has attracted many readers. The numbers were amazing with many “likes” and positive responses, so I feel obligated to post it in this ENCORE version for those who may have missed it. It is also my pleasure to share this article for those that remember the first publishing so that they may enjoy it once again.

By David Martinez / Boxing Historian / dmboxing.com

As a young boy back in the early 1960’s, I met an older man who intrigued me. He would come in to get his haircuts at my father’s barber shop – his name was Tim Cobos.

He knew boxing very well from his era which started in the 1920’s. I never forgot that he told me the three greatest boxers he had ever seen (I can’t remember the order) were Benny Leonard, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Joe Louis. Those were his greatest, but his favorite was a local Santa Barbara, California boxer, Albert Lopez Padilla, who was nicknamed Shorty.

Tim knew Shorty personally and attended many of his fights from 1946 to 1949. Shorty fought at such Southern California venues as the historic Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium, Santa Monica Ocean Park Arena, San Diego Coliseum, San Bernardino Arena, Whittier Arena / Pico Rivera, and the Mission Arena in Santa Barbara.

Shorty was born in Pueblo, Colorado, on May 19, 1925, the youngest of four brothers and one sister. His family migrated from city to city to earn a living. They settled in Brawley for a time and in 1928 made their home in Goleta, California, a small community north of Santa Barbara.