You are bidding on an 8x10 B&W photo autographed by deceased boxing great Tony DeMarco. Nice photo of DeMarco who was born
Leonardo Liotta, was an American boxer and World Welterweight Champion. Born to
Sicilian immigrants from
Sciacca (AG), Vincent and Giacomina, DeMarco grew up in the
North End neighborhood of Boston. Due to the minimum age of eighteen, in order to box professionally,
Liotta used the birth certificate of Tony DeMarco so that he could
compete. DeMarco had his first professional fight when he was sixteen years old. On October 21, 1948, he
knocked out Mestor Jones in one round.
DeMarco fought the top fighters in his division during the 1950s and defeated top contenders and champions like
Paddy DeMarco,
Teddy "Red Top" Davis, Chico Vejar, and
Don Jordan. The highlight of his career came on April 1, 1955, when he scored a
technical knock out (TKO) over
Johnny Saxton in the 14th round of their title bout to capture the world's welterweight title. Despite winning many bouts to become champion, he is best remembered for his two championship matches with
hall of famer Carmen Basilio
in 1955. Both fights were toe to toe slugfests with several ebbs and
flows that kept the fans at the edges of their seats. Both fights ended
in the 12th round with DeMarco suffering a TKO. In their first bout,
DeMarco was the defending champion. He risked his title by taking on
Basilio, who was the top ranked contender. Although Basilio prevailed,
the fight was so exciting that the pair were rematched. The second fight
was almost a carbon copy of the first with Basilio wearing down
DeMarco, but not before a wicked DeMarco
left hook had Basilio out on his feet. DeMarco was unable to capitalize on this advantage and lost the match on a 12-round TKO.
Signed in silver sharpie. Photo comes with COA from Phil Castinetti's SportsWorld in Saugus MA. Shipping will be USPS 1st class. Photo and autograph are mint! Thanks for looking!