The bandy-legged, broken-nosed little boxer on the scales was Pasquale Giuseppe DeMarco, weighing in for his crack at Jimmy Carter's lightweight championship of the world. Standing beside him, New York Boxing Commissioner Robert Christenberry nudged the weights into position, squinted at the figures and absentmindedly identified "Paddy" DeMarco as another fellow, a boxer who had been beaten to the canvas just the week before. "Willie Pep," intoned Christenberry, "135 lbs."
Fighter DeMarco curtly corrected him. "You mean Joe Louis," he said.
The smart-money boys only snickered. When Paddy climbed into the Madison Square...