Coleman Patrick Welch (February 8, 1919December 4, 2000) was an American
middleweight
Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing Professional
In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to .
Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...
boxer. Born in
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...
, Welch came from an Irish-American community and was nicked the Fighting Iceman. He made his amateur debut on May 21, 1936 at the age of 17 and fought primarily at the
Portland Exposition Building
The Portland Exposition Building, also known as The Expo, is a sports and exhibition venue (convention center) building complex in Portland, Maine, Portland, Maine. The complex includes five inter-connected buildings with 24,000 square feet of e ...
during his early years. In 1941,
''The Ring'' magazine ranked him #3 among middleweights. He was a member of the
U.S. Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, multi ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and returned to boxing in 1943. On
St. Patrick's Day
Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick ( ga, Lá Fhéile Pádraig, lit=the Day of the Festival of Patrick), is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patr ...
(March 17), 1944, Welch fought
Jake LaMotta in front of 10,000 fans at the
Boston Garden
The Boston Garden was an arena in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third iteration of New York's Madison Square Garden, it opened on November 17, 1928, as "Boston Madison Square Garden" (late ...
. The fight ended with a
unanimous decision
A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports invo