Mario "Marty" Severino (November 3, 1919 – February 9, 1969) was a professional
boxer Boxer most commonly refers to:
* Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing
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who held the undisputed world welterweight championship being the
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
,
NYSAC
The New York State Athletic Commission or NYSAC, also known as the New York Athletic Commission, is a division of the New York State Department of State which regulates all contests and exhibitions of unarmed combat within the state of New York, i ...
, and
''The Ring'' welterweight titles. Servo began boxing in the mid-1930s. He became a professional boxer in 1938 and was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1989.
Amateur career
Servo had an impressive amateur career. He captured the Golden Gloves and Diamond Belt Featherweight titles, and ended his career with an impressive record of 91-4.
Professional career
He turned professional as a lightweight and, in his first three years as a professional boxer, managed a 42–0–2 record. As a welterweight he lost two close decisions to the legendary
Sugar Ray Robinson
Walker Smith Jr. (May 3, 1921 – April 12, 1989), better known as Sugar Ray Robinson, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He is often regarded ...
.
Servo’s boxing career was interrupted by service in the
United States 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, mult ...
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 ...
. He resumed his career after the War and won the World Welterweight Title by knocking out
Freddie "Red" Cochrane in the fourth round on February 1, 1946.
Servo and his manager,
Al Weill
Armand "Al" Weill (December 28, 1893 – October 20, 1969) was a boxing manager.
Background
Weill moved to the United States from his birthplace of France at the age of 13. In his early years, he began working as a professional ballroom dancer ...
, then made a bad career decision. He agreed to fight the middleweight contender
Rocky Graziano
Thomas Rocco Barbella (January 1, 1919 – May 22, 1990), better known as Rocky Graziano, was an American professional boxer and actor who held the World Middleweight title. Graziano is considered one of the greatest knockout artists in boxing hi ...
in a non-title match. Graziano was a big favorite in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and the bout was seen as a big money fight. The two fought on March 29, 1946. This bout effectively finished Servo as a top-line fighter. The heavier and stronger Graziano knocked Servo out and severely injured his nose. Servo never recovered from the injuries and he was forced to relinquish his title and retire. His final ring record, including a knockout loss suffered in an ill-advised comeback attempt, was 48 wins (15
knockout
A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...
s), 4 losses and 2 draws.
Professional boxing record
See also
*
List of welterweight boxing champions
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Servo, Marty
American boxers of Italian descent
1919 births
1969 deaths
Welterweight boxers
Sportspeople from Schenectady, New York
American male boxers
United States Coast Guard personnel of World War II