William Joseph Giambra (July 30, 1931 – March 2, 2018) was an American former middleweight boxer who faced and defeated most of the top contenders of his era. Giambra also defeated future middleweight champion,

Joey Giardello Carmine Orlando Tilelli (July 16, 1930 – September 4, 2008) was an American boxer who was the world middleweight champion from 1963 to 1965,. He adopted the name Joey Giardello (the name of a cousin's friend) in order to join the U.S. Army whi ...

, in two out of three matches and claimed May 18 on the wildly popular KQRS/Minneapolis Morning Show that he was "robbed" in the first bout. Giambra never was given the opportunity to fight for the world middleweight championship. He defeated

Rocky Castellani Attilio N. "Rocky" Castellani (May 26, 1926 – August 31, 2008) was an American middleweight boxer. He was the top rated contender for the world middleweight crown in 1954 when he fought Bobo Olson and in July 1955 when he lost to Sugar Ray ...

twice, but Castellani was given the opportunity to fight in an elimination bout for the world title against

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 regard ...

. On August 26, 1955 world middleweight champion

Bobo Olson Carl Olson (July 11, 1928 – January 16, 2002) was an American boxer. He was the World Middleweight champion between October 1953 and December 1955, the longest reign of any champion in that division during the 1950s. His nickname, Bobo, was ba ...

agreed to fight Giambra in a non-title match on national TV. Giambra continually beat the champion to the punch and rocked him many times, but Olson was awarded a split decision. After this bout, Giambra was hailed by many as the "uncrowned" king of the middleweight division. Joey Giambra retired after 77 fights, in which he suffered 10 losses and two draws. He was never KO'd. His record was 65-10-2 with 31 knockouts. Giambra later became a referee and was the third man in the 1977 Jerry Quarry-Lorenzo Zanon heavyweight bout. In his last years he resided in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Giambra, Joey 1931 births 2018 deaths American boxers of Italian descent Place of birth missing Middleweight boxers American male boxers