Melio Bettina (November 18, 1916–December 20, 1996) was a professional boxer who was briefly the Light Heavyweight World Champion.

Amateur career

Bettina won the 1934

Intercity Golden Gloves Intercity Golden Gloves is an amateur boxing tournament which is considered by many boxing aficionados as one of the three most elite Golden Gloves titles, along with the Chicago Golden Gloves and the New York Golden Gloves. Goal The Intercity ...

at light-heavyweight (2nd Div.) by decision over

Tony Zale Anthony Florian Zaleski (May 29, 1913 – March 20, 1997), known professionally as Tony Zale, was an American boxer. Zale was born and raised in Gary, Indiana, a steel town, which gave him his nickname, "Man of Steel", reinforced by his reputat ...

Pro career

According to local legend Melio changed to a southpaw stance after he couldn't find any amateur challengers. Bettina was recognized as World Light Heavyweight champion by the New York State Athletic Commission in 1939. Bettina won the title on February 3, 1939, when he scored a 9th-round TKO over favorite

Tiger Jack Fox John Linwood Fox (April 2, 1907 – April 6, 1954), or Tiger Jack Fox as he was better known, was a colorful, hard punching, American light heavyweight boxer. Fox fought from 1928 to 1950. Boxing career Fox claimed he got his start in boxi ...

at Madison Square Garden in New York. Bettina lost the title in his first defense, when he lost a unanimous decision to National Boxing Association champion

Billy Conn William David Conn (October 8, 1917 – May 29, 1993) was an Irish American professional boxer and Light Heavyweight Champion famed for his fights with Joe Louis. He had a professional boxing record of 63 wins, 11 losses and 1 draw, with 14 wins ...

on July 13. Later that same year, on September 25, he lost another unanimous decision to Conn at Pittsburgh's

Forbes Field Forbes Field was a baseball park in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1909 to June 28, 1970. It was the third home of the Pittsburgh Pirates Major League Baseball (MLB) team, and the first home of the Pittsburgh Steelers ...

. In 1940 he lost a decision to Middleweight champion

Fred Apostoli Alfredo "Fred" Apostoli (February 2, 1913 – November 29, 1973) was a rugged, accomplished body punching middleweight, who was recognized as the world champion when he defeated Marcel Thil on September 23, 1937. Statistical boxing website Bo ...

, which he would revenge by stopping Apostoli in the 12th round. Other highlights in 1940 included a loss to Al McCoy, and wins over

Solly Krieger Solly Krieger (March 28, 1909 – September 24, 1964) was an American middleweight boxer who fought from 1928–1941. He held the NBA World Middleweight Championship in 1938–39. Krieger, who was Jewish, was inducted into the International Jew ...

and Gunnar Barlund. On January 14, 1941, Bettina faced

Anton Christoforidis Anton Christoforidis (; 26 May 1917 – 19 October 1985) was a Greek professional light heavyweight boxer. He won the NBA Light Heavyweight Championship in 1941, making him the first Greek to become a world boxing champion. Early life Chris ...

for the vacant National Boxing Association Light Heavyweight title in Cleveland, Ohio. Christoforidis won a unanimous decision.

Legacy

In 1996, Bettina was inducted into the World Boxing Hall Of Fame in Los Angeles. In 1998, he was inducted into the High School Athletic Hall of Fame in his hometown of Beacon, New York.

References

External links

* 1916 births 1996 deaths Boxers from New York (state) People from Beacon, New York American male boxers Light-heavyweight boxers {{US-boxing-bio-stub