By Jose Muradas: They were classic wars fought long ago in boxing’s golden era. They fought in venues such as Yankee Stadium, The Polo Grounds, and the mecca of boxing at the time; Madison Square Garden. The Garden, smoke-filled air, with fedoras adorning the scenery and flashbulb cameras catching all of the action in the ring. It was a special time for sports as a whole.
The Yankees were awaiting the arrival of an Oklahoma farm boy, someone named Mantle, who would join the team a year after Willie Pep and Sandy Saddler would fight for the fourth and final time. This era gave us Willie Pep (229-11-1,65KO’s) vs Sandy Saddler (144-16-2,103KO’s). In the history of boxing, Willie Pep remains the gold standard among featherweights. He walked on air, he out pointed, he move effortlessly around his opponents attempted to unleash.
furious attacks. He won the featherweight title in November of 1942 from Chalky Wright(160-43-18,81KO’s) . Pep would lose his first decision to Sammy Argott the following year. Pep would then go on and win seventy-three fights and carry the featherweight title into 1948 with a record of (136-1) before he would meet Saddler in October of that year. If Pep was a study in pugilistic artistry, Saddler was a study in the art of street fighting. Saddler was a big man for a featherweight, he stood at 5’8 and hit like a Mack truck with no brakes. He used his left hook to punish opponents, he jabbed with his left and he could throw a nasty uppercut as well. Saddler boxed, but he could throw it out the window and brawl at a moments notice. He was the complete opposite of Pep and they were both on a collision course to the start of a four-part war.
Saddler’s career began in 1944, he did not have Pep’s resume in the ring or the fanfare that surrounded the legendary fighter. Saddler was no tomato can either, he had won eighty-six fights to that point and was poised to try and upset the more famous Pep. Saddler was lucky to run into Archie Moore as he began training for his first shot at a title. Moore told him to jump on Pep early,but to avoid staying open when Pep countered. He told him to give Pep a smaller target to hit by covering up.
On October 29th, 1948, Madison Square Garden the first meeting between Pep and Saddler began. Saddler would apply the strategy that Moore suggested. Pep did not move well and by the third round had visited the canvas twice. Saddler did not give Pep room to operate, Pep was not able to dance and dodge. He could not apply his patent feints, Pep was caught in street fight and Saddler was happy to oblige. In the fourth round the Garden would witness an upset in the making. Saddler, caught Pep clean and sent him sprawling to the canvas as Saddler would say “I knocked him stoned”. the cameras flashed and the boxing world was speechless. The war was underway and Pep would have to answer back.
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