Joey Giardello Explained

Carmine Orlando Tilelli (July 16, 1930 – September 4, 2008) was an American boxer who was the world middleweight champion from 1963 to 1965.^[1] He adopted the name Joey Giardello (the name of a cousin's friend) in order to join the U.S. Army while underage, and continued to use the pseudonym throughout his boxing career.^[2]

Early life

Giardello was born in Brooklyn, but lived most of his life in the Lower Moyamensing area of South Philadelphia.^[3] He joined the U.S. Army while underage towards the end of World War II, using a cousin's friend's name, and volunteered for airborne duty. During his military time, he took part in Army boxing matches, and after his discharge in 1948, began boxing professionally. He continued to use the name he had enlisted under, Joey Giardello, in his boxing career.

Professional career

During his early career, he had a scuffle at a gas station which cost him $100,000 in prize fight money and five months in jail.

As a pro, he quickly racked up a 15–1–2 record in his first 18 fights while facing less-than-stellar opposition. His only loss was a decision to undefeated boxer Jimmy Morton. During this time, he fought just three men who had previously won a fight. It caught up with Giardello on January 16, 1950, when he was handed his second defeat by Joe DiMartino, a journeyman with a 6–10 record.

After that embarrassment, he began to face better opposition and by 1951, was beating some of the better middleweight boxers on the Philadelphia scene. On June 4, 1954, Los Angeles-based heavyweight boxer Clarence Henry, who was managed by Mafiosi Frank "Blinky" Palermo, was arrested in New York City for attempting to bribe Oakland middleweight Bobby Jones to throw his June 11 Madison Square Garden match with Giardello. Henry allegedly offered $15,000 to Jones to throw the fight. Once the third-ranked heavyweight contender, Henry was released after posting $2,000 bail and subsequently retired from the ring. Giardello beat Jones in a close decision.^[4]

Giardello's fight vs. Billy Graham was the next significant bout. The decision first was awarded to Giardello, then later reversed to a decision in favor of Graham, then reversed again, some time later as a result of litigation, in favor of Giardello. This fight is known in boxing lore as "The reversed reversal."

In 1960, Giardello received his first championship opportunity. On April 20, he faced Gene Fullmer for the National Boxing Association version of the world middleweight title. He missed out on the title when he and Fullmer fought to a draw over 15 rounds.

Giardello lost four of his next six fights, but then came back strong with an 8–1–1 record in his next 10, all of which were over some of the biggest names in the division at that time. One of his wins, a 10-round decision over Henry Hank on January 30, 1962, was chosen as Ring Magazine's fight of the year. Then, on June 24, 1963, Giardello upset boxing legend Sugar Ray Robinson, and at the age of 33, was finally named as the No. 1 challenger for the world middleweight title.

On December 7, 1963, Giardello faced Dick Tiger in Atlantic City for the title and won a controversial decision in 15 rounds.^[5]

He reigned as world champion for nearly two years, winning four fights during that time. On December 14, 1964, he fought "Hurricane" Rubin Carter in a title defense. In the first three rounds, Carter stalked Giardello and was the aggressor, as the champion looked to stay away from Carter's left hook. In the 4th round, Carter opened a cut over Giardello's left eye and staggered him with several head shots. By the 13th round, Carter had begun to tire, and Giardello began pounding Carter's head and body, which continued through the 15th and final round. According to Carter, he dominated Giardello the first ten rounds, but Giardello was awarded a unanimous decision, an event dramatized in the 1999 film The Hurricane.^[6] Carter would later revise his claims, admitting he should have fought Giardello more aggressively.^[7]

In a rematch with Dick Tiger on October 21, 1965, the Nigerian won a unanimous decision over Giardello in 15 rounds to regain the belt. Giardello was described as "back pedaling for most of the fight." Giardello fought just four more times over the next two years before retiring.

Professional boxing record

	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
133	Win		Jack Rodgers	SD	10	Nov 6, 1967
132	Loss	97–26–8	Jack Rodgers	UD	10	May 22, 1967
131	Loss	97–25–8	Nate Collins	TKO	8 (10)	Dec 5, 1966
130	Win	97–24–8	Cash White	UD	10	Sep 22, 1966
129	Loss	96–24–8	Dick Tiger	UD	15	Oct 21, 1965
128	Win	96–23–8	Gil Diaz	PTS	10	Apr 23, 1965
127	Win	95–23–8	Rubin Carter	UD	15	Dec 14, 1964
126	Win	94–23–8	Juan Carlos Rivera	UD	10	May 22, 1964
125	Win	93–23–8	Juan Carlos Rivera	SD	10	Apr 17, 1964
124	Win	92–23–8	Dick Tiger	PTS	15	Dec 7, 1963
123	Win	91–23–8	Sugar Ray Robinson	UD	10	Jun 24, 1963
122	Win	90–23–8	Ernest Burford	UD	10	Mar 25, 1963
121	Win	89–23–8	Wilf Greaves	SD	10	Feb 25, 1963
120	Win	88–23–8	Johnny Morris	SD	10	Nov 12, 1962
119	Loss	87–23–8	George Benton	UD	10	Aug 6, 1962
118	Win	87–22–8	Jimmy Beecham	UD	10	Jul 9, 1962
117	Win	86–22–8	Henry Hank	MD	10	Jan 30, 1962
116	Draw	85–22–8	Joe DeNucci	MD	10	Dec 12, 1961
115	Win	85–22–7	Jesse Smith	UD	10	Nov 6, 1961
114	Win	84–22–7	Jesse Smith	UD	10	Sep 12, 1961
113	Loss	83–22–7	Henry Hank	UD	10	Jul 10, 1961
112	Win	83–21–7	Wilf Greaves	TKO	9 (10)	May 15, 1961
111	Loss	82–21–7	Ralph Dupas	UD	10	Mar 6, 1961
110	Loss	82–20–7	Peter Müller	PTS	10	Dec 1, 1960
109	Loss	82–19–7	Terry Downes	PTS	10	Oct 11, 1960
108	Win	82–18–7	Clarence Hinnant	TKO	3 (10)	Sep 27, 1960
107	Draw	81–18–7	Gene Fullmer	SD	15	Apr 20, 1960
106	Win	81–18–6	Dick Tiger	UD	10	Nov 4, 1959
105	Loss	80–18–6	Dick Tiger	UD	10	Sep 30, 1959
104	Win	80–17–6	Chico Vejar	SD	10	Aug 11, 1959
103	Win	79–17–6	Del Flanagan	KO	1 (10)	Jun 16, 1959
102	Win	78–17–6	Holley Mims	SD	10	May 6, 1959
101	Loss	77–17–6	Ralph Tiger Jones	SD	10	Jan 28, 1959
100	Loss	77–16–6	Ellsworth Webb	TKO	7 (10)	Nov 19, 1958
99	Loss	77–15–6	Joey Giambra	SD	10	Jun 30, 1958
98	Win	77–14–6	Frank Szuzina	MD	10	Jun 11, 1958
97	Win	76–14–6	Rory Calhoun	UD	10	May 5, 1958
96	Win	75–14–6	Franz Szuzina	UD	10	Feb 12, 1958
95	Win	74–14–6	Ralph Tiger Jones	UD	10	Dec 27, 1957
94	Win	73–14–6	Wilf Greaves	UD	10	Nov 5, 1957
93	Win	72–14–6	Bobby Lane	TKO	7 (10)	Sep 27, 1957
92	Win	71–14–6	Chico Vejar	UD	10	Jul 17, 1957
91	Win	70–14–6	Joe Gray	RTD	5 (10)	Jul 2, 1957
90	Win	69–14–6	Rory Calhoun	SD	10	May 17, 1957
88	Win	68–14–6	Randy Sandy	SD	10	Feb 6, 1957
87	Win	67–14–6	Charley Cotton	UD	10	Dec 14, 1956
86	Win	66–14–6	Charley Cotton	UD	10	Nov 15, 1956
85	Win	65–14–6	Bobby Boyd	KO	5 (10)	Sep 28, 1956
84	Win	64–14–6	Georgia Kid	TKO	9 (10)	Aug 28, 1956
83	Win	63–14–6	Franz Szuzina	UD	10	Jul 26, 1956
82	Win	62–14–6	Tony Baldoni	KO	1 (10)	Jul 2, 1956
81	Loss	61–14–6	Charley Cotton	SD	10	May 28, 1956
80	Loss	61–13–6	Charley Cotton	UD	10	May 7, 1956
79	Win	61–12–6	Joe Shaw	UD	10	Mar 27, 1956
78	Win	60–12–6	Hurley Sanders	PTS	10	Mar 10, 1956
77	Win	59–12–6	Tim Jones	TKO	10 (10)	Feb 11, 1956
76	Win	58–12–6	Peter Müller	KO	2 (10)	Mar 1, 1955
75	Win	57–12–6	Andy Mayfield	TKO	8 (10)	Feb 15, 1955
74	Win	56–12–6	Al Andrews	UD	10	Jan 25, 1955
73	Win	55–12–6	Ralph Tiger Jones	UD	10	Sep 24, 1954
72	Win	54–12–6	Billy Kilgore	UD	10	Jul 7, 1954
71	Win	53–12–6	Bobby Jones	UD	10	Jun 11, 1954
70	Loss	52–12–6	Pierre Langlois	UD	10	May 21, 1954
69	Win	52–11–6	Willie Troy	TKO	7 (10)	Mar 19, 1954
68	Win	51–11–6	Walter Cartier	TKO	1 (10)	Feb 5, 1954
67	Win	50–11–6	Garth Panter	TKO	5 (10)	Jan 8, 1954
66	Win	49–11–6	Tuzo Portuguez	UD	10	Nov 23, 1953
65	Win	48–11–6	Walter Cartier	UD	10	Oct 26, 1953
64	Loss	47–11–6	Johnny Saxton	UD	10	Sep 29, 1953
63	Win	47–10–6	Ernie Durando	UD	10	Jun 26, 1953
62	Win	46–10–6	Hurley Sanders	PTS	10	May 30, 1953
61	Win	45–10–6	Gil Turner	UD	10	Apr 7, 1953
60	Loss	44–10–6	Billy Graham	UD	12	Mar 6, 1953
59	Win	44–9–6	Harold Green	UD	10	Feb 2, 1953
58	Win	43–9–6	Billy Graham	SD	10	Dec 19, 1952
57	Loss	42–9–6	Joey Giambra	UD	10	Nov 11, 1952
56	Win	42–8–6	Joey Giambra	UD	10	Oct 13, 1952
55	Win	41–8–6	Georgie Small	UD	10	Sep 15, 1952
54	Win	40–8–6	Billy Graham	SD	10	Aug 4, 1952
53	Win	39–8–6	Pierre Langlis	UD	10	Jun 23, 1952
52	Win	38–8–6	Roy Wouters	PTS	6	Jun 5, 1952
51	Draw	37–8–6	Joe Miceli	PTS	10	May 5, 1952
50	Draw	37–8–5	Sammy Giuliani	PTS	8	Mar 28, 1952
49	Draw	37–8–4	Sal DiMartino	PTS	10	Jan 9, 1952
48	Loss	37–8–3	Bobby Dykes	SD	10	Dec 12, 1951
47	Loss	37–7–3	Rocky Castellani	MD	10	Nov 13, 1951
46	Win	37–6–3	Tony Amato	KO	7 (8)	Oct 8, 1951
45	Win	36–6–3	Tommy Bazzano	PTS	6	Sep 14, 1951
44	Win	35–6–3	Johnny Noel	UD	8	Aug 27, 1951
43	Win	34–6–3	Otis Graham	UD	8	Aug 13, 1951
42	Loss	33–6–3	Gus Rubicini	PTS	8	May 25, 1951
41	Win	33–5–3	Ernie Durando	UD	10	Apr 30, 1951
40	Win	32–5–3	Roy Wouters	UD	8	Apr 12, 1951
39	Win	31–5–3	Primos Cutler	PTS	8	Mar 29, 1951
38	Loss	30–5–3	Roy Wouters	MD	8	Mar 15, 1951
37	Win	30–4–3	Tony Wolfe	KO	3 (8)	Feb 24, 1951
36	Win	29–4–3	Harold Sampson	SD	8	Feb 22, 1951
35	Win	28–4–3	Jan Henri	UD	8	Jan 27, 1951
34	Win	27–4–3	Freddie Lott	PTS	8	Jan 6, 1951
33	Win	26–4–3	Leroy Coleman	KO	5 (6)	Dec 18, 1950
32	Draw	25–4–3	George Roberts	PTS	6	Nov 27, 1950
31	Loss	25–4–2	Harold Green	RTD	6 (10)	Oct 26, 1950
30	Win	25–3–2	Bruce Ubaldo	PTS	8	Oct 16, 1950
29	Win	24–3–2	Ted DiGiammo	KO	1 (6)	Sep 26, 1950
28	Win	23–3–2	Don Berry	KO	1 (6)	Aug 25, 1950
27	Loss	22–3–2	Carey Mace	TKO	8 (8)	May 17, 1950
26	Win	22–2–2	Hurley Sanders	UD	8	May 5, 1950
25	Win	21–2–2	Tommy Varsos	KO	1 (8)	Apr 20, 1950
24	Win	20–2–2	Steve Sabatino	KO	1 (8)	Mar 27, 1950
23	Win	19–2–2	Armando Amanini	PTS	8	Mar 23, 1950
22	Win	18–2–2	Johnny Bernardo	MD	8	Feb 9, 1950
21	Win	17–2–2	Johnny Bernardo	PTS	8	Jan 26, 1950
20	Loss	16–2–2	Joe DiMartino	PTS	8	Jan 16, 1950
19	Win	16–1–2	Johnny Fry	PTS	6	Jan 5, 1950
18	Win	15–1–2	Jim Dockery	KO	2 (6)	Dec 5, 1949
17	Win	14–1–2	Mitch Allen	PTS	6	Nov 14, 1949
16	Win	13–1–2	Leroy Fleming	KO	1 (6)	Jul 13, 1949
15	Win	12–1–2	Ray Haas	TKO	3 (6)	Jun 20, 1949
14	Win	11–1–2	Henry Vonsavage	TKO	2 (6)	June 6, 1949
13	Win	10–1–2	Emerson Charles	PTS	4	May 2, 1949
12	Win	9–1–2	Joe Aurillo	PTS	6	Apr 28, 1949
11	Win	8–1–2	Ray Morris	PTS	4	Apr 25, 1949
10	Win	7–1–2	Bill Mongomery	KO	1 (6)	Apr 7, 1949
9	Win	6–1–2	Johnny Brown	PTS	4	Mar 29, 1949
8	Win	5–1–2	Don Ennis	KO	4 (6)	Mar 15, 1949
7	Draw	4–1–2	Clyde Diggs	PTS	6	Feb 24, 1949
6	Loss	4–1–1	Jimmy Morton	PTS	6	Jan 13, 1949
5	Win	4–0–1	Willie Wigfall	TKO	1 (4)	Dec 30, 1948
4	Draw	3–0–1	Bobby Thomas	PTS	4	Dec 17, 1948
3	Win	3–0	Johnny Madison	KO	1 (4)	Dec 16, 1948
2	Win	2–0	Jackie Cole	KO	1 (4)	Nov 16, 1948
1	Win	1–0	Jimmy Larkin	KO	1 (4)	Oct 10, 1948

Titles in boxing

Major world titles

• WBA middleweight champion (160 lbs)
• WBC middleweight champion (160 lbs)

The Ring magazine titles

• The Ring middleweight champion (160 lbs)

Undisputed titles

• Undisputed middleweight champion

Life after boxing

After retirement, he went into private business and went back to his real name.He was an insurance salesman and later joined the Misco International Chemical Company as their New York-Philadelphia-New Jersey distributor. He had married his wife Rosalie in 1950, with whom he had four children. He did work with the intellectually disabled, particularly for St. John of God School Community Services in Westville Grove, New Jersey, where his son, Carman, who had Down syndrome, lived for ten years. He met the pope and was invited to President John F. Kennedy's Inauguration. With his celebrity and title, he participated in countless fundraising events for the intellectually disabled and contributed his time and talent to the Special Olympics, founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver. At one event he taught the Special Olympians to jump rope.

He had a small role as a man from "The Syndicate" in the 1975 movie Moonrunners.

In 1996, he was invited to a Hungarian TV talk-show, (Friderikusz show) in which he made appearance in Budapest, Hungary, to celebrate Laszlo Papp's 70th birthday, that was an honorary invitation because of eastern communist block did not let Papp to match with Giardello in 1966, therefore Giardello could keep holding the 2 world titles, while Laszlo Papp was forced by the communist Hungarian government to bring his boxing career to an end.

He later filed a federal lawsuit against Universal Pictures, Beacon Communications and Aloof Films, for unspecified damages, for its "thoroughly false depiction" of his bout with Rubin Carter in Norman Jewison's 1999 film The Hurricane. The case was settled out-of-court and the DVD version of the film included scenes from the actual fight, as well as Jewison's statement that Giardello "no doubt" was a great fighter.^{[8] [9]}

He died on September 4, 2008, in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He was 78 years old.

Honors

Giardello was inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame in 2009, the 3rd boxer to be inducted after Joe Frazier (2004) and Tommy Loughran (2008). He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1993. His career record was 101 wins, 25 losses and 7 draws. He was 5-3-1 against other boxers in the Hall of Fame, including a 2–2 mark against Tiger.^[10]

A public statue honoring Giardello is situated in the East Passyunk Crossing section of South Philadelphia.^[11]

See also

• List of world middleweight boxing champions

External links

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Notes and References

1. Web site: The Lineal Middleweight Champions. The Cyber Boxing Zone Encyclopedia.
2. Web site: Lipsyte . Robert . BACKTALK; Once Again, Giardello Is in the Eye of the Storm . The New York Times . 12 March 2000.
3. Web site: The Famous 70. South Philly Review . December 2017 . Gelman . Bill .
4. News: Rose. Murray. Martinez Offered $20,000 Bribe to Thrown Fiore Fight. 13 May 2012. Lewiston Daily Sun. 19 November 1954.
5. News: Dick Tiger Reclaims Title From Joey Giardello . 1 April 2022 . Jet . Johnson Publishing Company . 4 November 1965 . 58 . en.
6. Book: Wice . Paul B. . Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and the American Justice System . 2000 . Rutgers University Press . 978-0-8135-2864-9 . 37 . 1 April 2022 . en.
7. Web site: Bock . Hal . 2000-02-27 . Giardello Sets 'Hurricane' Record Straight . 2023-09-05 . Los Angeles Times . en-US.
8. Web site: Joey Giardello: Middleweight boxing champion . https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220609/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/joey-giardello-middleweight-boxing-champion-927049.html . 2022-06-09 . subscription . live . The Independent . 1 April 2022 . en . 11 September 2008.
9. Stephen Brunt. The Italian Stallions: Heroes of Boxing's Glory Days. Sport Classic Books. 2003 p 213.
10. Web site: Joey Giardello . Njboxinghof.org . 2014-05-09 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140513010747/http://www.njboxinghof.org/cgi-bin/henryseehof.pl?158 . 2014-05-13 .
11. http://www.phillyboxinghistory.com/giardello/joey_schedule.htm Joey Giardello Statue Project