Guglielmo Papaleo Middletown - September 19, β November 23, was an American professional boxer , better known as Willie Pep , who held the World Featherweight championship twice between the years of and Papaleo was born in an Italian family: his father, Salvatore, was from Rosolini , whereas his mother, Maria Marchese, was from Melilli.
Pep boxed a total of 1, rounds in the bouts during his year career, a considerable number of rounds and bouts even for a fighter of his era. His final record was β11β1 with 65 knockouts. Pep, known for his speed, finesse and elusiveness, is considered to be one of the best fighters of the 20th century; after his th win, Kid Campeche described his experience by saying, "Fighting Willie Pep is like trying to stomp out a grass fire. Pep was voted as the No.
Pep first fought as an amateur in At the time, amateur boxers from Connecticut were allowed to fight for money. Pep worked as a shoeshine boy in downtown Hartford alongside Johnny Duke. Both boys joined a gym together and became sparring partners. Willie was soon earning more in one night of fighting each week. When his parents found out he was boxing, his mother was worried for him, but his father said that if he was making so much fighting on Fridays, maybe he should see about fighting on Tuesdays as well.
Because of this, Pep did not know who he was fighting at the time. Before the fight he was told his unknown opponent was not good, but he recalls quickly learning otherwise once the bout began and Robinson was "all over me". Pep started boxing professionally on July 10, , beating James McGovern by a decision in four rounds in Hartford , Connecticut. Like many boxers of the first half of the 20th century, Pep concentrated his early fighting career on boxing in New England , and he split his first 25 contests between Connecticut and Massachusetts.
He was undefeated during that span and for fight number 26, he finally headed west, beating Eddie Flores by a knockout in the first round at Thompsonville , Michigan. A couple of fights later, he travelled further west and made his California debut, beating Billy Spencer by a decision in four rounds at Los Angeles.
