Tony
“Two-Ton” Galento -vs- Lou Nova
Municipal Stadium, Philadelphia
September 15, 1939
Restored
NBC Radio Broadcast
1 Hour
10 Minutes
Two
years into Joe Louis reign as heavyweight Champion in 1939, there were a series
of title elimination fights among the top contenders including Max Baer, Tony
Galento and Lou Nova. The Baer-Nova and
Baer-Galento fights survive on film, but Tony Galento’s upset against Lou Nova has
not been shown in public since the 1940s.
Nova was the rising star of the division, and having defeated Baer
several months earlier, Nova was expected to beat Galento for a title shot at
Louis.
The
Fight
Recently
described in an excellent article by Clarence George on boxing.com, The
Galento-Nova fight quickly became a streetfight, with fouling, wrestling and
the two fighters tumbling together to the canvas several times during the
fight. Galento thumbed Nova early in the
fight and in addition to suffering an eye cut, Nova never gained the upper
hand. Ring Magazine described the fight
as “discraceful”, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t exciting.
The
Broadcast
A
representative at ESPN told me that a film clip of the fight survives, but the
footage remains elusive. However, several
years ago I purchased a number of old radio broadcast tapes, and when I looked
through them recently I discovered this recording of the Galento-Nova
fight. The NBC live broadcast is hosted
by Bill Stern, and runs over an hour, including prefight ring intros, trash
talk during the refs instructions, and the 14 round blow by blow fight call by
Ben Taub. An elated Galento and disappointed Nova are briefly interviewed in
the postfight. The controversy over the
fight apparently came in the newspaper reports later. The radio call made by Stern and Taub is
exciting to hear, but they raise no questions about the action itself.
The
Restoration
The tape
cuts in several spots, but no more than a minute appears to be missing. The broadcast is otherwise complete. The audio suffered from generation loss, hiss
and lack of low end. I transferred the
analog tape to a digital file. With
several editing tools I was able to bring some clarity back to the sound and reduce
the noise level. It was a pleasure
bringing this fight brought back to life.
I have
added period images and several photos of the fight for the video portion. Otherwise, grab a beer, turn the lights down
and enjoy the fight!
