Boxing champ visits Bangor

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Arthur Caputo owned and operated a dry-cleaning business. He was a long-time business fixture in Bangor and, oddly, next to hard work his second passion was the rough and tumble boxing trade. Seldom, no matter the season or road conditions, did he ever miss a prize fight. He was a familiar figure at Madison Square Garden, Boston Garden, arenas in Providence, Philadelphia, and the local bucket of blood, The Chateau.

One brought Arthur a shirt for a 15-cent laundering, and the visit included a 15-minute essay on an Italian “comer” he’d seen perform that week at Boston Garden. The message was that this wondrous prospect was the most promising tiger since the days of Ruby Bob Fitzsimmons. Since Arthur never met an Italian fisticuffer who might not be a “champeen,” one frequently challenged this delightful man’s one-sided assessment.

Arthur Caputo came to Bangor from Providence, R.I.’s, Italian community, The Hill, and established a dry-cleaning business. His penchant for boxing began very early in life, when at the invitation of a fighter’s chief second, Arthur proudly would carry the water pail to ringside.

He saw scores of would-be champions fall from grace with a right cross to the jaw. The sun came out for Arthur when newspapers began carrying the ring results about a young heavyweight named Rocco Francis Marchegiano, ring name, Rocky Marciano.

This brawling newcomer to the heavyweight ranks ran up a string of first round knockouts, flattening such unranked, ineffectual warriors as Harry Balzerian, John Edwards, Eddie Ross, Jimmy Weeks, Jerry Jackson, Bill Hardeman, Gil Cardione, Patrick Connolly and a number of other ring stiffs of modest talent.

“I tell you,” promised Arthur, “this Italian boy is going to be a `world champeen.’ He’s coming to Bangor and visit me. I’ll call you when he comes.”

Months became years and this time, Arthur Caputo’s prediction was dead on the mark. The Brockton Blockbuster went on to become the world heavyweight champion from September 23, 1952, when he knocked out Joe Walcott in 13 rounds in Philadelphia, to April 27, 1956, when he retired from the ring. Marciano was undefeated in 49 fights, scoring 43 knockouts. Among his victims were two former heavyweight champions other than Walcott: Joe Louis and Ezzard Charles.

The period of 1952-1956, when Marciano ruled, provided Arthur with some of his happiest hours.

And with each shirt brought to his place of business, Arthur would promise, “Rocky’s comin’ to Bangor and visit me. I’ll call ….”

Oh, sure, Arthur. Call when The Champ lands in town.

Well, Marciano did quietly breeze into Bangor and on a warm, muggy Sunday night in June 1954, and the sports department telephone rang.

“Come up right now. Bring your photographer; Rocky’ll see you before we eat supper.”

Arthur Caputo’s long-promised Marciano visit had arrived.

When I arrived at the Computo home, I was greeted by the sweet smell of spaghetti sauce. And a dozen or more Caputo friends.

“Rocky’s taking a shower. He said it was OK if you interviewed him while he was showering.”

I entered the bathroom and the world heavyweight champ was soaping and enjoying a cold shower. It had been a hot day and a long automobile ride from Brockton, Mass., to Bangor.

“Hi,” Marciano sputtered through the path of an overhead shower. “Hot day, huh?”

I was seated on the commode, note pad in hand, when the champ stepped from the shower and began toweling off. My first impression and thought, never having met Marciano, was how such a little guy be the world heavyweight champ? He stood, naked as a baby being bathed by its mother in the kitchen sink, less than 6 feet and weighed a trifle more than 190 pounds.

In the next few moments, I learned he was tough as a bag of hammers and proud of it.

It chanced that Marciano was to defend his heavyweight title in three weeks, June 17, against a contender named Ezzard Charles. This afforded me with a lead question.

“You won’t have trouble with Charles,” I said in my most expert voice.

Remember, I’m still seated on the commode and Rocky was toweling himself after a shower. My inexpert statement apparently hit the champ on the chin, because he snapped the huge bath towel, and the tip end left a mark on my chest, slightly under the double chin.

The world heavyweight boxing king had risen to the bait, like a shark sighting a rivulet of blood.

“Let me tell you something, pal, this man Charles can fight. He’s one of the cleverest heavyweights around. You’re like the rest of those know-it-alls, claiming this’ll be an easy fight. If I let this guy get the upper hand, I’ll lose my title. But he’s going to earn it if does. I’ll hit him with everything from elbows to knee caps. But don’t give that crap I’m hearing that this is going to be an easy fight.”

Marciano was standing in clean underwear, boxer shorts, shadow boxing to emphasize how he intended to fight Charles. Arthur Caputo ended the brief interview by announcing that supper was on the table. A boxer dog made an appearance and this was a signal for Photographer Spike Webb to make a photograph of the champ sparring with the young canine.

The first Marciano-Charles fight, several weeks following Rocky’s visit with the Caputos, turned out precisely as the champion had predicted. Marciano beat Charles in 15 brutal rounds. Charles cut Marciano, nearly closing the champ’s right eye, and lost by a decision. The two fought a second time that year, this time, Rocky stopping Charles in the 8th round. Ring experts asserted the fury of the first battle, the 15-rounder, took the fire out of a plucky Ezzard Charles.

Arthur Caputo was a proud admirer of “the champeen,” an unscientific, but hard punching and exceptionally durable, fighter. He completely dominated the heavyweight division. When fight followers swap tales, most always the Marciano-Walcott figures in the conversation. Rocky was floored by Walcott in the first round, and had fallen behind on points when, in the 13th round, Marciano knocked Jersey Joe Walcott unconscious with a single right hand punch.

The champ, aged 32, retired after defending the championship six times. He was killed in airplane crash in 1969. Rocky’s friend, Arthur Caputo, found it difficult to talk boxing in the wake of the champion’s demise.

But Arthur did indeed fulfill a promise he made each time I brought a shirt for laundering, getting me an exclusive interview with the “champeen” of all Italian fighters, Rocco Francis Marchegiano.