Name: Career Record: click Alias: Joseph (Joey) Saddler Nationality: US American Birthplace: , MA Hometown: Boston, MA Born: 1926-06-23 Died: 2001-09-18 Age at Death: 75 Stance: Orthodox Height: 5′ 8½″ Reach: 178 Manager: Charley Johnston Trainer: Jimmy Brooks

LONG AND lean, Sandy Saddler didn't look like a puncher. But he was. Saddler's 103 career are more than any other champion in history and rank him sixth on 's all- time list.

Saddler turned pro at 17 and engaged in 93 fights before he beat for the featherweight title in 1948. In 1945, he won 24 fights, including 17 by . On the way to the title, he beat top Charles (Cabey) Lewis and Miguel Acevedo and met future champions and . He drew with Carter twice and knocked out Brown.

Saddler's career is best for his intense four-fight series with Pep. Pep boasted a 73-fight unbeaten streak and was considered boxing's consummate boxer before his first match with Sandy. But Saddler scored a fourth-round knockout to win Pep's title.

Three months and 13 days later, Pep put together a masterful boxing performance and regained the title. While waiting for another shot at Pep, Saddler won the vacant junior lightweight title by decisioning Orlando Zulueta in December of 1949. He defended it once, knocking out Lauro Salas, and was granted a third match with Pep in 1950.

The third and fourth Pep fights were marred by fouls. Saddler regained the title in the third fight via TKO and the fourth contest was stopped after the ninth round during to swelling around Pep's right eye. Saddler's last significant fight was a 13th-round knockout of future junior lightweight champion Flash Elorde in 1956. At the age of 30, Saddler suffered a detached retina in a car accident and was forced to retire.

Joseph Saddler was born on 23 June 1926, one of five children born to a West Indian father and American mother ( the Sandy nickname came much later ).It was the invention of a boxing publicist who decked Saddler out in tartan shorts and a tam-o-shanter for an early press photo. Although Joseph was actually born in Boston the family had moved to Harlem, by the time he was three.

His father was an exceptionally tall man and while the youngster never put on much weight Joseph also grew quickly. By the age of 16 he was 5ft 8 ½ inches , which was later to make him something of a rarity for a 126lb fighter. His height helped him become a good basketball player at school, but boxing was always his passion.

He joined the Police Athletic League Club at 16 and started training under Dick Bruno who was to guide him through a brief career at flyweight and . As the youngsters reputation grew locally it became harder for him to get fights and shortly after his 18th birthday he turned pro.This decision being prompted by his association with one of the pro games most influential families the Johnston brothers .

Jimmy Johnston had managed a host of world champions and after spotting the lanky youngster he steered him towards his brother Bill who arranged a fight for Saddler in Hartford, Connecticut in March 1944. he was matched with Earl Roys who was the unbeaten New champion. Ironically Willie Pep was at ringside, viewing Roys as a possible future opponent. Pep could never have dreamt he was seeing the pro debut of a man he would later have four world title fights.

Saddler won an eight round decision and agreed to a rematch two weeks later. However on the train on the way to the return he got talking to Jock Leslie, a tough pro with 11 fights behind him, and learned that Leslie was to be Roys replacement against him. Leslie knew far to much for Saddler and stopped him in the 3rd round. In 162 pro fights this was the only time Saddler failed to last the distance.

Saddler didn’t brood on the defeat and was back in the ring six days later to knock out Al King in two rounds. Five more wins followed before Lou Alter of Canada beat him over six rounds and then held him to a four round draw in a return at . In all Saddler fought 22 times in nine months in 1944 and his only losses in the next three years and 48 fights were to lightweight Bobby McQuiller ( who later helped train Barry McGuigan ) Phil Terranova, Humberto Sierra and Chico Rosa.

By now Bill Johnson had relinquished the managerial role to another brother Charley whose stable included the great Archie Moore and Saddler was to remain with Charley until the end of his career. Moore and Saddler worked well together and the youngster was always quick to pay tribute to the legendary champion. “Archie taught me how to slip and get inside” ..”He taught me how to punch from the balls of my feet”.

Saddlers hectic schedule finally earned him a crack at Pep’s world featherweight crown in October 1948. The 3 to 1 odds against the challenger reflected public opinion as Pep was on a dazzling run of 73 consecutive victories and had only lost to one lightweight champion in 136 fights. Although Saddler was a New Yorker – by adoption – Pep had most of the support and the money as Saddler had to guarantee him $25,000 and a rematch. He thus fought for just about enough to cover his training expenses.

There were widespread rumours of a fix and the New York Commissioner Eddie Egan even told them at the weigh in “ I am holding you responsible to uphold the good name of boxing. There are rumours of a fix before every fight, but we don’t pay attention to them. You are two honest athletes, fighting in a great class, for a great championship. You will represent boxing tonight”.

Pep’s lackluster display did little to dispel the rumours. He didn’t seem to be able to get out of the way of Saddler’s jab, had no spring in his legs, and was ultra cautious against the 22 year old. He took a savage body beating in the first round and then allowed the challenger to dominate the second. In the third Saddler walked into Pep and floored him for a count of nine with a straight left to the face. A left hook and a right to the jaw put Pep down again but the bell rang before Saddler could resume the attack. A series of rights from Saddler in the next round set him up for the left hook, which knocked out the champion. It was the first knockout For Pep in 137 fights.

Even as champion there was no let up in Saddlers workload. He had five non title matches in two months, winning them all, before a rematch was set with Pep in February 1949. no featherweight had previously managed to regain the world championship. The gate was an indoor record for the division and Saddler started favourite

However Pep who was two pounds heavier instantly showed Saddler that this would not be his night as he landed an astonishing 37 jabs in a row in the first round. Never an angel in the ring Pep was warned for wrestling in the first and for “heeling” in the third. The challenger was cut under the right eye in the fifth but otherwise he dominated with dazzling speed and variety. Saddler’s best moments were in the 10th when he almost finished Pep with a terrific right, and in the 14th when a right and left hook to the jaw shook Pep again. Although Pep finished with a huge swelling under the right eye and his various cuts later needed 11 stitches the verdict in his favor was unanimous.

Saddler was back in the ring the following month and went on to have a further 13 fights in 1949, including his only visit to Britain when he beat Jim Keery in four rounds. He floored the Irishman five times before knocking him out. In September he outpointed Harold Dane and in October stopped Paddy De Marco in nine rounds. He ended the year with a points win over Orlando Zulueta in , it was billed as being for the vacant junior lightweight title. This division had not been active since Frankie Klick stopped Kid Chocolate in 1933 and saddlers claim to the revived title was not taken seriously, even by Saddler.

He defended the title once that year when he stopped the future lightweight champion Lauro Salas, in nine rounds, in April 1950. Saddlers form since his defeat by Pep had been impressive with 23 wins, 18 inside the distance, with 11 by ko. Pep had been busy also and had defended his title against Eddie Compo, Charley Riley, Ray Famechon as well as 12 non title wins. When they met for the third time, in New York in , it was one of the biggest non heavyweight promotions in history as 38,781 fans in the paid a record $262,150.41.

The contest was as keenly contested as the first two and Pep worked frantically behind his jab for two rounds before a left hook in the third put him down for a count of nine. The champ responded by raising a swelling over Saddler’s eye and ended what was described by the New York Times as a magnificent exhibition of the boxing skill that has been his characteristic for ten years of ring warfare. However Pep then stunned the crowd by quitting on his stool before the start of the 8th round. He had, he said, dislocated his shoulder in the previous round . Champion again Saddler went back on the road and scored a couple of non title wins in St Louis, the first against Charley Riley. Saddler lost for the first time in 17 fights when the young lightweight Del Flanagan outpointed him over 10 rounds in , December 1950. The pace continued in 1951 when saddler had 11 fights in the first 8 months of the year. They included a junior lightweight defence against Diego Sosa which he won by a ko in the 2nd round, and a repeat stoppage of Lauro Salas, this time in six rounds.

He then won three times in and once in before losing a 10 rounder to Paddy De Marco prior to facing Pep for the fourth and final time in New York in September 1951. the fight was a brutal affair which prompted the New York Times to comment “Any resemblance to the accepted theory of boxing as a fair stand up exhibition of skill between two perfectly trained, well matched, sportsmanlike individuals was surely coincidental in this brawl. By some oversight they failed to bite each other or to introduce that quaint kicking game – la savate – at one time very popular in ”

At the end of the ninth round Pep told the referee he was unable to go on because his right eye, badly bruised and bloodied had troubled him from the second round. Saddler retained his title but he and Pep had won little in the way of respect.

One week after the New York Commission revoked Pep’s license and suspended Saddler’s indefinitely. Pep told the hearing “It seemed there was no referee in this fight. He was getting in to late to break us up. The only way I could get away from Saddler was to wrestle him. He was holding me by the head and banging away at my eyes” Many years later he told author Peter Heller “ I never boxed rough or tough with anyone except Saddler, because he made me lose my head and anytime you lose your head you’re fighting the other guy’s fight. Whenever I lost my head I was playing right into his hands. This was my mistake. I never should have boxed that way. I couldn’t overcome the guy. He was very strong. I had to outsmart him, which I was able to do when I did it, but when I fought his game he just took me right over”.

It was sorry end to a classic rivalry and the start of a bad spell for Saddler as, for the first time in his career, he lost three in a row. De Marco outpointed him again, as did Georgie Araujo and then he was disqualified in four rounds against Armand Savoie. On St Patrick’s day 1952 the champ stopped the popular Irish American Tommy Collins in five rounds, though not before Saddler had been floored for the first time in 140 fights. It was his last fight for almost two years as he was conscripted into the US army – the only reigning world champion to be called up during the Korean war.

Saddler had previously served two weeks in the US Navy, in 1944 before being discharged on un specified medical grounds, but when re examined in 1952 he was declared fit to answer the draft.When discharged Saddler picked up where he had left off with a ninth round stoppage of Bill Bossio, in New York January 1954. Saddler fought eight more times that year, losing on points to Hocine Khalfi bu stopping Ray Famechon in six rounds in . During his army service the featherweight title had been frozen, but Teddy “Red Top” Davis had won the so- called interim title and faced Saddler in New York in February 1955 to settle the issue.

Saddler won a clear verdict but all the hard years of campaigning , and the two year lay-off, took there toll as he had lost two ten round no-title fights to lightweight contender Joey Lopez and the Filipino sensation Flash Elorde. He gave Elorde, who later became one of the all time greats at junior lightweight, a rematch for the title in January 1956, and won a bloody battle on a 13th round stoppage. However, this turned out to be Saddler’s last big win. In February he stopped Curley Monroe in three rounds, but dropped a ten round decision to lightweight Larry Boardman in April. A few months later, in July 1956, the taxi in which Saddler was riding was involved in an accident and he sustained serious eye damage which forced him to announce his retirement in January 1957. He finished his career with an outstanding record and later became a highly respected trainer, working as the physical director of the National maritime Union in New York. Failing health forced him to give up his corner work and when he was a guest at the 1966 Induction Weekend at the International Boxing Hall of Fame, in Canasota, New York, he was warmly greeted by former bitter rival Willie Pep.