Danny did the unthinkable when he dropped LaMotta with a big right hand in the seventh round of a nationally televised brawl in the States in December 1952. He then pummelled LaMotta for the remainder of the round, with Jake hanging on to the ropes to stay upright. LaMotta was pulled out at the bell, quitting boxing soon afterwards.
Nardico's feat earned him a decider with Joey Maxim for the right to challenge world light-heavyweight champion Archie Moore and he floored the classy former champion in the eighth round but Maxim, always good against the wild men, survived to take a unanimous 10-round decision in Florida in March 1953. Three months later, Maxim conceded a desperately close decision to Moore.
The fight that really defines Nardico came against dangerous heavyweight contender Charley Norkus in a battle of ex-marines in Miami in January 1954. Nardico was no heavyweight and he went down six times but he dropped Norkus twice in return before he was stopped in the ninth round of an unforgettable fight, a fight Charley Norkus Junior describes as "a real bloodbath". Incredibly the two met again just eight weeks later, with Norkus dominating and taking a 10-round decision.
"For years my father tried to contact Danny...", adds Charley. "My father was told, and I think he realized, that he did a lot of damage to Danny in those two fights, that Danny was not the same afterwards and hung them up shortly after."
Unsurprisingly, Nardico went down a storm with TV and was once desperately close to a shot at Rocky Marciano for the world heavyweight title but Norkus put paid to that. He retired in the summer of 1954 with a record of 50-13-4 (35), still only 26, and went on to forge a career in the prison service before developing Alzheimer's in recent years.
Danny's wars with LaMotta, Norkus, Harry "Kid" Matthews, Robert Villemain and "Irish" Bob Murphy mean he will never be forgotten. Even in boxing's golden era, this man stood out.
