Pep-Saddler II (Newspaper report: 02/12/1949)

[APerno]

[BoxBuzz]

Good read, thanks.

[Kalan]

The Saddler fights happened after Pep lost his chin in a tragic plane crash that killed several people and left Pep with his back broken in 2 places. He had many broken ribs, broken pelvis, compound fractures of his legs, and was knocked unconscious for several hours in a blinding snow storm that brought the plane down and ripped it to shreds. He had several damaged internal organs and he was in a body cast for 5 months. Lying there in a body cast he would spread his toes and flex and relax as many bodily muscles as he could thousands of times a day, attempting to will his body to heal itself.

“The plane crash took my chin away. Before the accident I never came close to being knocked out or hurt in over 100 fights with only 1 loss. After my convalescence I got knocked down or out by anybody who hit me good. I had to readjust my style. Before the crash I had the best series of fights of my career. I scored 9 knockouts in my 10 fight before the accident. I was becoming a boxer-puncher. I took out Sal Bartolo, Jackie Graves, and Chalkie Wright. For 80 or 90 fights I moved too much and didn’t get good leverage on my punches. I was starting to settle down and take the lead. After the accident I had to go back to my original style and I didn’t have the same body to do all that moving and dancing.”

Pep’s record before he met Saddler was 134-1-1 with no KO losses... When he retired his record was 229-11-1 with 6 KO losses.

[Sidney Carton]

The Saddler fights happened after Pep lost his chin in a tragic plane crash that killed several people and left Pep with his back broken in 2 places. He had many broken ribs, broken pelvis, compound fractures of his legs, and was knocked unconscious for several hours in a blinding snow storm that brought the plane down and ripped it to shreds. He had several damaged internal organs and he was in a body cast for 5 months. Lying there in a body cast he would spread his toes and flex and relax as many bodily muscles as he could thousands of times a day, attempting to will his body to heal itself.

“The plane crash took my chin away. Before the accident I never came close to being knocked out or hurt in over 100 fights with only 1 loss. After my convalescence I got knocked down or out by anybody who hit me good. I had to readjust my style. Before the crash I had the best series of fights of my career. I scored 9 knockouts in my 10 fight before the accident. I was becoming a boxer-puncher. I took out Sal Bartolo, Jackie Graves, and Chalkie Wright. For 80 or 90 fights I moved too much and didn’t get good leverage on my punches. I was starting to settle down and take the lead. After the accident I had to go back to my original style and I didn’t have the same body to do all that moving and dancing.”

Pep’s record before he met Saddler was 134-1-1 with no KO losses... When he retired his record was 229-11-1 with 6 KO losses.

Lots of fighters "lost their chins" when they fought Sandy Saddler.

[Seamus]

Alot of guys got fouled continually when they fought Saddler.

[Sidney Carton]

Featherwieght Saddler knocked out FOUR lightweight champions:

Joe Brown

Paddy DeMarco

Lauro Salas (TWICE)

Saddler stopped Willie Pep in three fights out of four.