BoxRec

Supposedly according to the people on ESPN classics during Rocky II, Burt Young who played Paulie was a boxer who went 12 and 0.

He also supposedly liked to go into fights fat so he could lose the weight needed.

Anybody able to find more info on his career?

I don't believe he was a pro. He did fight in a benefit against a writer/police officer and I believe he won a decision.

I just found this thread which dovetails in with a post i made asking for info.on Burt young playing Tony Galento in a tv film on Galentos life. Anyone with some info.please post

His "pro record" sometime claims 12-0, 14-0 or 17-0 and from what I read, he refused to says which aliases he was using when he did pro boxing. Why is that? I wonder.

You might be interested in this part of his Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burt_Youn ... _in_boxing

"Young served a tour of duty in the United States Marine Corps from 1957 to 1959. While in the Marine Corps, he won 32 of 34 boxing bouts.[7] There is a rumour he later turned pro and compiled a 17–0 record under three different aliases however there is no evidence to support these rumours. It has also been alleged his manager was Cus D'Amato.[8][9]"

7. Gergen, Joe (February 17, 1985). "Rocky's Brother-in-Law Knows the Ropes: Burt Young Tries Boxing in Real Life as Co-Manager of a Challenger". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm ... story.html

8. Mladinich, Robert (November 12, 2009). "PAULIE'S PREDICTION: Oscar-Nominated Burt Young Likes Pacman". The Sweet Science. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
https://tss.ib.tv/articles-of-2009/7408 ... kes-pacman

9. Gerbasi, Thomas (April 13, 2018). "Burt Young Reflects on 'Rocky' Series, Career, 'Paulie' Character". Boxing Scene. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
https://www.BS.com/burt-young- ... er--127129

In his 2013 autobiography "Chuvalo: A Fighter's Life", George Chuvalo recounts a couple of great anecdotes about hiring Young as a sparring partner ahead of his 1969 fight with Buster Mathis, and then meeting up with "Paulie" again years later.

Sounds like a man full of his own sh!t

I read somewhere his manager was Cus D'Amato
Back in 1970 ( age 30)he tangled with a Bear at Coney Island anyway.

interesting subject.

My thoughts on this is why would an unknown person want to not be known as a professional boxer? its not as if he knew he was going to be a famous actor in a Rocky movie.

Just read George Chuvalo's autobiography and Burt Young sparred with Chuvalo at Burt's nagging insistence. He also told the Canadian Champion he was Puerto Rican, which he isn't. George liked him and was amused by him.

did he hang around Stillman's Gym (aka the University of 8th Avenue) ?

EvanIllinoisSamano wrote: ↑06 Oct 2022, 07:51

Guest wrote: ↑10 Jun 2002, 00:37 I don't believe he was a pro. He did fight in a benefit against a writer/police officer and I believe he won a decision.

No he was a professional fighter, but when he got out of the Marine Corps, he wasn’t a known fighter and was really mainly fighting in lesser recorded bouts. He wasn’t a bad boxer though, he was a Marine Corps champions (or something like that). However, I did hear one dumbass say that a Marine Corps Boxing champ can beat a World Boxing champion. That’s as retarded as it gets!

How do you know what kind of boxer he was? He has zero recorded pro fights and no evidence that he ever had one under any alias. No one has seen him fight professionally and I doubt there are many first hand accounts of any amateur fight that he had either. Except for him sparring a few rounds with Chuvalo I think the whole Paulie pro fight story is bs.