SAGILIO – The Little Man with the Big Punch!
The hardest puncher among the little men in the ring today is what the fight experts call Frankie Sagilio, youthful Cicero lightweight, and a glance at his record of twenty professional fights without a single defeat indicates that there is plenty of reason for this claim. Out of the twenty battles he has engaged in since entering the professional ranks about a year ago, Sagilio has won twelve by knockouts, and has fought only two draws.
The fight which won him the most followers was his knockout a few months ago of the veteran Pete Nebo. Nebo has fought the best men in the lightweight division without ever having been stopped, the list including Barney Ross, Tony Canzoneri and Kid Chocolate. But when Sagilio connected in the eighth round, after getting off to a bad start, Nebo went down and stayed down.
Sagilio’s most sensational battle was his draw last summer with Davey Day in a ten-round fight at 138 pounds. Twice in the early rounds he bounced Day off the canvas, and looked like a certain winner. But he had never found it necessary to go ten rounds before, and late in the fight Sagilio began to tire, and was himself floored twice by Day. Sagilio thinks he tired in that fight because he did not do roadwork. For the rematch Sagilio has been putting in plenty of miles on the road every morning, and has built up enough stamina to go ten rounds without drawing a long breath, according to his claims.
Born Francesco Sicilia, in the Italian province of Calabria, twenty-one years ago, Sagilio graduated to the professional ranks about a year ago from the amateur boxing tournaments. Strong for a lightweight, he carries a knockout punch in either hand, using left hook or right cross. His ambition is to get a fight with lightweight champion Barney Ross, and to become champion of the world himself.