HOW TO KEEP FROM TALKIN'

By Roger Esty

My father's favorite fighter was Carmen Basilio. Carmen was Italian and a Marine in World War II. That was more than enough to pass my father's listhmus test. I remember when Carmen beat Tony DeMarco.My father was screamin' for Carmen to kill him. It wasn't like DeMarco wasn't a dago. It was the Marine in Carmen that got my father's vote. My dad was at Pelilieu and Okinawa in the Big One. Only 3000 Marines were in both those battles. I don't know ,but DMarc probably wasn't a Leatherneck. Neither was Marciano. Now if those two guys were fighting a non spaghetti eater ,it would have been different with the old man I'm sure.

I'm pretty much on the side of the goombas,but not like my dad was. When Billy Backus won the title from Jose Napoles on a cut I was down in the dumps. Jose knew he was in Billy's back yard and before Napoles could put the hurt on Backus they stepped in and the title changed hands.

The rematch was in L.A. and i was pretty confident Mantequilla would put the crown back on his head before the night was over. Jose got cut seconds into the fight,but when Dick Young called the doc over to look at Backus after 8 rounds they might have inspected Jose's gloves for containing razor blades.

The replay of the fight was on TV the following week. I wanted my father to watch the great Mantequilla in action. He obliged. I had told him that Napoles won the fight and we were going to watch the replay. My father asked me who was Napoles fighting. When I said he was fighting an Italian by the name of Billy Backus who was trained by his uncle Carmen Basilio,my father astonished me by saying that Backus was going to win.
"Carmen wouldn't take on a fighter who was going to lose."
Maybe my dad was losing his hearing.
"This is a relay. Backus loses."
"Naw,you watch . Any fighter handled by Basilio is gonna' win. You watch."

Well we're watchin' and I'm thinking what is my father going to say when he sees Backus get pulverized. After Billy was on the seat of his pants for the second time and the ref and the doctor halt it,I look over to my father.
"Well son, wouldn't a nice salami sandwich on Italian bread taste good right now?"

What the hell? My father knew I wouldn't be saying nothing with a salami sandwich in my mouth.