I got a call last week telling me that Tony Licata had died of a heart attack.  Tony was a very special person.  He was kind, quiet and very unpretentious.  But if you look at his legend in boxing you could certainly accept him if he was loud and boastful.  He had a right to be.

There were amateur boxing matches at St. Mary's Italian Gym.  One of the feature boxers on the card was a promising young fellow named Tony Licata.  This was some time in the mid-sixties and not long after I begin as an official.  There were a couple of other impressive boxers who were boxing that evening.  A couple of Texans named Kenny Weldon and Jesse Valdez also had matches. I remember them for their impressive showings but the highlight of the show was the anticipation of young Tony Licata's match.  He certainly did not disappoint any of his fans as he won handily.  In fact, practically all of his fights were easy victories.

Tony was cut from the same mold as two other greats who started their careers at St. Mary's Gym.   Both Ralph Dupas and Willie Pastrano were introduced into the world of boxing at that fistic center.  There were so many talented boxers who started under the tutelage of Whitey Esnault who was a master technician of boxing skills.  Tony was one of Whitey's prize students and had a tremendous amateur career but his professional record is something to be admired by boxing fans.

His boxing skills carried him through 52 matches undefeated in the pros with a record of 49-0-3.  Those wins were not hand fed victories that a lot of boxers get through their management's picking of opponents.  He fought some of the top middleweight fighters of the time.  During that time he beat Mike Pusateri, Art Hernandez, Denny Moyer, Emile Griffith and many other big names.  Tony remained unbeaten until a loss to Ramon Mendez of Argentina whom he out-pointed in a rematch.  Also in 1975 there was a contract for the middleweight title with another Argentinean named Carlos Monzón.  The great Monzón!  The title fight was held in New York's Madison Square Garden on June 30, 1975.  Monzón stopped Tony in the 10th.  I saw the fight  on closed circuit TV and it was not, although he did nothing to embarrass himself,  the Tony that we all knew.  But that had a lot to do with Monzón's well documented ability.  It was the only time that Monzon boxed in the United States.

Tony hung up his gloves in 1980 with a 72 fights to his name.  His record was that of a champion with 61 wins, 7 losses, 4 draws  with 27 knockouts.  Before he retired he continued his claim to fame with wins over fighters like Mike Rossman, Mike Nixon and Mel Dennis. He also fought and loss to Jean Mateo, Mike Colbert, Tony Chiaverini and Alan Minter.

Tony's unexpected death is a blow to the family and especially his brother Kenny, a professional boxing referee in Louisiana,  who has looked after him with love and respect.