Joey “Buffalo Adonis” Giambra
Born-July 30, 1931 Upstate New York
Record-65-10-2 (31 Ko) Division-Middleweight
Manager-Mike Scanlon
Joey Giambra grew up poor on the West Side of Buffalo. His parents Mike and Rosina originated from Palermo and they had fourteen children.
During the Great Depression, Mike, a chef by trade, was unable to find employment and he was forced to dig ditches. Discouraged, he became abusive and he eventually left his family and he returned back to Sicily. Consequently, Rosina and her children were living in abject poverty and for a while they slept in an old shed in a friend’s backyard.
To help his mother, Joey shined shoes and he sold newspapers. To retain his earnings, he often had to fight his way back home. Finally, after being beaten and suffering a serious back injury falling out of a tree (Joey was attempting to escape two thugs looking to steal his money), Giambra began to workout. At the age of twelve, he walked into a local boys club to learn how to box.
In 1947, at sixteen years old, he began to participate in amateur shows in Buffalo, Rochester, and Canada. His overall amateur record was 12-3 and he won the Buffalo Courier Express Novice Golden Gloves Featherweight Championship. The following year, Joey won the open lightweight title. Around this time, a friend who also boxed named Joey Bitulco introduced him to his future manager Mike Scanlon.
On June 28, 1949, Giambra turned professional by knocking out Lee Phillips in Ontario Canada. Two years later (5/22/51), he lost his first contest to Johnny Cesario in Buffalo. At the time of their contest, Cesario had over seventy-five fights. Afterwards, Johnny met with Giambra and he gave him some advice that would help him for the rest of his career.
In 1950, he split two fights with Joey Giardello. On January 26, 1953, he bested Danny Womber who was in the same stable as Sugar Ray Robinson. By 1954, he was a top ten-ranked middleweight and he would remain there (including during his stint in the army) for nearly a decade.
As a contender, Giambra defeated the likes of Tuzo Portuguez, Jimmy Herring, Italo Scortichini, Rocky Castellani, Gil Turner, Chico Vejar, Ralph “Tiger” Jones, Rory Calhoun, and Florentino Fernandez.
Finally, on October 20, 1962, Giambra met Denny Moyer for the WBA Light Middleweight Championship in Portland Oregon. This was a close fight in which Moyer won by a slim margin. The guest referee was none other than Sonny Liston. In 1963, after losing to Joe DeNucci, he retired. During his stellar career, Joey was never knocked out (as both an amateur or a professional) and he appeared on television thirty-three times. *
After boxing, he worked as a referee (in 1977, he worked the Jerry Quarry versus Lorenzo Zanon bout), wrote a book entitled “Uncrowned Champion,” and he appeared in motion pictures such as “Hide in Plain Sight.” In the early 1970’s, Joey auditioned for a role in “The Godfather” as Marlon Brando’s son in law. Giambra has also worked as a black jack dealer in Las Vegas.
Later in life, Joey returned to Sicily “to make peace” with his father by visiting his gravesite. Today, he is involved in his son’s racecar driving career. Giambra is also working on a second book and he enjoys writing poetry.
Lastly, Joey is a member of the World Boxing Hall of Fame. He has also been inducted into the Buffalo and the Rochester Boxing Hall of Fames.
*Interview. Joey Giambra. October 18, 2001.
Top Ten contenders. their trainers and managers.