Born-September 4, 1919 New York City Died-March 16, 2000
Record-67-21-11 (29 Ko) Division-Featherweight
Manager-Bobby Gleason
Phil Terranova came from a boxing family. His brothers Frank and Nat were also professional prizefighters. Frank had over one hundred bouts. He fought the likes of Chalky Wright, Lew Feldman, Lenny Mancini, and Ralph Zannelli. Nat was a featherweight who fought on cards at the Garden, Eastern Parkway Arena, and Sunnyside Garden in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Nat did lose to Red DeFazio and he beat Sal Giglio.
Terranova learned how to fight in the streets of New York City and as an amateur he won the New York City Golden Gloves Title (3/3/41) by defeating Jack McCann. Terranova turned professional in 1941. In only his third fight (8/4/41), Phil was defeated by Jimmy Kemp in the Bronx. In 1942 and 1943, Phil fought with mixed success. However, he did manage to defeat Lulu Constantino and Angelo Callura.
These victories enabled Phil to fight Jackie Callura (8/16/43) for the NBA Title in New Orleans. Terranova knocked out Callura to win the championship. The new champion defeated Callura in a title rematch (12/27/43) again in New Orleans.
Terranova lost his title to Sal Bartola on March 10, 1944 in Boston. The two fought a rematch (5/5/44) that was very close. The referee scored the bout for Terranova but both judges gave the nod to Bartolo. Terranova was given another title opportunity to fight the masterful Willie Pep for the NYSAC Featherweight Championship (2/19/45) at Madison Square Garden. Pep won handily on all the cards.
After the Pep defeat, Terranova fought over forty more contests without obtaining another title. However, he did earn the greatest victory of his career (7/23/46) over Sandy Saddler in Detroit. Phil’s other notable victories occurred over Freddie Russo, Charley Riley, Frankie Carto, Maxie Shapiro, Vince Dell’Orto, Snooks Lacey, Aaron Seltzer, and Al Guido. In January of 1944, Terranova appeared o the front cover of Ring Magazine.
While he was boxing, Phil lived on Jarvis Avenue in the Bronx. In 1998, he was induced into the World Boxing Hall of Fame.
Profiles of Italian and Italian American World Champions in all seventeen weight divisions.