The Uncrowned Champion: Boxing and the Mafia in the Golden Era

Stories like Joey Giambras' have been attempted many times in many different styles. So what's the difference? This is the truth. The Gods' honest, ghetto style, Italian-American truth. Dramatic and intimate details about his childhood, life and death experiences, and life in the world of boxing controlled by the mafia. Rising from poverty during the Great Depression, to dining with royalty and celebrities. The book is finally here to reconstruct each and every moment of a man who would eventually be denied of the very thing he trained and fought so hard to attain. This is a story teeming with challenge, love, abuse, and family. Both kinds . . . It has a heart warming love story, a quality about the underdog makes good and the seedy truths about the controlled history of the boxing world feared to be told before now. The Golden era of boxing from the forties, fifties, and sixties . . . Famous and infamous Italian Mafia members trying to kill and then saving the young Giambra, despite him not joining the Mafia or playing hardball with them to throw fights for an eventual title shot . . . Mobsters, such as Vito Genevese, Carlo Gambino, Frankie Carbo, and Jack Ruby were all key figures in Giambra's career. He had real friendships with major sports figures such as heavyweight champions Rocky Marciano and Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali), who was taught the "Rope-A-Dope" by the young Giambra. A middleweight champion, Sugar Ray Robinson, openly stated he would not fight Giambra for the title when he was champ! Lightweight champion Willie Pep and baseball legend Joe DiMaggio were two of Giambra's biggest fans! And being in Hollywood during the romantic era of the 60s, he acted in movies, such as The Misfits, and the television series, Mission Impossible and The Joey Bishop Show, a comedy series, and also had friendships with Ann Margaret, Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, and Joey Bishop. The original self-published book, The Uncr