Was He A Champion Without A Title?

By: Jim Amato

For a decade ( 1952-1962 ) Joey Giambra was a mainstay among the middleweight elite. Still he never received a shot at the middleweight title. In fact he received his only title shot at the tail end of his career battling for the newly created junior middleweight division. He was not successful. Nevertheless in his prime he was as good as any middleweight contender in the world.

Joey turned pro in 1949 and went undefeated in his first seventeen fights. His first loss was to tough veteran Johnny Ceserio in 1951. He then reeled off ten straight victories before losing a 1952 decision to the great Joey Giardello. Giambra would come right back to beat Giardello in a rematch.

Giambra then won nine straight before losing to the clever Bobby Dykes. Joey had five more wins before dropping a verdict to Carl ” Bobo ” Olson. Giambra then went unbeaten in his next ten bouts including two wins over the rugged Rocky Castellani and a victory over Philadelphia’s tough Gil Turner. Joey then lost a points call against rough Rory Calhoun.

Giambra would not be denied and he would rally to win seventeen straight including revenge victories over Calhoun and Giardello in their rubber match. Throw in a win over Ralph ” Tiger ” Jones. In 1961 he was outpointed by Yama Bahama. In 1962 he dropped one to Farid Salim. Joey would bounce back again to score a kayo over the dangerous Florentino Fernandez. That led to a bout with Denny Moyer for the newly introduced junior middleweight division title. The cagey Moyer won the judge’s votes and the title.

In 1963 Joey reached the end of the line losing decisions to Luis Rodriguez and Joe DiNucci. In all he had 77 fights and he walked away a winner 65 times. He scored 31 knockouts and remarkably considering the competition he faced, Giambra was never stopped. He was truly an ” uncrowned champion “.