Lightweight contender matchup
Tony Canzoneri (4) vs Benny Leonard (1)
April 9, 2013 -- The story was that it was too soon. Tony Canzoneri was too green to take on an established star fighter like Benny Leonard. Canzoneri’s never seen anything like Leonard.
As it turned out, Benny Leonard hadn’t seen anything like Tony Canzoneri.
April of 2013 was the first month since the LSUBF’s inaugural tournaments four-plus years prior that not a single title match was slated to be held. As such, the month’s focus turned squarely on the lightweight contender contest between former champion Benny Leonard (23-3, 11 KO), the number one contender, and upstart Tony Canzoneri (11-3-2, 4 KO), ranked No. 4.
Leonard had twice lost to champion Joe Gans, both times due to stoppages while ahead late in the fight, and he entered the fight with Canzoneri with fresh rankings that set him up as Gans’ mandatory challenger, a year having passed since their last bout.
Canzoneri, 10 fewer fights into his career than Leonard, looked somewhat overwhelmed early on, being handled easily in rounds 1 and 3, which sandwiched a lackluster second round from both men.
But in the fourth, Canzoneri found his way, a strong right hook 30 seconds in his best blow of the fight to that point.
Midway through the fifth, Leonard seemed to realize he was in for a fight and the pair engaged in a furious series of exchanges over the second half of the round that brought the Yankee Stadium crowd to its collective feet.
A round later, Canzoneri answered Leonard’s heightened aggression with rapid fire, ultimately driving Leonard back into a neutral corner where Canzoneri repeatedly found a home for his cross on the side of Leonard’s face. Canzoneri continued to come from all angles in the seventh, another roundly clearly on his ledger, and a sense of desperation hit Leonard’s corner.
As Canzoneri worked Leonard’s body, Leonard struck his best blow of the night about 1:45 into the 8th, and right hand right on the point of Canzoneri’s chin. But it wasn’t long before Canzoneri landed his own violent straight right to stop Leonard in his tracks. But the ex-champ crushed Canzoneri with a left late in the round to seemingly tilt the round in his favor.
A seesaw ninth round gave way to a 10th that saw Canzoneri dominate the opening minute, dodging everything Leonard threw while landing clean if not powerful countershots. But Leonard recovered late, a big hook the round’s most solid blow with about 30 seconds left that seemed to put Canzoneri on his last legs.
But both fighters made it to the bell, sending us to the scorecards. And with that, the lightweight division of the LSUBF was turned on its ear.
Canzoneri earned a unanimous decision victory, 97-94 on all three cards, judges George Hill, Joe Horn and Arthur Mercante seeing each round in lockstep.
While things could change in the next three months before the July 1 rankings are out, it seems likely Canzoneri will be the new #1 contender at that point. Gans will be due to fight the #1 no later than November. He could ink a fight with Leonard, whom he’s beaten twice though in controversial fashion both times, sometime before July 1. But if that fight is not in place, Gans will almost assuredly face Canzoneri in the late summer or early fall.
Taking a third fight with Leonard would seem to set Gans up for criticism in taking the easy way out given his two victories, but the nature of them and controversy surrounding both would make a third fight appealing.
But less so now.
Canzoneri has earned the opportunity, and the suspicion here is Gans will wait – perhaps even making another defense in the interim – and sign on to fight Canzoneri later this year, leaving Leonard to regret taking on – and perhaps underestimating – the inexperienced whirlwind from New York.
He won’t be underestimated again.
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