Bob Pastor
Bob Pastor | |
---|---|
New York, New York | |
Died | January 26, 1996 n/a | (aged 82)
Alma mater | n/a |
Occupation(s) | Boxer, world title challenger |
Bob Pastor (January 26, 1914 – January 26, 1996) born Robert E. Pasternak, was a prominent American boxer. He was a top-ranked heavyweight of the 1940s who once challenged for the world title, losing to Joe Louis in 1939.
Professional boxing career
Pastor began his professional boxing career on January 26, 1935, his 21st birthday. In his professional debut he fought Julius Veight, a veteran who had a considerable experience advantage over the rookie boxer, with a record of 10 wins and 20 losses. The fight was held at Ridgewood Grove,
The fight with Veight was the beginning of an eight fight winning streak that saw Pastor score his first stoppage, a fourth round knockout of another veteran, the 11-29-10 Frank LoBianco, at the Dyckman Oval, in
The fight with Sims was followed by an encounter with ranked contender Steve Dudas, who had a record of 36-7. The fight occurred on January 17, 1936, at the Madison Square Garden. Dudas won the fight by an eight round decision, handing Pastor his first professional defeat. A draw against the 31-5-2 Al Delaney came after that, and then a rematch with Dudas in which Pastor avenged his earlier defeat by outpointing Dudas over 6 rounds on March 13 at the Madison Square Garden.
Pastor's next fight was highly unusual in that his opponent, the 11-12-1 Art Sykes, suffered a
A win over Terry Mitchell in a rematch came after the fight with Sykes, followed by wins against Frankie Sims and a victory over Ralph Barbara in a bout fought at
Pastor then took on the 31-15-14 John Andersson, on July 7, 1936. This fight was significant in that it marked the first time Pastor boxed outside New York state as a professional. The bout was held at the Braddock Bowl, Jersey City, New Jersey, and Pastor came out on top with a fourth round technical knockout.
On August 1, 1936, Pastor fought a boxer named Unknown Winston, at the Walnut Beach Stadium in
Pastor followed the victory over Winston with a win over Billy Ketchell, and three wins over mediocre opposition, whose combined records totaled 20 wins, 36 losses and 6 draws, before facing Ray Impelletiere. Impelletiere had an unimpressive record of 10-6, but held the USA New York State's Heavyweight title. Pastor won the regional belt when he dropped Impelletiere twice before stopping him in round seven, on December 18, 1936 at the Madison Square Garden. With that, Pastor was set to face upcoming star Joe Louis, who had a record of 29-1 at the time.
First fight with Joe Louis
Joe Louis was rapidly becoming known as a serious contender with a powerful punch when he and Pastor faced each other January 29, 1937. He had scored 25 knockout wins in 30 fights, his lone defeat so far coming in his first fight with former world heavyweight champion Max Schmeling.
The first encounter between Pastor and Louis was held at the Madison Square Garden with Arthur Donovan Sr. as referee. Despite taking a beating, Pastor was not floored by the young contender and he lasted the ten round distance, losing by unanimous decision.
After that fight, Pastor made his West Coast debut on May 28 when he met the undefeated 12-0 Bob Nestell at the
After a relatively restful 1937, Pastor began 1938 with four fights in less than thirty days, beating Hans Havlicek by technical knockout in 8 on January 17, Buck Tracy by technical knockout in 2 on the 24th, Buck Everett on points in 10 on January 31, and then ranked contender Al Ettore by 10 round unanimous decision on February 7.
Pastor then faced
Pastor knocked out the 24-6-1 Chuck Crowell in the first round and then faced
Rematch with Louis for world Heavyweight title
Pastor built a six fight winning streak after losing to Dorazio. Every victory during that streak was on points over ten rounds, including a rematch with McCoy, a fight against Maurice Strickland in which Pastor's trunks fell to the floor at least twice during round six,[3] and a rematch with Freddie Fiducia.
Louis had already established himself as a dominant world heavyweight champion by the time he faced Pastor for the second time, having won the title from James J. Braddock and successfully defended it with a fifteen round unanimous decision over Tommy Farr, and knockouts of Nathan Mann in the third, Harry Thomas in the fifth, Max Schmeling (in a rematch), John Henry Lewis and Jack Roper (the latter three in the first round) and Tony Galento in the fourth.
32,199 paying ticket holders and a further 1,669 non-paying spectators got to see the fight live, at
Pastor returned to the boxing ring on December 15 of that year to face the 42-5-2 Buddy Scott at
Match with Billy Conn
Billy Conn was the National Boxing Association and New York State Athletic Commission's world light heavyweight champion when Pastor faced him on September 6, 1940, in a highly anticipated bout fought at the Madison Square Garden. Pastor was knocked down by Conn, who was making an attempt at obtaining a shot at Louis for the world heavyweight title, as the bell ended round nine, once again in round twelve and was finally counted out by referee Bill Cavanaugh after receiving a left hook to the body in the thirteenth round.[5]
A sixth round technical knockout over mediocre 8-15-2 Mike Alfano was followed by a points victory in ten rounds over the 25-2 Turkey Thompson. On June 16, 1941, Pastor fought a rematch against Buddy Scott, where an audience of only 2,500 paying customers witnessed Pastor once again outpoint Scott over ten rounds at Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C. Pastor then returned to Los Angeles for a rematch with Turkey Thompson, again prevailing on points with referee and sole judge Abe Roth scoring the bout 7-2-1 in rounds for Pastor.[6]
October 28, 1941, marked the first time Pastor boxed abroad as a professional, facing old rival Al Delaney, whom Pastor had tied with in his eleventh fight as a professional boxer, at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This time, he dropped Delaney five times before scoring a sixth round technical knockout.[7]
On November 7 of that year, he met the 16-0 undefeated prospect Booker Beckwith. Pastor almost scored a knockout victory when he dropped Beckwith for a nine-second count in round six, but Beckwith got up and finished the bout on his feet. Pastor nevertheless scored a ten round unanimous decision win. Pastor's next bout was on December 12, against the 31-13-1 Jim Robinson, at the Mechanics Building in Boston. In this fight, Pastor dropped his opponent four times to score a first round knockout. Robinson was a late substitute for Jack Marshall, whose military obligations did not let him face Pastor that night.
On January 30, 1942, Pastor faced world Light-Heavyweight champion
Last fight
Pastor's next fight turned out to be his last. On October 20, he faced Jimmy Bivins at the Arena in Cleveland for a second time. This time Pastor lost by split decision, retiring shortly afterwards.
Pastor compiled a record of 53 wins, 7 losses and 5 draws, with 17 wins coming by way of knockouts. He achieved this record in only 7 years of fighting as a professional boxer, a relatively short amount of time in which to accumulate 65 professional bouts.
Wrong Pastor
During a visit to Arizona in 1992 as part of the 1992 United States Presidential campaign, Henry Cisneros, a confessed boxing fan, mistakenly introduced Ed Pastor as "Bob" to a donation-dinner crowd. This was a highly publicized mistake on Cisneros' part.[citation needed]
References
- ^ "Bob Pastor - Boxer". Archived from the original on 2015-02-18. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
- ^ "Bob Pastor - Boxer". Archived from the original on 2015-02-18. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
- ^ "Bob Pastor - Boxer". Archived from the original on 2015-02-18. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
- ^ "Joe Louis vs. Bob Pastor (2nd meeting) - BoxRec".
- ^ "Billy Conn vs Bob Pastor - BoxRec".
- ^ "Fight:45014 - BoxRec".
- ^ "Bob Pastor - Boxer". Archived from the original on 2015-02-18. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
- ^ "Fight:82224 - BoxRec".
- ^ "Fight:82224 - BoxRec".