JOE MATISI
HEAVYWEIGHT/Endicott, New York
1940-1949

Although Joe Matisi's fight career extended from January of 1940 to March of 1949, he fought only 28 times. Part of this can be attributed to the fact that he lost almost five full years to World War II. Although he was born and raised in Endicott, New York, Matisi fought 13 times in Buffalo. In fact his manager was one of Buffalo's best Bert Finch.

It was after World War II that Joe Matisi made his greatest contributions to boxing. According to boxing historian Angelo Prospero, the Muscato brothers, Joe and Phil along with Matisi kept boxing alive before packed houses in Central and Western New York. In fact boxing historian Vince Colitti rates both Phil Muscato and Joe Matisi in the top twenty amongst all Italian heavyweight fighters.

Matisi's aggressive free-swinging style made him one of the most popular fighters of his day. In May of 1946 he pulled off a major upset with a 7th round knockout over the veteran Joe Muscato before a crowd of 8,828. This was his 7th consecutive knockout victory following his return from the war. Coming less than a year after the end of World War II, this was the first big heavyweight fight of the Post War Era. Joe Alli of the Courier Express was now calling him Jarrin Joe Matisi. Although Joe Muscato put up a good fight, Matisi had him on the canvas 4 times, 3 times in the 3rd and 5th rounds and then in the 7th round a smashingright hand put Muscato flat on his back

for the full count. Although Muscato appeared to have won the 2nd, 4th and 6th rounds, it was a series of solid blows to the head in the 3rd and 7th rounds and 4 vicious body blows in the 5th that decided the fight. In October Matisi won a 10-round decision over Bill Weinberg and two weeks later he TKO'd Tommy Gomez in the third round. In June of 1947 Ery Sarlin and Joe Matisi fought a tough 10-round draw. Three months later Matisi fought his most heralded opponent, losing a 10-round decision to future champ and Hall- of-Famer, Ezzard Charles before an Aud crowd of 9,398.

Although all of these fights took place in Buffalo and featured some of boxing's top heavyweights, it was the January 20, 1948 fight against the 7th ranked Phil Muscato that the renowned boxing writer, Frank Wakefield, called the greatest fight in Buffalo boxing history. Joe Alli called it the "greatest heavyweight fight ever staged in Memorial Auditorium." Before a crowd of 11,541 that paid $28,000, Phil Muscato won a tough 10-round decision over Joe Matisi. A rematch scheduled for later in the winter had to be cancelled when Muscato injured his right hand in training. Unfortunately a rematch was never held.

Muscato knocked Matisi to the canvas in both the first and third rounds, but it was Matisi who mounted a ferocious attack in the tenth round that almost had his opponent on the canvas. Most of the capacity crowd was on its feet throughout the final round. Although most of the crowd applauded Matisi's efforts, most agreed with the unanimous decision that went to Muscato.

The Charles and Muscato fights had taken their toll on Matisi. Two weeks after his loss to Muscato he was stopped in the 7th round by another top heavyweight contender, Tommy Gomez, in a bout held in Tampa, Florida. A broken jaw led to the stoppage of the fight. Joe's career hit rock bottom when journeyman fighter, Johnny Flynn, knocked him out in the first round. Matisi landed only one punch, while Flynn put his opponent down and out with a pair of left right combinations. After two more uneventful fights, Dr. Anthony Matisi, Joe's older brother and a former All-American football player at the University of Pittsburgh convinced him to bring his boxing career to an end.

Tonight we are honored to induct Joe Matisi into the Buffalo Boxing Hall-of-Fame. He was truly one of the most aggressive, physical, toughest and popular fighters in Memorial Auditorium history.