Larry Boardman's Fabulous Five-Fight String

Larry Boardman was an elite lightweight during the 1950s who beat a slew of champions. Known for his tremendous power in both hands, his ninth round knockout of Frankie Ryff on June 1, 1956 at Madison Square Garden was so ferocious, kids who watched it on television vividly remembered it fifty years later.

Boardman first burst into the consciousness of the boxing public on February 7, 1956 when he survived two knockdowns against the lightweight world champion Wallace "Bud" Smith at Boston Garden in a non-title affair to win by split decision. The "unknown" Boardman went down for the first time in his career in the first and was hurt in the ninth en route to a surprising decision victory.

Larry was just 19 years old at the time. Reports of his birthplace put him in the tiny central Connecticut town of Marlborough, which had about 300 residents on March 21, 1936 when Lawrence Boardman was born. Census records, however, place the Boardmans in Hartford in 1935, Middlesex in 1940, and Haddam in 1950, all relatively close to Marlborough.

Larry's father, Samuel J., emigrated from Russia and married Jennie from Massachusetts. Sam reportedly was a journeyman boxer and later worked as an executive at a mattress manufacture before running a gas station and roadside restaurant. As a boy, Larry was enamored with his father's boxing career. He enjoyed getting into fights at school and begged his father to teach him how to box. At nine, he received his first pair of boxing gloves. But in an attempt to dissuade Larry from taking up boxing, Sam was very tough on him. The rigorous sessions had the opposite effect though, and they turned Larry into a fighting machine.

Sam took his son down to Miami, Florida to train at the famed 5th Street Gym. Larry, who had turned pro fourteen months before his win over Smith, began his career with fourteen straight victories. His record stood at 28-2 heading into the Smith clash, in which he was a late replacement for Tony DeMarco. Boardman's shocking defeat of the reigning lightweight champion turned the tide of Smith's career for the worse. The loss started a string of eleven consecutive defeats to end Smith's career.

Two months later, Boardman faced the current featherweight and junior lightweight world champion, Sandy Saddler, an all-time great. Promoter Sam Silverman chose Boston Garden as the venue, the second time in a row Boardman would fight there.

Saddler was not only a power puncher but was known to bend the rules. "I hope it's a good clean fight fought on its merits," Boardman said before the fight, "but if Sandy plays rough with me, he'll get more than he bargained for."

Boardman started the fight by attacking Saddler and landing his spiteful right. The champion was hurt in the first round when an uppercut induced a bloody nose, and again in the third. Saddler was up to his old tricks, hitting on the break while on the verge of being stopped for only the second time in his illustrious career. He managed to finish the ten round fight, but Boardman won the non-title affair by unanimous decision. Willie Pep, who was one of the best fighters to ever live despite having been stopped by Saddler thrice in their four-fight rivalry, said that Boardman gave "Saddler one of the worst beatings of his career."

Saddler never fought again. He injured his eye in an automobile accident that summer and doctors deemed his condition too tenuous to continue fighting.

Larry vaulted into the top ten of The Ring's lightweight ratings on the strength of his two impressive victories over current champions. Television clamored for the up-and-coming 20 year old and his next fight came against Frankie Ryff, the 1954 rookie of the year. Ryff had grown into a top contender and had a style made for television. Despite Boardman's recent success, Ryff was the favorite heading into their June 1 matchup at Madison Square Garden.

With 46 seconds left in the ninth round, Ryff was counted out, a victim of Boardman's concussive right which had followed a left hook. Ryff's trainer Cus D'Amato had a heck of time trying to wake up his fighter. The striking fashion of the victory cemented Boardman's stardom. It was the first time Ryff, who later was badly injured in fall down an elevator shaft, was knocked out.

"I guess we showed 'em tonight," bellowed Sam Boardman. "They said that Frankie Ryff was too much fighter for Larry, but we showed 'em, didn't we son?"

Sam had done a masterful job bringing his boy through the ranks. When Larry declared he was determined to become a fighter, Sam smacked him with an overhand right. "He slugged me alright," Larry remembered years later. "The hardest punch I ever took.... he wanted to see if I had the stuff to make a fighter."

"I never went looking for set-ups," Sam said of his managerial strategy. "He had tough opposition from from his first fight on and learned something that stuck with him in every fight. Mind you, I was always sure he wasn't overmatched, but I never wanted him in an easy fight."

After three impressive victories, Sam suddenly had trouble getting Larry a fight. He had to turn to the International Boxing Commission (IBC), run by notorious mobsters Blinky Palermo and Frankie Carbo. "I thought Frank could get the big matches for us," Sam said.  And then, as if by magic, Boardman was suddenly scheduled to face former welterweight champ Jimmy Carter on September 11 at Boston Garden.

Carter outboxed Boardman early in the fight, but in the eighth round Boardman floored the former champ three times, which was once more than Carter had hit the canvas in all of his previous 104 fights combined. The fight was stopped in that round, and Boardman was hailed as "the new Benny Leonard." Carter would post a losing record of 6-8 the rest of his career.

Boardman vs. Saddler (left), Ryff (center), and Carter (right)

Boardman was called the uncrowned lightweight champion. Two months after the win over Carter, Larry faced another former champion, Paddy DeMarco.  True to his reputation, DeMarco "used every roughhouse trick in the book. He mauled, pushed, grabbed, tackled, hit on the break, and charged in his famous billy goat style." He lost the fourth round on fouls. In the fifth, Boardman scored a knockdown with a flush shot to the chin. He won by wide unanimous decision. In his last eleven fights following the Boardman loss, DeMarco would win only two.

Boardman suffered cuts over both eyes and a damaged left hand in the DeMarco brawl. His team said he'd be out for eight weeks. He deserved a rest to heal after an incredible five-fight string. Instead, the IBC ordered him to fight Orlando Zulueta a slick Cuban fighting out of New York, only one month after the DeMarco fight. Zulueta made Boardman miss early and often. "He hits hard with both hands," Zulueta said after the fight. "I knew he would hit in 1-2 combinations, so I stepped back to watch him throw two and then hit him." Boardman lost by majority decision. Blinky Palermo was indignant, believing Zulueta ran all fight. "Zulueta did absolutely nothing. The referee warned him to fight all night."

After a win, Boardman was slated to fight another former world champion, the ex-welter king Tony DeMarco. DeMarco battered Boardman, knocking him down twice in the fifth. The sequence that led to the first knockdown began with a right uppercut. At the end of the round, Boardman was hanging halfway out of the ropes for another knockdown, but the bell saved him. He went into survival mode and showed grit to last the ten rounds.

Boardman had success during the rest of his career, which lasted until 1960 with two comeback fights in 1963, but never again did he reach the heights he climbed in 1956. In May of '57, an opponent of Boardman's refused to fight when only 200 people showed up to the venue.

Two years later, the California State Athletic Commission suspended both Boardmans when Larry pulled out of a fight promoted by Don Chargin. Sam claimed Larry had a nose injury and a bad right hand, but the commission would have none of it. The Boardmans packed up and fought in Florida and Boston instead.

Larry Boardman finished his career with a record of 45-10-1 with 23 KOs. After his career, he worked for Sears in Jacksonville, Florida for 25 years before retiring. In 2008, he was inducted into the Connecticut Boxing Hall of Fame.

Sources
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"Boardman Knocks Out Ryff 46 Seconds of Ninth Round in Garden Contest." New York Times. Jun. 2, 1956. Pg. 15.

"Boardman Outpoints Saddler in Boston." New York Times. Apr. 15, 1956. Pg. 209.

"Boardman Stops Carter in Eighth." Los Angeles Times. Sep. 12, 1956.Pg. A1.

"Boxing Cuban 'Dodges' Way to Split Win." The Wichita Beacon. Dec. 18, 1956. Pg. 17.

"Boxing Pilot is Suspended." The Sun. Jun. 11, 1959. Pg. S24.
"Class of 2008." Connecticut Boxing Hall of Fame. 

Cuoco, Dan. "A Look Back at the Career of Lightweight Contender Larry Boardman." IBRO. Sep. 24, 2008.

"Fighter Won't Fight; Not Big Enough Crowd." Chicago Daily Tribune. May 29, 1957. Pg. B3.
"Larry Boardman." OOTP Forum. Jan. 9, 2005.

Pep, Wille and Robert Scachi. Friday's Heroes. 2008.

Weston, Stanley. "The Strange Case of Larry Boardman". Boxing and Wrestling. Feb. 1957.