Friztie Zivic: Boxing's Dirtiest Champion

The man who would earn the reputation as the dirtiest boxer who ever lived was born May 8, 1913 in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, a satellite of Pittsburgh. His father was Croatian and his mother Slovenian. Even for a small town, Lawrenceville had its rough side and according to Zivic boys either learned how to brawl or they never went out of the house. Zivic had four older brothers and all of them became boxers, with Fritzie becoming the most successful. Two of his brothers were Olympians.

Standing 5'10" with a 71" reach, Zivic was an able boxer-puncher, who could pressure the boxers and take the worst from the punchers.Yet it was his rough and tumble style that came to define him. Ever the gentleman, "The Croat Comet" would mumble apologies even as he butted heads, thumbed eyes, hit behind the head and below the belt, and slashed with elbow follow-throughs. Being in the ring with Zivic was like being tossed into a mincer. Mastering the art of dirty prizefighting means throwing your ugliest blows when the referee is out-of-position and can't see what you are doing, but Zivic was also helped greatly by the generally rougher attitude towards boxing at the time. A foul was a foul, but the kind of stunt that would get a fighter disqualified today might earn a mere warning in the 1930s and 1940s. Zivic's style was geared around getting away with as much as possible, and he was never disqualified during his long career.

Up Through the Ranks
Zivic turned pro in October 1931 in a bout at the Motor Square Garden in Pittsburgh. Like many fighters of the era, Zivic did not have a spotless record on his way to the top, dropping his share of learning experiences and hometown decisions. By 1933, Zivic was on the road and fighting in California, and by 1935 he was fighting the likes of Lou Ambers, a future World Lightweight Champion. Ambers beat Zivic, but not before the Croat Comet broke Amber's jaw in the 9th. In 1936, he dropped a razor-thin decision to Billy Conn, the future light heavyweight kingpin who would come within a hair of defeating Joe Louis.

Yet along the way, Zivic was also beating real contenders, men like Chuck Woods, Charley Burley, Eddie Booker and Bobby Pacheco, and the Croat Comet was a ranked contender from 1936 on. His rough-and-tumble style made him a major fan-favorite. By the late 1930s, Zivic was in his stride. By August 1940, he was 99-24-4, 27 years old, and in the ring with the reigning lightweight champion, Sammy "The Clutch" Angott. Angott was an Italian-American and no stranger to rough-house tactics, and Zivic only out-weighed him by six pounds. Nonetheless, Zivic routed Angott eight rounds out of ten, and earned a shot at the World Welterweight Title in the process.

Zivic met Henry Armstrong, already immortalized as the sport's only man to reign as champion in three divisions simultaneously, in October 1940 at Madison Square Garden. The Croat brawler gave Armstrong the most brutal fight of his career. As the living legend hammered at Zivic from the outside, the Croat relied on his cast-iron chin and returned fire with his fists and his elbows. For seven rounds they went toe to toe, and then Zivic cut both of Armstrong's eyes in the 8th. With Armstrong's vision compromised, Zivic came on and the champion wilted. In the 15th and final round, Zivic landed a right that dropped Armstrong and cemented his victory. It was close, but Fritzie Zivic carried the scorecards and won the championship in a Unanimous Decision.

Champion
Zivic started his championship in with a farce that suited his brutal style - he thumbed hard-hitting contender Al "Bummy" Davis in the eye, which caused Davis to blow his top. "Bummy" retaliated by pitching ten successive blows at Zivic's family jewels, was disqualified, and then kicked at the referee as he was taken from the ring.

In December 1940, Zivic had a more substantial bout in the form of a challenge from the other reigning lightweight champ, Lew Jenkins. Ringside observers felt Jenkins out-boxed Zivic by a small margin, but the fight was declared a Draw and that was probably fair. That was followed by a defense of the title and a rematch with Armstrong, who was brutally stopped in the 12th Round.

Zivic gave "Bummy" Davis a rematch in July 1941 and knocked him out in the 10th, but then he met Freddie Cochrane later that same month. Even by the standards of the 1940s, fighting two top contenders in the space of three weeks was probably too much, and Cochrane outpointed Zivic by a wide margin. The Croat Comet's reign as the welterweight king was over, and he would never receive another shot at the title. However, his career as a much-feared contender was only at its mid-point.

The Contender
In October 1941, the Croat Comet met the Sugarman, Sugar Ray Robinson. The sweet one was already 25-0 and had three solid fighters, including Angott. Zivic was no match for Robinson's masterful application of the sweet science and dropped a points loss. He met Robinson again in January 1942, and was knocked out for his trouble.

Zivic soldiered on, and while he dropped a few fights here and there, when the Croat Comet was at his holding-and-hitting best, he was formidable. In April 1942 he outpointed Maxie Berger, and then beat Lew Jenkins to a bloody pulp in a rematch. In September of that same year, Zivic scored revenge on Freddie Cochrane, albeit only in a non-title bout.

However, in October 1940 Zivic lost his rubber match with Henry Armstrong, and "Homicide Hank" finally got the better of the Croat Comet.

Zivic fought two bouts with reigning lightweight champion Beau Jack in 1943 and lost both. Jack was an exciting, accurate puncher and while both bouts were see-saw, furiously close affairs, Jack edged Zivic each time.

That led Zivic to a fourpeat series with none other than the Raging Bull, Jake LaMotta. The Italian-American middleweight puncher outweighed Zivic by five or six pounds on each occasion, and the Bull narrowly edged the Comet in June 1943. Then in the July rematch, Zivic used his jab and his skills to disrupt LaMotta's assault and carry a narrow Split Decision of his own. The two gladiators met again in November, with LaMotta winning what many at ringside considered a stinky decision. Meeting again in January 1944, the two engaged in a see-saw slug fest that saw LaMotta win on points. Along the way Zivic also fought and lost to Bob Montgomery, a lightweight who had beaten Beau Jack.

In April 1944, Fritzie Zivic was inducted into the Army, but this did not put a hold on his career. Like many athletes of the day, he continued to perform on Uncle Sam's time. His "Army days" say close wins over the Mexican contender Kid Azteca, a close and controversial win over undefeated contender Billy Arnold. These were to be Zivic's last hurrah.

From 1945 onwards, the Croat Comet was increasingly shopworn. Between mid-1945 and early 1946, Zivic dropped 14 out of 16 fights. He soldiered on stubbornly until 1949, racking up a full third of his career losses during this late, faded period, and finally retired. Joining the ranks of the working Pittsburgher, Zivic became a boilermaker and opened a boxing school. The Croat Comet passed away from Alzheimer's in 1984.

Legacy
Fritzie Zivic was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1993. His career record was 157-65-9 with 82 KOs. During his career, Zivic duked it out with nine world champions, of whom seven were future Hall of Famers.