A lot of people in the New Orleans area know about Willie Pastrano, the light heavyweight boxing champ who died in 1997. I had a chance to meet Willie when I did my radio show on WWL-AM. One of the best conversations I ever had. I remember another boxer named Willie, and knowing him led me to one of the most memorable nights of my life.
His name was Willie Pep. He was a featherweight out of Hartford, Connecticut and he won more professional boxing matches than anyone before or since: 230 out of 241 fights. He might have won more if a chartered plane crash hadn’t almost killed him. It merely slowed him down. There was no more exciting boxer than Willie Pep. His fights with Sandy Saddler are regarded by many as the wildest ever held.
