- Chronicles is made possible by a grant from the Erie Community Foundation, a community assets grant provided by the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority, support from Springhill Senior Living, and the generous support of Thomas B. Hagen.

- This is WQLN.

- ... of the world.

Now introducing the challenger from Erie, Pennsylvania.

(crowds cheering through announcers) (crowds cheering through announcers) In this corner...

In this 12 round IBO welterweight title, now, he's wearing white trunks with green and red trim and hailing from Erie, Pennsylvania (crowds cheering through announcers) (crowds cheering through announcers) Johnny Bizzarro!

(cheers) Johnny Bizzarro!

(cheers, fading as bell rings) - The year is 1908 and a young man by the name of Joseph Bizzarro is born to a first generation Italian family in Meadville, Pennsylvania.

- My grandpa was born here, but he left, well, when he was a baby, they took him back to Italy.

So he never knew he was an American citizen until he was like 16 and he wanted to come over and his parents, no, no, no.

Well, when he was 18, he came over.

He met my grandmother in Meadville.

Her family was from Italy, but she was born here.

They got married, they had my Uncle Angelo.

And then my grandpa wanted to go back to Italy, so my grandmother went with him.

The war broke out, World War II, so he got put in the Italian army.

So they lost their citizenship.

- Despite being conscripted into the Italian army, Joseph refused to fight against American soldiers and was instead assigned to be a cook.

- Their cousin spoke English and he got an American soldier to bring a letter back, 'cause you weren't supposed to do that, but he did it.

And he gave it to my great-grandmother, and then she knew that, you know, they're still alive.

So then my grandmother got to come over.

Then my grandpa brought the seven kids with them, and then they had two more here - In total, Joseph and Jenny Bizzarro had nine children.

Angelo, Ralph, Paul, John, Louie, Antoinette, Elizabeth, Mary, and Ernie.

- My father, I think, was born in Italy, but when he came over, he was young.

He was small.

When he came over, probably about eight or nine years old, I think.

Him and my dad were real close.

My uncle John and my father, they were always together.

They were always helping out, doing stuff - From their time in Italy, the young Bizzarros found themselves enthralled with radio broadcasts of professional boxing matches.

- Graziano looked anything but bad in his boxing against Ray, - And it wasn't long before the boys decided to try it themselves.

- Erie had a kind of a rich history in boxing, and so there was, there were a lot of people who were interested in boxing in those days.

- Paul Bizzarro was my father, but he's the brother of Louis and John.

One of my, either my uncle Ralph or my uncle Angelo, brought him to the gym.

They had like a police athletic league, so they brought him to the gym, and then my Uncle John started fighting from there.

- Well, everybody was trying to be a contender, get on television and make money.

That's, that's what everybody was trying to do.

And that's, that's what everybody's still trying to do.

- I think boxing was popular here because it was a way to emerge from a working class neighborhood and to make your mark.

It was just really important and it was a very major sport in those days too.

- So in 1958, Johnny Bizzarro began his professional boxing career.

- Johnny was promoted by Don Elbaum, this Erie boxing promoter.

And Elbaum loved fighting, and he would go anywhere to promote a fight.

- He was a great fighter, great man, great fighter.

He didn't duck anybody.

He'd get a phone call and say, you, you want, you wanna fight here or there?

He'd be in the car going.

- My uncle Johnny was tough inside and outside the ring.

I mean, he, he, he would come to the gym and if he didn't do it right at two three, I loved the guy, but it's like, oh man, he's training me.

Oh, you ain't doing, doing it this way, that way.

He was tough.

He, he was rough in there, but I loved him to death.

He was, he was a hell of a fighter.

- After racking up an impressive record of 33 wins and three losses, Johnny was set to fight at Madison Square Garden against Jackie Kelly.

Unfortunately, Johnny's 12 win streak was brought to an end, an ending that was redeemed less than a month later, winning against Jackie Kelly at the Tech Memorial Auditorium in Erie, Pennsylvania.

- They were smart fellas and they trained with really good people, like Stan Rocky was an excellent trainer at that time.

- The only person, the only voice that you hear is your trainer's.

That's, I mean, 'cause you're so locked in, so focused on just their voice for, for years and years.

I mean, once in a while you hear some guy in the back scream something, but you can't hear the yay, yay, yay.

That's all you hear is the guy in the corner telling you what to do.

- They learned a lot and they, they were dedicated to it.

You know, they, they made it happen.

- It wasn't long before Johnny got his shot at a title, going up against 67 and 18 Flash Elorde for the World Junior lightweight championship.

- Johnny should have won the title.

He, he won the fight in the Philippines, but they robbed him.

- During the fight, Johnny held a commanding lead over Flash Elorde when Elorde illegally headbutted him, opening a cut over Johnny's eye.

While Elorde should have been disqualified, the officials allowed the fight to carry on, running all 15 rounds with Flash Elorde, coming out with a unanimous decision over Johnny.

- If a fighter's cut, I try to keep him in the fight.

Give him one more round.

You know, always give him one more round.

That's a cut man's job is to give the fighter one more round.

- Then in 1964, Louie Bizzarro, Johnny's younger brother, made his debut in the ring.

- I started boxing at Johnny Seaman's gym in 1962, but then I started helping Louie Bizzarro, sparred with Louie, helped him get ready for his fights.

And I worked with him for about 12 years as his sparring partner.

- He was a very good fighter who liked to fight close to home.

- Louis managed to go undefeated for his first four professional fights.

Then on September 19th, 1965, he would be fighting at the Erie Stadium for his fifth win against Billy Bird.

And Johnny would be fighting 18 and one Gene Toran.

- Always remember the big Johnny Bizzarro-Gene Toran fight in the Erie Veteran Stadium in 1965, which was, drew a lot of local interests at 5,000 people in the stands.

- With both bouts running the distance, both Johnny and Louie Bizzarro emerged victorious with unanimous decisions in front of their hometown crowd.

- You know, Erie has a, a wonderful boxing heritage because not only did Don Elba bring all these fighters to town, and we developed quite a few fighters like the Bizzarros.

We also had, when Joe Prischak took a deep interest in boxing, he started a boxing camp that like all these major boxers came to Erie to train and it would be nothing to, if you would be driving on the peninsula to, to run across Larry Holmes doing his road work.

He brought Joe Frazier in a couple of times.

Muhammad Ali was here.

You know, boxing was just very, very big in Erie.

- 'Cause that, you know, you, there's a lot of stuff goes on in your mind before a fight.

You gotta learn to control the mind.

If you control your mind, you'll do good.

If you don't, it'll go all over and you'll, you'll be all outta sorts.

So you gotta learn to keep your composure.

- And the second fight, title fight he had with Carlos Ortiz in Pittsburgh.

Well, they were, they were great fighters, both of them.

- And in 1966, Johnny got his next shot at a championship fighting Carlos Ortiz in the civic arena in Pittsburgh for the WBC and WBA lightweight title.

- Charles in 51.

He also handled the Joey Archer, Ray Robinson fight in November of '65.

Here we go, round one, the lightweight championship from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

(crowds cheering through announcer) Bizzarro has two brothers who are fighters.

Lou, 19-year-old is five and 0, and Paul is four and 0.

Oddly enough, four Pittsburgh champs had brothers who fought: Billy Conn, George Chip, Teddy Yarosz, and Fritzie Zivic.

Of course, Fritzy had four brothers who fought, and fight fans well know that.

- He was winning the fight going away.

I mean, he would've won.

- He fought mostly in Pennsylvania, but he did go to Manila and lost that 15 round decision to Flash Elorde for the junior lightweight title.

While Cortes has been all over the world defending his title.

Cortes... - But he, he got clipped in the 13th round and lost - And Bizzarro's up!

(crowd cheers over announcer) - You know, my uncle John really didn't talk too much after he retired, but my dad always would tell me how he fought everywhere and stuff.

You know, the places he fought, Uncle Lou would talk about it.

Uncle John was real humble.

He never said too much anything.

You know, you never, you wouldn't even know it, if you talked to him.

You never even know he was a fighter unless you pissed him off.

Then, you know.

(laughs) - Lou's best attribute was his speed.

Very, very fast with his hands, very, very fast on his feet.

He, he ended every round.

1, 2, 3, 2, 1.

The jab, a right, a hook, a right, and a jab.

Even as fast as he was, he, he could hit hard too.

Believe me, I know, like, he and I went a lot around, so I felt a lot of 1, 2, 3, 2, 1s.

- But Lou was very good and he was a very smart fighter too.

And Lou was undefeated, I think.

Yeah.

Or had only maybe one, one loss heading into Duran.

- But then I saw Roberto Duran, I said, that's who the fuck I wanna be.

I said, that's who I want to be a mean mother, because people scared to look at him, the devil.

- It was incredible.

It was a national story and it was covered.

We were there 15 hours a day because that's what you needed to keep up on everything that was happening.

Very big deal.

CBS came in to televise the fight on Sunday afternoon when it took place.

And it was a very good time for Erie sports and for the pride that Erie had in, in Lou Bizzarro, who was kind of representing us.

- Duran was, he was a beast.

- When I walked into the Erie County Fieldhouse in May of 1975, to see the Roberto Duran-Lou Bizzarro fight, there was a hush in the, in the stands already - Let's watch it.

Bizzarro's moving, a jab like we expected.

- Gotta keep that jab working and keep moving.

- Roberto Duran is strong.

The man on the right of your screen, - Duran was Duran, back then.

Yeah, he was the best 135-pounder out there.

I mean, he's an animal.

- Then as the fight unfolded and Lou was able to hold his own against Duran, people got into it.

There was the cheering then and there was the excitement.

- With a good little extra now.

(crowds cheering) Bizzarro, we're in the seventh round still alive and very much kicking (crowds cheering over announcer) That's right, they're calling hold, hold, hold, One more left in round seven.

We got Lou Bizzarro's cornerman over there, boxing for him.

It might have been a slip, but he landed the left truck - Because he was showing it over and he got, Duran got hit, Duran went down, but the referee didn't count as a knockdown.

- Yeah, back then, Roberto Duran, when he was knocking in, everybody out and early, you know, when he went 14 rounds, there was two seconds left in the 14th round, - 50 seconds left in round 14 against Roberto Duran above, above us.

A standing eight count.

Bizzarro says, no way.

Look at this fellow.

Lou Bizzarro Fighter knocked down what a gutty fighter.

Upper cut.

Oh, he's hurt.

Another vicious right hand.

He's down, he's gonna get up.

- He got knocked down a couple times that last round, but kept getting up.

- He's gonna get up.

Oh what courage.

There he is.

Bizzarro's on his feet.

15 seconds left in round 14.

Oh, he's out.

Oh, look out.

(crosstalk) They should... (crosstalk) the 14th round.

The referee shoulda stopped the fight.

- But that was a great fight.

He came within one round of going the distance and nobody went the distance with Duran in those days.

- He went all, he went 14 rounds with him.

So, and that takes a lot of heart.

- But he did very well against Duran, who was really a tremendous fighter, especially at that stage.

- When he got knocked down, he got back up and he fought with, I mean, he fought with blisters on his feet from moving too much and he just showed heart.

- Lou ended his professional career in 1982, totaling 32 wins and two losses.

The Bizzarro family then set to establishing multiple institutions within the Erie community.

Paul Bizzarro retired with a professional record of five and 0 before founding Bizzarro's Towing and Salvage.

Johnny opened up Johnny Bizzarro's Fleetwing Auto Sales, and Louie established Lou Bizzarro's Ringside Restaurant.

And soon the stage was set for the Bizzarro family's next generation of fighters.

- We all fought, I was 11, Johnny was 12, John Martel was 13, and Joe Joe Lewis was 14, I believe.

We're all year apart.

- Well, when I first took a interest in fighting, I was 12 years old.

Me and my brothers, my cousins, we all went to the gym.

- My Uncle Louie would be in the gym training and I used to go in and sit down and watch 'em train all the time.

You know, he'd be hitting the bag, sparring, and I'd be standing there.

He'd say, look as this is how you throw a jab, you know, stuff like that.

He'd show me the jab, he'd show me how to catch punches and he'd even get in the ring and play with me.

He'd say, come on up.

He'd get, you know, I'd get in the ring and play around with him.

He'd say, here, you catch a shot when he'd throw it, you know, step over how to, how to, you know, give a little angle here and there.

So I learned a lot from just my uncle.

My dad would even get in the ring and play around with me a little bit, you know.

Just by watching them, I learned 90% of what I know, and they taught me a lot just by being around the family.

That's all.

- So I was 18 years old, just turned 18, and I fought at the Avalon.

It was his second classic.

Mike Acri was running a classic every year.

I fought on almost all of 'em, and it was the second one.

I made my pro debut and I had a first round knockout.

- You go to the match anytime, it's exciting, but when it's your family, you know your adrenaline's going.

Cheering - '92 was at Mercyhurst College.

Johnny and I both fought.

Johnny was fighting an eight rounder.

I was a four rounder.

It was, it was a good time, real nice.

- Soon, their success in the ring drew the attention of the boss himself: Tony Danza.

- Our promoter, Don Elbaum, matchmaker, promoter.

Tony was looking for Italian kids to promote.

And so Don says, I got the perfect guys for you.

So he mentioned our name.

- Flew in to watch me and Angelo box that night.

Then he likes what he saw.

Then he signed us up - And then Tony came in and met us and he took, and he just started managing us.

Ever since.

Then we trained in Boston.

We went up to Boston to train with Petronellis Marvin Hagler's trainer, wonderful trainer.

I learned a lot from Goody Petronelli, taught me heck of a lot.

- When they asked me, I'll never, I was in Brockton, I was training and Goody Petronelli said, "Hey, you wanna fight Roger Mayweather?

Greg Haugen, wouldn't want to fight him.

Neither does Camacho."

I said, "I'll take the fight.

Why not?"

What, what do I have to lose, you know, fighting a, a world champion.

I'll, I'll, I'll fight him - On the line.

Left foot pick off nicely by the veteran, a rightful position in this division.

I gotta take on the best and putting a lot of the line.

Johnny Bizzarro coming out quickly in round number seven, trying to force the issue, and we'll try to turn this into a brawl.

- But, you know, another fighter from a great fighting family and, and a great fighting name from a great fight town.

Interestingly enough, another Grand Rapids native, Buster Mathis Jr. Fights, perform a heavyweight champion.

- Yeah, I, I was up in Boston chaining for that fight, and he beat me.

He beat me.

He's a good fighter.

Look, I only had 20 some fights.

He had 60 or 70 fights.

- Oh, that's it.

36 minutes at 12 rounds, getting inside and roughing up Mayweather a little.

Roger continues to press forward and Johnny continues to run to the left.

I mean, this is the mistake that Johnny's making.

- I I had everything to gain on that fight.

Nothing to lose.

- Mike Acri was a local boxing promoter here.

He promoted fights here for years, but he also promoted Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Hector Camacho.

He had Paul Spadafora from Pittsburgh.

So he was a, he was a pretty big promoter and we were lucky to, you know, have him in, Mike Acri had his annual boxing classic.

And that was the first time I fought as a pro in Erie.

- I mean, I had a lot of fight fans every day, every time we fought the classic, we sold out, we sold out Mercyhurst and that, that was big.

We, we'd sell out the Avalon all the time.

I can honestly say that the Erie Times-News, at the time, they, they always did a good job.

They always printed it out.

They always gave you good ink on 'ere.

Every time we fought, they were always in Ringside.

They'd be the first ones there.

Like right after the fight, you're half tired.

There's that little mic, not mic, that little tape recorder.

I, like, let me catch my breath, you know what I mean?

And they want to, Hey, what's, you know?

But it was good.

- It was just a great turnout, great show.

There were great fights.

And now my, my cousin Ernie's promoting boxing and he does his annual show, which is half MMA half boxing on the night before Thanksgiving.

And he does at the Bayfront, and then again, he gets a great crowd.

Erie's a big boxing fan, you know, they follow the boxing.

We don't get it, but once or twice a year.

But they really appreciate that.

And they come and support the, the locals.

- Oh, you get nervous when you're watching them fight.

I'm more nervous watching them fight than I was fighting, you know what I mean?

Because you wanna, you want to help 'em and you can't, there's nothing you can do.

- So I won the Golden Gloves three years in a row.

I was 19 and one as an amateur.

And then I had a couple more amateur fights that I turned Pro - Four years after Angelo Bizzarro retired with a record of eight and three.

His cousin, Lou Bizzarro, Jr. Began their professional career.

- Travis Richardson.

I fought, it was this place called The Big Kahuna.

I won a four round unanimous decision.

- I fought here my whole life, you know, I wish I would've had my last fight here, but I fought out, out in Scranton, PA was my last fight.

So I, you know, I had my first fight here.

I would've liked to end my end, my career with my last fight here.

But like I said, the people, the fans in the Erie always supported me.

- And they were talented fighters too.

The sons and the nephews and the grandsons really carried on.

- Cuneo was doing it.

And good guy, they, you know, but they spoke the truth, you know what I mean?

If you didn't look good in the fight, they would write it down, you know what I mean?

They, they wouldn't give you no love and that's what they should do.

You know what I mean?

You lost, you lost - John Boy Bizzarro retired from the professional scene after winning the WBF World Light title with a record of 39 and nine.

A few months later, Lou Bizzarro, Jr. would face off with one of his toughest opponents, yet the 21 and two Scott DePompe, - Scott DePompe, my fight with him.

That was my first like stepping stone, you know, I was 13 and 0.

He came in, he was like a hometown boy out there and it was a 10 round fight.

It was, it was a great fight.

It was competitive.

We were back and forth.

I lost the fight.

But after the fight, he came up to me and says, don't be mad at me.

I wasn't the judge.

But we still talk to this day.

- While still in the height of his boxing career, Lou Jr. discovered another talent cooking at his family's Ringside Restaurant.

- A cook here, His name was Clarence, Sometimes after a fight, we got so busy here that I'd have to go in the kitchen.

They're like, you just fought.

I said, you wanna eat, don't you?

I know they said, you just fought.

I said, if you wanna eat, I gotta go help.

And he taught me how to cook.

So every weekend for all through school, maybe one, two days a week.

And then when he retired, then I took over.

And the rest is history.

- In 2005, Lou Bizzarro Jr. finished his professional boxing career with a record of 24 wins and three losses marking the end of an era for the Bizzarro family.

- Anthony, when he started taking an interest, I had him and his brother put gloves on by the pool and they started boxing and he beat his brother up.

I said, oh boy, this guy's gonna fight.

- It's been in the family for a long time, but actually competing, I started competing at 15 years old.

I had my first amateur fight - With the Bizzarros, it was all family.

They were always so close and they learned from each other and they passed it down from one generation to, to the next, which is kind of what we did in our family, in the newspaper business.

- Me and John were boxing at the same time and Angelo, And we put hundreds of rounds together, a bunch of cousins.

See, even today I'll go to the gym and box the little kids, you know, not little kids, teenage kids and you know, teach 'em a lesson.

- You see all these kids, they think they're Mike Tyson.

Floyd May- they, they try this stuff all, I mean, I tell him, have your own style.

You are gonna fight 500 guys that are that with, with the style you're doing.

And every time I watch, I watch boxing, watch it.

They all try to imitate Mayweather.

The bigger guys always try to imitate Tyson.

Have your own style out there.

Be your own person.

- I always tell the kids before they fight, listen, if he hit you once, you hit him twice, that's the attitude you gotta have.

After the bell's over, you respect him, you go respect the trainer, and after that you become friends.

And that's how you gotta keep it.

- Whatever we tell the kids, we're not teaching you to be a bully or to go out and fight.

This is a sport.

- And though many of the Bizzarros have retired from the professional scene, they still lace up their gloves and come together for the Erie community.

- Every year we do a program called Knockout Homelessness for the local City Mission.

- It was the brainchild of Lou Sr. and my friend Susan McChesney.

They patched that idea together of having the boxing match.

At the time Joe Sinnott was mayor.

They actually went over and asked him if he wanted to be a competitor with Lou and he said he would do it.

- And we've raised almost a million dollars for the City Mission.

It all stays local.

It's their biggest fundraiser of the year.

But we box local celebrities.

You know, we've done the mayor, judges, just about everybody.

- I like doing it because I said I'm 55, you know, I'm boxing all these young guys and they're trying to kill me, but I don't care.

I haven't been hit before.

- You know, I've always seen it.

Like that's something I've seen growing up and you know, figured maybe someday I'll be a part of it and be able to participate in an event like that.

- It's a great time.

And City Mission wins.

There's no winner at the end of the Fight.

City Mission wins.

- You know, we're fortunate to have aunts and uncles that we have because they spent a lot of time teaching us and they, they kind of paved the way for us to do what we're doing now.

So I feel very fortunate - Since the fifties, Bizzarros boxing has been around and since like 1950 till I stopped in '05, there was a Bizzarro boxing every consecutive year.

- With it being like such a big part of my lifestyle and how much I've devoted my life to it.

Just the main goal I have is to become world champion.

That's all I've ever dreamed about.

That's all I've ever wanted.

Take care of my family and live a happy life after boxing.

Just keep pushing forward.

Don't give up, just keep pushing forward.

No matter what.

- The Bizzarros are, you know, they're, there aren't too any like the Bizzarros anymore.

And it's similar to, to journalism in Erie, I believe.

How many families are gonna find like my family, where one handed a job down to the other.

My father worked here, my brothers worked here.

I worked here for 50 years.

You know, you're just not gonna find that anymore.

But it was certainly fun.

It was a great thing for the Bizzarros and boxing and the Cuneos in Erie journalism.

- Since the 1940s, the Bizzarro family has woven itself firmly into the fabric of our community: entrepreneurs, politicians, friends, neighbors, boxers.

The fighting spirit of Erie that will continue for generations.

- Chronicles is made possible by a grant from the Erie Community Foundation, a community assets grant provided by the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority, support from Springhill Senior Living, and the generous support of Thomas B Hagen.

- We question and learn.