Tony Galento (March 12, 1910—July 22, 1979) was a cigar chomping, street fighting, beer guzzling American heavyweight boxer of Italian descent. Nicknamed "Two Ton Tony" for his beer-barrel physique, Galento was one of the most colorful fighters in the history of the sport. He wrestled an octopus, and boxed a kangaroo as publicity stunts for his fights. He also attempted to make some money by boxing a 550 lb. bear, as a stage attraction.

Galento was a "no holds barred" brawler, with a wicked left hook, who never let such niceties as the ring rules, or sportsmanship, interfere with his goal to knock out the other fighter. During his prime years as a boxer, Galento owned and operated a bar in Orange, New Jersey. He was reputed to do his roadwork, after he closed the bar at 2:00 a.m.. When asked why he trained at night, Galento replied "Cuz I fight at night". Not that Galento ever really trained properly for his fights. In fact, Galento, who claimed to be 5'9 tall, liked to weigh in at about 235 lb for his matches. He achieved this level of fitness by eating whatever, whenever he wanted. A typical meal for Galento consisted of six chickens, a side of spaghetti, all washed down with a half gallon of red wine, or beer,or both at one sitting. When he did go to training camp, he foiled his trainers attempts to modify his diet and terrorized his sparring partners by eating their meals in addition to his.

He was reputed to train on beer, and allegedly ate 52 hot dogs on a bet before facing heavyweight Arthur DeKuh. Galento was supposedly so bloated before the fight that the waist line of his trunks had to be slit for him to fit into them. Galento claimed that he was sluggish from the effects of eating all those hot dogs, and that he could not move for three rounds. Nevertheless, Galento knocked out the 6'3 DeKuh with one punch, a left hook, in the fourth round.

On 6/28/39 Galento fought for the heavyweight championship of the world against the redoubtable, all time great heavyweight champion, Joe Louis. At this time Louis was a virtual fighting machine and heavily favored (8 to 1) to stop Galento. Galento was not impressed. In a pre-fight interview, Galento summed up his perspective on the fight as follows: Reporter: Tony, what do you think your chances are against Joe Louis? Galento: Joe who? Reporter: Joe Louis. Galento: I never hoid of da bum.

He, also, predicted that he would "moida da bum", and would telephone Louis to personally inform him that he was a bum and that Galento would "moida him." To show that he was serious and properly prepared for the Louis fight, Galento stated that he didn't drink anything (i.e. beer, wine or whiskey) for two days before the bout.
Source : Wikipedia