"Golden Boy" Joey DeJohn Passes

May 14, 2008

By Boxing Bob Newman

Former middleweight contender of the 40s and 50s Joey DeJohn, passed away Friday, May 9th after a long illness. He was 81. A native of Syracuse, NY, DeJohn, born Joseph DiGianni, wowed sellout fight crowds from Syracuse's MacArthur Stadium to Madison Square Garden with his free swinging style for ten years.

A member of the famous Fighting DeJohns, Joey fought alongside siblings Carmen, Ralph and heavyweight Mike and was managed by oldest brother Johnny, who also handled the career of Hall of Famer Carmen Basilio. With his all-or-nothing style, DeJohn fought like he lived- full throttle. Most boxing historians familiar with DeJohn felt he could have been a champion had he trained like one. Admittedly, DeJohn smoked, drank and cavorted with the best of them, as much as, if not more than he trained.

He split to high profile bouts with contender Lee Sala, losing on a broken jaw in six rounds after having Sala down four times in 1949, and stopping Sala in two in 1951. In his highest profile bout, also in 1949, DeJohn and legendary "Raging Bull" Jake LaMotta went toe-to-toe for eight rounds, before LaMotta stopped DeJohn via the three knockdown rule. During a visit to the International Boxing Hall of Fame, LaMotta once quipped when asked about his old foe, "Oh that DeJohn, I still got lumps from that fight!"

Fightnews wishes to extend its sympathies to the DeJohn family.