Zale was a two-time world
middleweight champion and made
The Rings list of 100 greatest punchers of all time. Zale is best remembered for his three bouts over a 21-month period with
Rocky Graziano for the middleweight crown. These three bouts were among the most brutal and exciting middleweight championship matches of all time. The first match took place in
Yankee Stadium,
New York City. Zale had served in
World War II, was thirty-three years old, and had been inactive for about four years. Graziano was on a winning knockout streak and seemed to be in his prime. In their first match (September 27, 1946), after flooring Graziano in the first round, Zale took a savage beating from Graziano, and was on the verge of losing the fight by
TKO. However, he rallied and knocked out Graziano in the sixth round to retain his title. The rematch, a year later in
Chicago (July 16, 1947), was a mirror image of their first fight. Graziano was battered around the ring, suffered a closed eye and appeared ready to lose by a knockout, then rallied and knocked Zale out in the sixth round, becoming middleweight champion of the world. Their last fight was held in
New Jersey the following year (June 10, 1948). Zale regained his crown, winning the match by a knockout in the third round. The knockout blows consisted of a perfect combination of a right to Graziano's body, then a left hook to Graziano's jaw. Graziano was knocked unconscious. This fight was Zale's last hurrah. His age and the many ring wars he fought seemed to catch up with him in his next fight against European Champion
Marcel Cerdan later that year, who stopped him in the eleventh round to win the middleweight championship of the world (September 21, 1948). Graziano commented that years later he would wake up in a cold sweat having had the recurring nightmare of being back in the ring with Zale, who he said really was a man of steel.
Edith Piaf, who at the time was having an affair with Cerdan, was in the audience, praying to
Saint Therese for his victory. Two of the three Graziano fights and the Cerdan fight were named
The Ring magazine Fight of the Year. Zale was a 1991 inductee to the
International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF). In November 2015, his championship belts were stolen from the IBHOF. The belts were on loan from Zale's family, and have yet to be returned. Zale was originally cast to play himself in the movie
Somebody Up There Likes Me. According to director
Robert Wise,
Paul Newman (playing Graziano) was hesitant to fully engage Zale during rehearsal, fearing that Zale might reflexively knock him out if Newman inadvertently hit him too hard. As Newman had to appear aggressive against Zale in the film, Wise felt it was necessary to replace Zale with actor Courtland Shepard for the final fight scene. ==Professional boxing record==