06/13/2026
'My parents never even knew l was a boxer. l would come home with a black eye or stitches and tell them l had got into a fight on the streets. l guess l'm not the first young fighter who didn't tell the truth why he had marks all over his face, but l sort of got into boxing through unusual circumstances.
When l came to the United States from Italy in 1968, l used to hang out with a group called 'The Gang' in East Flatbush. We did all kinds of things together, drinking every Friday night, partying, even fighting.
This one time, there was another group in the area that had the same idea, so you knew what happened. Before we knew it, everybody was fighting and the cops came. When the other guys. saw the cops, they scattered. l wasn't fast enough to get away. This one cop grabbed me and started talking to me in broken ltalian. 'You know how to fight?' he said. 'Maybe you should try fighting. lt will get you out of the. streets.'
He took me to the precinct to scare me and then took me home. lt would have been better off if he had arrested me because my old man beat the hell out of me. The next day, the cop came around and brought me to see a guy by the name of Joe LaGuardia, who ran PAL gym next to the police station. 'See if you cant make a fighter out of him and get him off the streets,' the cop said to LaGuardia.
LaGuardia asked me if l wanted to box, and l said O.K. So he put me in with a Golden Gloves kid named Charlie Donovan. l thought he'd be a piece of pie, but he had some experience, so he beat hell out of me, too. That's when LaGuardia started to teach me some things, and that's when l decided to join the Golden Gloves.
l was only 15 years old, so l had to get a fake ID. My parents never knew l was in the Golden Gloves until the week before the championships, when my father saw my picture in the paper. He was against the idea of my fighting. To him, l was like a bum. l couldn't argue with him. You don't argue in our house. My father hits. Even now, I'm 24 years old, married, a father with 44 pro fights, and my father still thinks he can beat me. What am l going to do?
Actually, my father changed his mind about boxing when l turned pro, although it took him a long time. When l would come home after a fight and talk about the fight with my brother, sister and cousin, my father would make believe he wasn't interested in what we were saying.
The first time my father saw me fight was in the Felt Forum against, Danny McAloon. l didn't even know he was there. After l won, he jumped into the ring. When l saw him, l started to run away. l thought he was going to give me another beating, but he grabbed me and hugged me. Ever since then he carries my bag to all my fights. But he still gets on me if l step out of line.'
- Vito Antuofermo
