Boxing Great Dies

Tony Zale, who battled boxing legend Rocky Graziano for the world middleweight championship during the 1940s, died at a Portage, Ind., nursing home. He was 83.

Family members said Zale, who was born in Gary, Ind., as Anthony Florian Zaleski, had suffered from Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.

Zale, who was the middleweight champion from 1940-48, fought Graziano three times in the late 1940s. Zale rallied to retain the middleweight title in the first fight in 1946, but Graziano triumphed in the second pairing the following year.

In their third meeting, in 1948, Zale knocked out Graziano in the third round. But three months later, French fighter Marcel Cerdan dethroned Zale, who then retired from boxing at age 35.