Fight World Says Goodby to Graziano

People glanced at them, not because of their celebrity but because of their faces, which marked them as fighters, to some objects of curiosity.

Neither Frank Szuzina nor Tom O’Shea made a mark on boxing as Rocky Graziano did, nor have they achieved the level of recognition reached by the former middleweight champion.

The Rock, however, left his mark on them, and the two old pros came to St. Patrick’s Cathedral today to say farewell to Graziano, who died Tuesday night.

“He was my idol,” said Szuzina, who fought about 80 times in the 1950s and who was good enough to once beat Joey Giardello, who went on to win the middleweight title.

Graziano was much more, however, than a hero to Szuzina.

“He lived in my neighborhood,” Szuzina said. “I knew him as a friend.”

Asked if he had ever seen Graziano fight, O’Shea, who said he fought as a bantamweight in the early 1950s, replied, “I’m not here to talk about who he fought.

“I’m here because I loved the guy.”

Both Szuzina and O’Shea attracted men with microphones and cameras as they stood on the street waiting for the funeral Mass to begin. The faces attracted, but the names drew blank stares.

Jake LaMotta, the Bronx Bull when he was the middleweight champion, the Raging Bull as movie-made folk hero, was there, but the turnout was anything but a celebrity crowd.

There were a goodly number of squashed noses and suits too tight and a little threadbare. One man wore pants with a pattern of stains and carried a gym bag that had a beer logo on it.