IASHF President Bill Spadafora and former Welterweight Champion of the World Tony DeMarco.
After four years in the planning stages, a statute of 1955 Welterweight Champion of the World Tony “The Flaming Fury of Fleet Street” DeMarco will finally be placed in the North End on Cross Street, the entrance to the neighborhood, for all to see.
National Italian Hall of Fame New England Chapter Bill Spadafora, made the community aware of the bronze statue placement to residents and North End/Waterfront Neighborhood Council members last week.
Spadafora noted that the statue was donated by a private family and no taxpayer money was involved. He also called DeMarco a “great North End ambassador.”
The statue was made by sculpture Harry Webber who did the Bobby Orr and Doug Flutie statues. It will stand six feet, one inch tall once placed in the ground at the Cross Street site near Mother Anna’s Restaurant.
The target date for the ceremony honoring the champ is Saturday, October 12 during Italian Heritage Month.
By a unanimous vote NEWNC voted to support the placement of the statue in the North End.
Tony DeMarco was Champ of the World when there were only eight classes of boxing. He was one of them. In today’s boxing business there are so many boxing associations and champs that you need a calculator to count them.
Like in the movie, “Somebody Up There Likes Me” Tony DeMarco was paraded through the North End in a Cadillac Convertible the night he captured the World Championship.
Tony DeMarco was the original President of the NIHF Boston Chapter.
The dedication is expected to attract several people from the boxing world, elected officials, friends, family and local residents.