Anthony Maloni, of Agawam, was 3 years old when he first attended a boxing match.

"I don't remember anything about it, but I do remember my dad telling me that we were going to see Uncle Jerry fight," he says.

His uncle was Jerry Maloni, a well-regarded middleweight who grew up in Springfield's South End neighborhood. Over a 15-year professional boxing career which ended in 1947, he posted a record of 54-18-9.

"In 81 fights, he hit the canvas only once, and that was because he slipped when throwing a punch. Nobody ever knocked him down," Anthony Maloni said.

How does he know this?

Anthony Maloni

"Except for that time when I was so young, I never got to see my uncle in the ring. But I was always interested in finding all that I could about him and his boxing career. I've done a lot of digging over the years. I have my uncle's record, fight by fight," he explained.

His research led him to The Republican's archives at the Springfield Public Library, where he printed out newspaper accounts of his uncle's fights, some of which took place at the former West Springfield Dog Track, later to be known as Century Stadium. The site of the dog track, just over the Memorial Bridge, now serves as a shopping plaza.

"I also did a lot of digging on the Internet, and one day, out of nowhere, I came upon what to me is a real personal treasure. Honestly, it was like finding as needle in a haystack," he said.

Yes, there it was, right before his eyes - a program for one of Uncle Jerry's major bouts at the dog track.

The program is for an Aug. 7, 1944, professional boxing event at the West Springfield Dog Track located off Memorial Avenue. Anthony Maloni, of Agawam, found the program on the Internet; one of the matches featured his uncle, Jerry Maloni.

The program cover has a drawing of fighters in action under a Springfield Sports Inc. logo. Below the drawing: "Professional Boxing, West Side Dog Track, Monday, August 7, 1944."

Inside, the program includes a page with photographs of the fighters and a listing of the five-bout undercard.

"I loved finding it because that was a big fight, against Coley Welch, of Portland, Maine, for the New England middleweight title. So I put in a bid for it, and I got it. Amazing," Anthony Maloni said.

At the time, Nat Fleischer's Ring magazine, considered the Bible of boxing, ranked Welch No. 3 in the middleweight division. In March 1944, he had lost to Jake LaMotta, a future middleweight champion, in a bruising bout at the Boston Garden.

Welch, winner of 100 fights in his long career, posted a unanimous decision over Maloni. Their match drew a crowd of 4,137.

J. Earl Chevalier's story of the fight ran under the lead headline in the next morning's editions of The Springfield Republican. Chevalier reported that Maloni took a beating to the body, but never stopped coming at his opponent.

Chevalier wrote: "The Springfield middleweight was a formidable foe for Welch. He did not fare well in the early rounds, but seemed to get stronger as the 12-round bout went along. Despite Welch's ability to hurt him constantly with blows to the midsection, Maloni gave a resolute performance, often getting off some colorful left hooks to the head."

Chevalier even had an accounting of the fight finances: It grossed $11,313.40, and Maloni's payday in defeat was $2,172.48.

"You have to realize that, in those days, the biggest sports in America were baseball and boxing," Anthony Maloni said. "The NFL, NBA and NHL didn't have the national interest they have now. Boxing was big then (with) tons of fights every week all across the country. Right in this area alone, people could see boxing in Thompsonville, Springfield, Holyoke, Pittsfield and North Adams. If you were a professional boxer, you were a celebrity."

Jerry Maloni made his pro boxing debut on Oct. 22, 1934, winning a decision over Red Williamson in a four-rounder. In the last bout of his career, he decisioned Joe Bennett over 10 rounds on Sept. 16, 1947.

Maloni retired from the ring at the age of 32, going out with an eight-bout winning streak.

In 1940, he fought two former middleweight champions, Ken Overlin and Battling Battalino, losing a 10-round decision in each case. He also fought local favorites like Sal Canata, of Holyoke (losing a decision), and Saint Paul, of Springfield (twice, winning decisions).

In 1948, Maloni was honored at a Springfield sports night, sharing the head table with three other regional sports celebrities, including: Phil Page, a pitcher in the New York Yankees farm system; Abbe Cox, goaltender for Springfield Indians hockey teams of the late 1920s; and Angelo Bertelli, a West Springfield resident who won the 1943 Heisman Trophy as Notre Dame's quarterback.

Anthony Maloni, now owner of the Rice Fruit Farm store on Main Street, still devotes some of his leisure time to boxing research.

"I'm always looking for memorabilia, even after finding that needle in a haystack," he said.

Garry Brown can be reached at geebrown1918@gmail.com.