Will o' the wisp

We lost one of the greatest fighters of the 20th century today. Willie Pep died at the Alzheimer's unit of a nursing home in Connecticut, where he'd been confined since 2001. He was 84.

Pep, called "Will o'the wisp" for his famed elusiveness, was known for both his balletic footwork and his savage combinations. Owner of the featherweight title for six years and the veteran of an astounding 242 fights, Pep was a beautiful fighter to watch, a true matador. Legend has it that he once won a round without throwing a punch.

When he did throw punches, however, they were precise and damaging, often coming in breakneck flurries. He was a prodigy when he burst onto the New England boxing scene in 1940, winning 63 times before losing a fight, and then winning another 72 straight before his next loss.

That loss, however, was a turning point in Pep's career. It was at the hands of the great Sandy Saddler. Pep would go on to face Saddler three more times in his career, winning once and losing twice, in fights that would make "Pep/Saddler" a single word in history, like "Ali/Frazier" and "Robinson/Lamotta." The four-fight series between Willie Pep and Sandy Saddler may in fact be the greatest boxing rivalry of all time, epic in its ferocity and the dirtiest load of fighting you'll ever want to see. This shit is not for the faint of heart.

Below is a condensation of the fourth fight, in which Pep fails to answer the bell for the tenth round. This bout was highly controversial at the time, both for the quality and frequency of the fouling (at one point the ref hits the canvas - borderline WWE material) and because the rumor after the fight was that Pep rolled over for the mob. Which is hard to imagine when you watch him getting pulverized in there, but with fights back then, who knows. Check it out for yourself, and bid farewell to a true legend, the one and only Willie Pep.