Don Weller-1950's Welterweight Champion
By Jake Wegner
The old saying that, "The acorn does not fall
far from the tree" is often a true one in the world of professional
boxing; for many young gladiators have followed the paths chosen
by their fathers in climbing through the ropes of the ring. Perhaps
it is the curiosity of wanting to discover the same thrill that
their fathers had enjoyed; perhaps it was a sense of duty in carrying
on the family name in the sport-or perhaps it was a little of
both. But few fighters ever come close to being the caliber of
boxer that their once well-known fathers were. The story of Saint
Paul's Don Weller is not one of those; for Weller not only compiled
an admirable record on par with his father's, but also did something
else his father had done-captured a state title. Let's take a
look at the career of the February selection of "Hystory's
Mysteries with Jake Wegner"-1950's Minnesota Welterweight
Champion, Don Weller.
The 1950's in Minnesota was a time in which the Golden Gloves
was chocked full of talented little sluggers-fighters who all
aspired to be the next Jackie Graves or the next Glen or Del Flanagan
of the sport. The pool of competition at each weight class buried
that of today, with literally hundreds of fighters campaigning
at each weight class. Winning the all-city title was a huge accomplishment,
but capturing an Upper Midwest championship was something much
more difficult. By the early 1950's, competition was especially
keen in the 147 pound division. Enter, Don Weller; Saint Paul's
hot rising two-fisted banger.
Don was born on July 16, 1935 in Saint Paul. His father was Emmett
Weller, a highly-regarded, newly turned pro fighter at the time.
Emmett would later go on to become the state Lightweight Champion
by beating Mysterious Billy Smith. After retiring with the title
in-hand, Emmett went on to become one of the top trainers and
managers in the sport. To say that Don Weller had boxing in his
blood would be an understatement. But Don's attraction to the
sport grew rapidly as a child, boxing with his father in the living
room and following him to the gym. "I can remember going
down to Pott's gym as a kid and seeing Jackie Graves working out
and all of the big-name fighters of the time being there as well.
It was always a thrill because a lot of them were known internationally
and yet they were from here. That was sort of neat to me as a
kid," said Weller in a 2008 conversation. These sorts of
interactions fueled the fire that had already been ignited in
the young Irishman, and it wasn't long before Don broke his mother's
heart and entered the boxing game. "My mom hated the fact
that I became a boxer," said Weller, "She did not like
it at all and would not come and watch me fight. She said that
she couldn't stand it, so it was always me and dad. She always
blamed it on my dad too, but it wasn't his fault. He never pushed
me into anything, it was my decision. I wanted to box."
Don entered the Golden Gloves and was a natural, capturing the
147 pound St. Paul title in 1954 and 1955, but fell just shy each
year of winning the Upper Midwest titles. By May of 55', Weller
turned pro, blasting out Con Madigan in three rounds in Ontario,
Canada. He had made the trip with his father who was also bringing
up Jimmy Hegerle and Jentrice O'Neill for the Canadian show. Weller
then went on a tear, going 11-0-3 in his next 14 outings before
suffering his first defeat at the hands of Chicago Kid Chocolate
on September 24, 1956 in Omaha. Weller was having the better of
the milling but suffered a bad cut early in the fight from a clash
of heads. The cut grew deeper with each successive round, and
the referee finally stopped the fight in the 3rd, at the advice
of the doctor. By today's rules that fight would have went to
the scorecards and Weller would most likely have walked away with
the win, but in 1956 going to the scorecards due to cuts before
the 4th round was not an established custom in boxing yet, and
as a result, Weller's record took a TKO defeat.
After the tough-break loss, Weller beat Benny Montoya but then
lost a shocking decision to Johnny Hobbs. "Hobbs should not
have beaten me," recalled Weller. "My dad owned a few
different boxing gyms back then and one of them used to be located
right upstairs of a bar. That wasn't always a good thing for us
boxers," laughed Weller decades later. "We'd go work
out and then hit the bar downstairs for some fun, and as a result
I didn't always come into the ring in as good of condition as
I should have, and it cost me a few fights in my career to lesser
fighters." Weller continued to climb the Welterweight ranks
of the Midwest, improving his craft and making memories along
the way as well. "I can remember when Kid Gavilan came to
town to fight Del Flanagan back in April of 57'. That was huge!
It ended up being the new state record for a gate at the time
too. I used to do road work with Gavilan in the weeks preceding
the fight, and was fortunate enough to get a spot on the undercard
of that historic fight as well. I was one of Gavilan's sparring
partners to help him get ready for Flanagan. By 1957, Gavilan
was not the fighter he used to be, but still I felt proud to know
that I hurt him with a good left hook once during sparring. After
the first round with him, my dad said that he was making me look
like a fool and nailing me with that Bolo punch of his, and told
me to pick it up a little in the next round, so I did. When Gavilan
began throwing the Bolo punch, I caught him with a nice left counter
and I had to help hold him up, as I could feel his legs were gone.
After that round, my dad told me to take it easy on him, or we
might wreck the big fight with Flanagan," laughed Weller,
recalling his gym war with the "Cuban Hawk".
After the winning on the undercard of Gavilan-Flanagan, Weller
took a small setback by losing a shocker to the man he had just
beaten easily, Arnold Sparks; which prompted a rubber match with
Weller easily beating the sly Canadian at the State Fairgrounds
on the undercard of yet another big card-Ralph "Tiger"
Jones vs. Del Flanagan. By 1958, Weller was regarded a "comer",
but 58' would prove to be his most disappointing year. Though
he opened with a bang, pounding the hell out of Joey Vasquez's
body so hard, that Vasquez refused to come out for the 5th round,
citing "stomach cramps". But this would end up being
the only bright spot in 58' for Don, as he dropped two consecutive
decisions, followed by a Draw, and two more losses. "My loss
to Jerry Jordan was a tough one, as he proved to be pretty good,
but I never should have lost to Dick Newell. My dad did not work
my corner for that fight, as he was getting Al Andrews ready for
the Main Event, and instead Aman Peck ended up coaching me in
the corner that night. I liked Aman, but Aman was a very defensive-minded
fighter who had a reputation for being slippery in the ring. That
was not my style. But I did as he instructed me to do and fought
on the defensive and mostly tried for counters in the first four
rounds. By then, I had to win by knockout and I ignored Peck and
went hard for the last two rounds trying for the knockout. I had
him pretty good late in the fight but by then it didn't matter
and I lost a split-decision. Despite my late take-off, I still
thought I won the fight, but who knows?" said Weller in 2009.
To make matters worse in 58', Weller capped off the year with
a tough loss to Jerry Mortell in Chicago. It was an action-filled
fight in which both fighters traded bombs, but Weller got caught
with a good right to the ribs in the 5th, and suffered with a
few of them broken over the course of the remainder of the fight
until the referee stopped it due to Weller holding his side excessively
and not engaging.
1959 was no less forgiving for Weller. After a much needed layoff
to heal his ribs, Weller had put boxing aside for a while. The
layoff would prove costly to him when agreed to take a fight in
Washington D.C. against Steve Hayward. Weller was partying often
and was badly out of shape for the fight and dropped a lackluster
decision. By 1960, Weller knew it was a "make or break"
year for him in living up to his potential. A few newspaper writers
called for Don to begin showing the kind of class expected of
him since turning pro back in 55'. Weller was listening. He began
training and sparring harder than ever before and despite marital
problems, dug deep and began to really focus on his boxing. He
partied less and pounded the bags more, and was ready to bust
out in 1960. At the beginning of the year, his record was 20 wins,
7 losses, and 4 draws. By the end of it, it would read 25-7-4,
as Weller had went 5-0 in 1960, before facing Al Andrews (not
the Middleweight from Wisconsin) and whipping him thoroughly over
six rounds in January of 61' in Saint Paul. By now, Weller's name
was back at the top of fight fans' lips in Minnesota. His left
hook was beginning to get noticed as his "marquee punch"
to watch for, and it wasn't long before the fans and media began
calling for a match between him and Minneapolis' Harlow Irwin
for the state Welterweight title. Weller's time had come, and
his chance to truly follow in his father's footsteps by capturing
a state title was now a reality. All he had to do was get by the
tough Irwin.
Harlow Irwin was no pushover. The young scrapper from Minneapolis
was tough as nails, and despite his having fewer than 10 pro fights,
he could fight. Many boxing scribes at the time were very critical
of Irwin's manager, "Pap" Joe Daszkiewicz. Daszkiewicz
had gotten very excited about Irwin, very early. Irwin was a gifted
fighter right out of the chute from the amateurs, but never was
given the proper time to develop, or so said the critics. In just
his 6th pro fight Daszkiewicz had thrown him in against Hall of
Famer, Lauro Salas. Irwin held his own against the former champion,
but suffered a bad cut and was forced to take a TKO loss due to
the laceration. In an immediate rematch, Irwin whipped Salas by
a unanimous decision. This win had propelled Irwin's name up the
ladder of contenders immediately. So confident was Daszkiewicz
and Irwin of their fast track, that a non-title fight was arranged
against world champion Joe Brown in August of 1960. The champion
cut Irwin to pieces, and deflated the Irwin media balloon. But
he had skills, and he had a chin and heart. The problem was, so
did Weller. This is why their championship fight got mega attention.
The Harlow Irwin-Don Weller championship fight was scheduled for
February 10, 1961 and was to be at the Saint Paul Armory-not the
one we use today, but the older one that used to stand at 389
North Exchange Street in downtown Saint Paul, but has since been
demolished, hence the current Armory on Cedar. It would be the
last big fight at the old Armory, and what a fight it would be!
Weller tipped the scales at 143 ¾ lbs, while the smaller
Irwin came in at just 138 ¾ lbs. The fight was back and
forth action the entire night, but with the bigger, stronger,
Weller taking control midway though and repeatedly connecting
with stinging left hooks to Irwin's body and face. The action
continued and Weller stepped up his attack even more, showing
the Minnesota boxing community was a treasure chest of skills
he possessed, but had never fully revealed in the years prior.
This was the Don Weller everyone had been waiting to see, and
he was on full offensive display that night, lighting up Irwin
from corner to post! At the end of the 9th round, a commotion
came about Irwin's corner. Doctor Eugene Scott was called and
told the referee that the fight needed to be stopped due to a
cut near Irwin's eye. The fight was over! Don Weller was the new
Minnesota Welterweight Champion! "I picked it up a few notches
in those last few rounds with body and head shots and I knew I
was going to stop him in the last round because he was groggy
and ready to go at the end of the 9th, but then he never came
out for the 10th. They said it was due to a cut eye, but I don't
remember ever seeing any blood. They knew he was about to be knocked
out, so they chose not to come out or quickly found some blood
or something," recalled Weller in 2009 while reminiscing
of his state title.
Winning the state title was a big victory for Weller. For now,
not only had he risen to the top of a very competitive division
in Minnesota, but he also had fulfilled the family legacy by having
captured a state title as well-his lethal left hook paving the
way. After the Irwin fight, Weller knocked out Bobby Williams
in a stay-busy fight, and then whipped Harold Scully over 10 rounds
before receiving a serious challenge to his crown-Les Bagi.
Laszlo Bagi was a former Hungarian Olympic boxer who had fled
his country out of fear of the Communist takeover. He had called
Minnesota his home since early 1961, and was known as a very fast-handed
boxer with shifty feet, and a good inside game. He had a reputation
as a dirty fighter, one Bagi frequently laughed off, and as a
guy who got inside on his opponents and wore them down. In fact,
finding sparring partners for Bagi was a difficult thing to do,
as no one wanted to work out with him on account on his sparring
game bearing no difference from his fight game. You were very
likely to get cut sparring with Bagi, and without even an apology
from the latter. Their fight was billed as a "grudge fight".
Like Weller's fight with Irwin being a "Minneapolis vs. Saint
Paul" rivalry, Bagi-Weller definitely had that, but neither
Weller or Bagi cared for one another much either. The fight came
off on April 6, 1962 in Saint Paul, and went the full 12 rounds.
At times the fight was slow, with Bagi choosing his spots to box
versus brawl, and his quickness threw Weller off his game. At
other times it was a war, with Weller getting the better of the
toe-to-toe exchanges that brought the crowd to their feet. But
those exchanges were too infrequent, and Weller dropped a split-decision
to the Hungarian, losing his state title in the process. "I
hated Bagi at the time. I didn't like him going into the fight,
and I didn't like him after the fight because he wouldn't grant
me a rematch. He refused. I confronted him to his face and demanded
a rematch and he refused. That made me really hate him more,"
laughed Weller in 2009, "He was quick. But I wasn't tired
after our 12 rounds, but I knew I had fought a bad fight. I just
couldn't get going in that fight and I knew it. Les later moved
to New York and had come back to Minnesota on a visit back in
the 1990's and he ended up staying with me while here and then
I really came to like him. I guess time does that," smiled
Weller.
Discontent with getting a crack at regaining his state title just
when he seemed to be at the peak of his career, Weller began to
contemplate retirement. His decision was final, following a construction
accident in which a heavy beam fell on his head and neck, sidelining
him even from his daily work. He recovered, and went on to enjoy
a long career as a union metalworker. Today Don Weller is 74 years-old
and living comfortably with his wife Mary in Saint Paul. During
a career spanning from 1955-1962, he compiled an admirable record
of 29-8-4 and gets and "A" for his chin and heart, as
he was never knocked out, or even off of his feet as an amateur
or as a professional (his two TKO losses were due to cuts and
ribs). This Welterweight contender from the Saintly City not only
followed in his father's footsteps as a fighter, but later as
a trainer as well, assisting long-time friends Emmett Yanez and
Larry Goodman at the White Bear Lake Boxing Club for many years.
It is with great excitement that I call Don Weller a Minnesota
boxing great, but with great pride that I call him my friend.
Don Weller
Minnesota Welterweight Champion 1961-1962
I would like to thank boxing historian Jake Wegner for sharing
this story with us on one of Minnesota boxing's past forgotten
superstars. Jake will be kind enough to bring us monthly pieces
that will shed more light on our past fighters.
