Willie Pep was born Guglielmo Papaleo in Middletown, Connecticut, in 1922. He won the featherweight title in 1942 with a 15 round decision over Chalky Wright in New York. He suffered his first defeat in 1943, at the hands of Sammy Angott.

Over a 26 year career, he is credited with 230 wins, 11 losses, 1 draw, and 65 knockouts. Some sources list 229 wins, so the exact figure depends on where you look. He was among the inaugural inductees to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.

The fight took place on 25 July 1946 in Minneapolis. His opponent was Jackie Graves, known as the Austin Atom. Graves had climbed to number two among the world's featherweights, behind Pep, by 1946.

The story goes that Pep won the third round without throwing a single punch. He supposedly did it with footwork, feints, and head movement while Graves chased him. Pep won by a technical knockout at 1:52 of round 8 in a scheduled 10 round fight. Graves put Pep on the canvas twice, but Pep put Graves down nine times. That makes it far from the easy night the legend suggests.

The claim traces back to Pep himself. Pep claimed he won the third round against Graves without landing a single punch. He once said he made Graves miss so badly that the judges gave him the round.

His own account was not consistent either. In a 1970 interview, he sounded unsure that Graves was even the opponent.

Later, research did not support the story. Several contemporary newspaper reports make no mention of a round without punches. The Minneapolis Star described the third round as toe to toe slugging, with Pep landing his best punishment with a right to the body, though Graves landed often enough to make it an even round. Researcher Jake Wegner also went through the Minneapolis Star Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press archives. He found accounts calling the third round the most rapid of the night.

Graves had his own view. He reportedly asked Pep that if he could win a round without landing a punch, why did he not do it for the whole fight?

The round probably never happened the way the story says. It lasted because it fits what Pep stood for. He held world titles from 1942 to 1948, and again from 1949 to 1950. He was famous for running, dancing and feinting, and for making opponents miss.

Legend or not, the lesson is solid. In boxing, the punches you make your opponent miss count too.

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