On June 29, 1956 – 69 years ago this weekend – Mario D'Agata finally had his moment. His French rival Robert Cohen, who had controversially outpointed him two years earlier, had stayed in his corner when the bell rang to start the seventh. In front of an adoring crowd of 38,000 at Rome's Stadio Olympico, D'Agata had become, after Primo Carnera, Italy's second world boxing champion.
D'Agata would lose his crown in his first defense; unlike the third Italian world champion, Duilio Loi, his was not by standard metrics a Hall of Fame career. But he carved his own niche in the annals of boxing lore, because D’Agata could neither speak nor hear. He was boxing’s first, and to this day only, deaf-mute world champion.
Born on May 29, 1926, in the Tuscan town of Arezzo, he was one of three children out of seven to be born into the family without hearing, and when he was a teenager, the family moved to Rome in search of a cure. While there, D’Agata walked into a boxing gym after seeing a poster of a boxer on the front door and, intrigued and inspired, he resolved to try it out – his enthusiasm for the sport doubtless fired by countless street fights as a result of being taunted for his disability as a child.
With the end of World War II, D’Agata was able finally to pursue his dream, first accumulating an amateur boxing record of 90-20. By 1950, he was ready to turn pro, but the country’s boxing federation had no interest in allowing that to happen. How could he possibly fight, they reasoned, if he couldn’t hear the referee’s instructions or the bell? (Never mind that he had presumably overcome those challenges 110 times as an amateur.) In response, the people of Arezzo compiled a petition and secured the help of an influential local politician, Amintore Fanfani – who would later become prime minister – to lobby on his behalf. Ultimately, officialdom acquiesced, instructing referees to tap him on the shoulder at the end of each round.
D’Agata made his professional debut on October 14, 1950, and built up a record of 19-3-2 (4 KOs) to earn himself a shot at the Italian title, which he won by way of ninth-round disqualification.
He kept on winning, and in May 1954 had the first of what would be three meetings with Cohen. The Frenchman won that first encounter, in Tunis, after dropping D’Agata in the ninth, although Ring Magazine reported that the crowd booed the decision. Undeterred, he returned to the win column, racking up five more that year, the last two of which were in Melbourne, Australia. The plan was for him to challenge newly minted champ Raul Macias for the National Boxing Association version of the world title in May 1955, until tragedy struck when a business associate shot D’Agata in the chest with a rifle. The bullet pierced his lung and he was told his career was over; within three months, however, he was back in the ring. Thirteen more wins followed until he was finally able to square off again with Cohen, now the titleholder, this time gaining revenge and becoming champion of the world.
His first defense came a year later, against then-unbeaten Alphonse Halimi in Paris. The fight had barely begun when, in the third round, a power surge caused a ringside light to explode – according to some reports, a light that had specifically been set up to flash and inform D’Agata that the bell had rung. Debris from the fire landed on the Italian, burning him enough to scar him. Surprisingly, after a 15-minute delay to clean up the mess, the fight resumed, but D’Agata’s swarming style was not enough to overcome the classy Frenchman. After 15 rounds, D’Agata had lost his title. He would not challenge for the crown again.
He fought on, winning the European title in October 1957 and, two months later, defeating Belgium’s Jean Renard in the first fight to be broadcast live on Italian TV. A streak of four defeats heralded the impending end of his career, and D’Agata retired in 1962 with a record of 54-10-3 (22 KOs).
In retirement, he took up painting, a skill he had learned when in an institute for poor, deaf children. He and his wife – like Mario, a deaf mute – had a daughter, Annamaria, who in turn had a daughter who is now a boxing judge and referee.
Mario D’Agata died on April 4, 2009, aged 82. In 2022, he was inducted into the Italian Boxing Hall of Fame. Annamaria collected the award in his honor.
“Boxing taught me to be strong,” he once said, “and to jump over the hurdles. The most important thing: to feel like other people.”
Many thanks to Vittorio Parisi, boxing historian and committee member of the Italian Boxing Hall of Fame, and fellow committee member Franco Esposito, who covered some of D’Agata’s fights, for much of this information. You can read their work at www.boxeringweb.net. Thanks also to Nigel Collins and Lee Groves.
Kieran Mulvaney has written, broadcast and podcast about boxing for HBO, Showtime, ESPN and Reuters, among other outlets. He presently co-hosts the “Fighter Health Podcast” with Dr. Margaret Goodman. He also writes regularly for National Geographic, has written several books on the Arctic and Antarctic, including most recently , and is at his happiest hanging out with wild polar bears. His website is www.kieranmulvaney.com.
