Vincent 'Chin' Gigante: The Boxer

Anyone who has read or watched anything about Genovese crime boss Vincent "Chin" Gigante probably knows that before botching a hit on Frank Costello, feigning mental illness or plotting to kill John Gotti, he was once a Light Heavyweight boxer while also making early connections with already established underworld figures such as Thomas Eboli and "Quiet Dom" Cirillo.

Chin wasn't a particularly talented fighter. He went 21-4, losing to journeymen, defeating almost exclusively guys with more losses than wins and allegedly benefited from fixed fights as a result of his mob affiliations. There's no doubt, however, that he was an established contender in the New York fight scene. Gigante was a sparring partner of Rocky Castellani and he fought at Madison Square Garden on numerous occasions. He was even featured on the undercard of several world championship bouts (namely the great Willie Pep and also Rocky Graziano who famously lost the world Middleweight title to Sugar Ray Robinson). That's enough antiquated boxing history. The guy was known.

There are records of most of his fights online, but what I can't find is any footage of Vincent Gigante boxing. The only visual record I can find is this undated photograph:



Does anyone know if any such footage exists? I realize he fought in the 1940s, but being featured on high profile events in the most widely regarded venue in the world? There's got to be something...

Thanks for posting this, Frank.

There's probably no footage of Gigante fighting. In the 40's, filming was expensive, and probably the only filming was of championship fights.

21 and 4 does not sound like. a bad record. He looks so skinny in the picture.

I think that he only used his boxe carrier and the consequences of it as an excuse for the mental illness.

Great photo! 21-4 sounds impressive but quality of boxers you fight is important in determining if you get ranked and get title shots.

If anyone is interested, I got much of my information from Chin's BoxRec profile which shows all of the official bouts of his career. BoxRec is the official record keeper for the sport of boxing, so their information is usually excellent. As you'll see, the 21-4 is a decent record on the surface, but with an 8% KO ratio and the level of opposition he was facing, I wouldn't deem him a world class fighter. That being said, it's worth noting Gigante was a very young fighter (allegedly using the birth certificate of a deceased relative to earn his boxing license). He retired at 19. Who knows what he could've achieved if he stuck with it.

He used his brothers birth certificate. He was born before chin and died. The parents gave chin the same name when he was born. At least that's what the book said. I can't remember, but I think he was only alive for a couple of hours or days.

You think that he boxed as a young man before even joining the Mafia as a way to win cases 40 years in the future?

Do you think Furio actually thought that???

I understand completely what he meant.

It's what he said, it sounded off the wall.

It's common knowledge that Gigante used unverified concussions from his boxing career as an excuse when he was feigning insanity during his cases.

Heavyweight Lee Oma was one fighter who taught Vincent the ropes inside the ring.