Lou Duva
| Lou Duva | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Louis Duva May 28, 1922 New York City, New York |
| Died | March 8, 2017 (aged 94) Paterson, New Jersey |
| Occupation | Boxing trainer and manager |
Louis "Lou" Duva (May 28, 1922 – March 8, 2017) was a boxing trainer and manager who handled nineteen world champions. The Duva family promoted boxing events in over twenty countries on six continents. Lou Duva was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame, the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame, and The Meadowlands Sports Hall of Fame.
Duva was born in New York City to Italian immigrants, the sixth of seven children. After spending time growing up in Little Italy, New York, his family then moved to Saint James Place in Totowa, a suburb of Paterson, New Jersey. He lived next door to his Sister, Ann Belmont of Belmont Fashions in one of two identical flat roofed houses. Duva's childhood was an impoverished one and he had to do many jobs to try to help his family.
Duva's 23-year-old brother, Carl Duva, introduced young Lou to boxing when the boy was only 10 years old. Lou polished his own boxing skills and by age 12 was both an amateur and ballroom brawler. However Lou as a boxer did not have much luck, although that might have been due to the fact he barely had time to train, having to go out to the street and perform many types of jobs to try to help the Duva family make ends meet.
In 1938 Lou went to try to join the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). He had problems getting in because applicants were required to be at least 18, but Duva was only 16 years old when he applied to join. He went and changed his birth certificate and all his personal information and they accepted him, thinking that he had been born two years earlier, in 1920. The CCC sent him to Boise, Idaho, and then to Walla Walla, Washington, where he learned to drive trucks.
Duva went to the US Army after World War II broke out. He went to Jackson, Mississippi, to train, but was dismissed from the base after many fistfights with fellow soldiers, as well as an altercation with two lieutenants when he defended a black woman being harassed on a public bus. After that, he was sent to Camp Hood in Texas, where he was given a job as a boxing instructor.
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