He possessed perhaps the greatest left hook in the history of the Lightweight division, and Hall of Fame historian, Bert Sugar, called him "the greatest body-puncher of all-times." Ring Magazine described his meteoric comeback in 1932 this way, "Billy Petrolle has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is the outstanding contender for the lightweight, junior welter and welterweight divisions, and he could rightly be heralded the miracle man of the age." Powerful words from powerful sources, indeed. But the raw truth is that behind all of the headlines and hyperbole, it was all true.
William Michael Petrolle was born one of 19 children on January 10, 1905 in Berwick, Pennsylvania; the son of Italian immigrants. Growing up poor, meant tough neighborhoods and Billy immediately gravitated towards boxing and excelled as an amateur, winning the A.A.U. Featherweight title in 1922. The Petrolle family later moved to Dilworth, Minnesota; a tiny farming town near the North Dakota border. Billy took fights in nearby Fargo, saying, "I was given $60 for my first pro fight. It lasted only a few rounds and I made $60. I could hardly make that in a month in them days. I knew then what direction I was heading." And so it began for young Billy. Little did he know what fortunes were about to be his. It was while fighting curtain-raisers in Fargo that Billy was first noticed by legendary trainer and manager, Jack Hurley, and the two formed one of the strongest bonds in ring history. Hurley taught Billy the low-crouch stance that Jack Dempsey had employed so successfully, as well as Dempsey's bob and weave style that allowed him to get into the danger zone on his opponents. He also had become quite attached to a lucky charm…a Navajo blanket, supposedly blessed by an Indian Chief to protect him while fighting. Billy would never wash the blanket, fearful that the luck would be washed out, and so the lucky blanket became famously linked to Billy Petrolle throughout his career, always seen with it on while entering the ring, and always seen with it soaked in blood and sweat as he left it.
His pro career officially began in 1922, and within a year the powerful Lightweight was already building a reputation. When Billy beat Johnny Gannon in 1923, he got no small amount of attention. When he beat St. Paul's Eddie DeBeau, he got even more. But when he kept winning via the KO route, Billy quickly surpassed Russie LeRoy as not only Hurley's main draw, but also as his personal favorite. By the end of 1925, Petrolle was 49-6-7 and rated among the Top 10 in the world at Lightweight. It wasn't until around this time that Billy took on his famous moniker of "The Fargo Express", a nickname coined by Hartford journalist Bob Green. The funny, and little known fact is that never in Billy's career did he ever reside in Fargo. Billy spent his entire 13 year career, residing in Minnesota, as from 1922 to mid-1924 he resided in Dilworth and from then onto the day he retired in 1934, he resided in Duluth, Minnesota, making "The Fargo Express" little more than a catchy marketing slogan, a slogan that stuck with him for his entire career.
In early 1926, Petrolle faced World Featherweight Champion, Louis "Kid" Kaplan. Kaplan agreed to face Petrolle but without his title on the line, which was fine with Billy, as he had been unable to drop down to Featherweight for years. Petrolle showed well, but lost the decision to the champion. A few months later, he fought in Madison Square Garden against 75-4 sensation, Sid Terris. 20,000 people attended and saw Petrolle drop an unpopular decision. He then picked up several more victories before facing a man that would become his career arch-rival in Minneapolis' King Tut. Tut and Petrolle were both considered the top two punchers in the world among the Lightweight division, and Billy would take the first one on a foul in the 4th round, as Tut repeatedly struck him low. They had an immediate rematch just 2 weeks later in which Petrolle dominated him intrastate rival over 10 rounds. In 1928, Hurley signed Billy to fight world Lightweight Champion, Sammy Mandell, but Mandell insisted that his title would not be on the line. Good thing he did, as it was a close fight and in the 8th round, Petrolle landed his sledgehammer left hook and Mandell was on Queer Street, stumbling into a corner. He was saved from Billy's onslaught as the bell rang, and made it through to pick up the newspaper verdict. Over the course of the next few years, he posted big wins over Spug Myers, Bruce Flowers, and gave former World champion, Jackie "Kid" Berg the first real KO loss of his illustrious career in 1928, followed by another big KO over the highly rated Stanislaus Loayza.
After suffering back-to-back losses to King Tut and Jackie Purvis, Petrolle went on a 12 fight winning streak, including a major headline-grabbing victory over the immortal, Tony Canzoneri. Instead of Petrolle getting a shot at the World's title next, Champion Al Singer wanted no part of Petrolle, and signed to defend against Canzoneri. Canzoneri won the title by knocking out Singer in the very first round, but the opportunity should have belonged to the Duluth slugger. But Petrolle was not deterred, as he pulled another upset by beating the tar out of future Welterweight champ, Jimmy McLarnin in 1930. He started 1931 where he left of 1930, by whipping fellow Minnesotan and ranked contender, Billy Light, before lightning struck in the form of rival King Tut. Tut scored a 24 second KO over Petrolle as Petrolle had hardly finishing kneeling and making the sign of the cross before Tut had run across the ring and smothered him with a barrage of blows. 3 weeks later Petrolle extracted his revenge on a bigger stage…Madison Square Garden, where he took Tut apart and knocked him out cold in the 4th round before 10,000 onlookers. He then secured another huge win over the undefeated Justo Suarez. Twice more he faced the great Jimmy McLarnin, but dropped both decisions, as Billy was starting to slow down in his long career. By the start of 1932, some were saying he was all through, others urged him to retire. Billy stayed the course, and flattened Eddie Ran in 6, before engaging in one of the most brutal prizefights in the history of the game against former Featherweight champ, Bat Battalino in Madison Square Garden, a fight in which newspapers were required in the first row to keep blood from spraying onto them. It was back-and-forth action, before two Petrolle liver blows ended matters late into the 12th round, giving Billy yet another remarkable victory. He faced Battalino just two months later and won again, this time a decision over 10 rounds in Chicago Stadium, followed by yet another major victory over Tommy Grogan. Before hanging up his gloves for good, he finally got his shot at the World's title against Tony Canzoneri, but Petrolle was not the same fighter he was a few years prior. All of the ring wars had begun to take the steam out of the Fargo Express, and he dropped a unanimous decision. After this he fought World Junior-Welterweight Champion, Barney Ross and dropped a 10-round decision to him as well. After picking up a few more road wins, he once more faced Ross, but the verdict would be the same, after which Billy hung them up for good.
When the smoke cleared on the long and illustrious career of our left-hooking marvel from Duluth, he ranks 3rd all-time in the Minnesota record books for career knockouts with 67, just 3 behind Rochester's Fred Fulton, and 5 behind Canby's Lee Savold. He also the 2nd winningest fighter in state history with 124 career wins, just 6 behind fellow Hall of Famer, Jock Malone.
The life of Duluth's Billy Petrolle does not end with ring records, as he launched a very successful iron company followed later by opening up a religious goods store in downtown Duluth, which for Billy was only fitting with his deep Catholic faith. Today the grandkids all speak of their memories with the man who once ran typewriters out of ribbons, and bookies out of money; and their memories are of a man as skilled with dishing out love and affection as he was with dishing out left hooks and body blows to opponents. Perhaps his love for family is his real legacy for those that knew him best. For those of us that knew him only for the sport in which we love, his legacy there is a love affair all its own.
Quote to be printed in a box "I'm plenty tough they tell you, and it isn't their (the Press) intention to confirm a rumor. They are announcing a downright fact." Petrolle to Jimmy McLarnin at the weigh-in to their 1930 fight.
