Toxey Hall

Toxey (or Toxie) Hall (1927 - October 25, 2007) grew up helping his father on their farm. Good at football and baseball, he had no particular interest in boxing until he joined the army in 1946 and had several bouts. When he was discharged, Hall decided to settle in Chicago,and began working in a cardboard box factory. On the second floor of the building was the CYO Gym, whose director was Tony Zale the 1940s Middleweight champion. Hall began working out under Zale's tutelage.
Hall won the Joe Louis Sportsman Trophy in the National Golden Glove Tournament in 1950 and started getting calls to turn pro he had no intention of doing anything in boxing but was finally talked into going pro.
His Manager was Ike Bernstein, who also had hard-punching Chicago Light Heavyweight contender Bob Satterfield. Hall turned pro in 1952 with a knockout in the first round of Pedro Bradley.
Hall had sensitive facial tissue. after fights, he sometimes had difficulty seeing out of his swollen eyes. Hall was told by a doctor his vision might eventually become impaired if he fought more than once or twice a year.
In 1953 at the Midwest Gym, Chicago. Hall was trying to stay in shape when his life was changed for ever when the Heavyweight Champion of the world appeared Rocky Marciano.
Rocky Marciano had just won the title from Jersey Joe Walcott in 1952 and was in Chicago for rematch, the champion brought three sparring partners with him to the gym, but one by one they crumbled so looking for more sparring partners Marciano trainer Charley Goldman spotted the 5`11, 195-pound Hall and asked if he would be interested in sparring the champ, Hall didn't hesitate.
Marciano loved the way he worked and ask him to come to training camp, for the next three years Hall was paid at least $100 a week to help prepare Marciano for fights.
In addition to his sparring duties, Hall fought on the undercards of Marciano's title defenses.
Hall met some of boxing's best names such as Archie Moore, Harold Johnson and top contender Bob Baker, but his biggest victory came in 1955 when he won a decision over Ezzard Charles.
Hall became a police officer in Chicago in 1956, and retired from boxing in 1959, continuing to work as a police officer until 1987. He died in 2007 as a result of complications from prostate cancer.<ref name=Jensen />

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