By several accounts, Latzo spent some of his early years mining, and working as a "breaker boy" whose primary job was to pick slate and other impurities from anthracite coal.

[5][6] In their first welterweight title fight on March 22, 1923, Mickey Walker defeated Latzo in a twelve-round newspaper's decision before a crowd of 10,000 in Newark, New Jersey.

[7] In an unexpected upset, Latzo defeated Mickey Walker to take the world welterweight championship before a crowd of 12,000 on May 20, 1926, in a ten-round unanimous decision in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

[11][12] Latzo fought one of his last defenses of the welterweight title on July 9, 1926, against Georgie Levine, winning in a fourth round disqualification before a crowd of around 22,000 at New York's Polo Grounds.

[13] He lost the welterweight crown to Joe Dundee on June 3, 1927, in a fifteen-round majority decision before one of his largest audiences, a crowd of 30,000, at the New York City's Polo Grounds.

[15] Latzo lost to Tiger Flowers, former world middleweight champion, on September 30, 1927, in a ten-round unanimous decision at Artillery Park in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

[2] The crowd of 10,000 saw Flowers take seven rounds, though Latzo performed well in the remaining three, and dominated much of the infighting, particularly in the fifth and sixth when he delivered several close range body rocking blows.

[16] He defeated future world light heavyweight champion Maxie Rosenbloom on February 6, 1928, in a ten-round points decision in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

[21] Latzo challenged reigning champion Tommy Loughran for the NYSAC world light heavyweight title on June 1, 1928, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, but lost in a fifteen-round unanimous decision.

[22] Latzo challenged Loughran again for the light heavyweight title on July 16, 1928, at Artillery Park in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, but lost in a ten rounds unanimous decision.

[23] A rally in the ninth and tenth appeared to win the rounds for Latzo, but Loughran had continued to pile up points in the second half of the bout, and maintained enough of a margin to take the decision.

[24] Latzo was defeated by future world heavyweight champion Jim Braddock before a crowd of 4,000, on October 17, 1928, at New Jersey's Newark Armory in a ten-round points decision.

[31] In one of his last bouts on June 5, 1934, Latzo lost to Pennsylvania's state middleweight champion Teddy Yarosz in a fourth-round technical knockout in Millvale.

[32] Cartoonist Ham Fisher met Latzo outside a pool hall and, impressed by his personality, sportsmanship, and physique, was inspired to create his popular character Joe Palooka.

[36] His funeral was held at Scranton, Pennsylvania's Holy Rosary Church on July 11, and he was buried in the city's Cathedral Cemetery, where his wife Catherine was laid to rest two years later.