Tippy Larkin (November 11, 1917 – December 10, 1991), born Antonio Pilliteri, was an American boxer from New Jersey who took the world light-welterweight boxing championship on April 29, 1946, in a twelve-round unanimous decision against Willie Joyce in Boston.

[3] In 1934, at the age of seventeen, the young Larkin went off to work for a camp of the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) during America's great depression, and soon helped to start inter-camp boxing matches with his co-workers.

He threw both fists without a stop, finally connecting with a series of solid lefts and rights and Larkin dropped in his corner.

He fought only once between February and May of that year, but was not badly injured and resumed his boxing career with considerable success by June.

[8] In a ramp up to the NYSAC Lightweight Championship, on October 26, 1942, Larkin knocked out Abe Denner in 2:53 of the second round at Laurel Garden in New Jersey.

[9] On December 18, 1942, he fought Beau Jack for the New York State Athletic Commission's World Lightweight Title, losing in a third-round knockout at Madison Square Garden.

[10] On March 9, 1943, he lost to former triple World Champion Henry Armstrong in a second-round knockout before a crowd of 8,000 in Civic Auditorium in San Francisco.

[14] On February 9, 1944, Larkin easily won a ten-round points decision against LuLu Constantino, considered an important opponent, at Madison Square Garden.

[17] Larkin appeared on the cover of The Ring magazine in July 1944, gaining recognition as an up-and-coming boxer who was a candidate for the Lightweight championship.

[20] In their second meeting, Larkin took the World Light-Welterweight championship on April 29, 1946, in a twelve-round Unanimous Decision over Willie Joyce in Boston.

[21] Larkin was ruled to have won ten of the twelve rounds in what was considered a small crowd of under 8,000 for the championship fight at the Garden.

[22] In a rematch with Joyce, Larkin successfully defended the Light-welterweight championship only once on September 13, 1946, in Madison Square Garden in a twelve-round Unanimous Decision.

[1] Sometime after the bout, most likely unable to consistently maintain the restrictive weight, Larkin vacated the Light Welterweight championship.

On February 14, 1947, Charlie Fusari knocked out Larkin in the ninth round at Madison Square Garden, putting him on the canvas a total of nine times in the rather one-sided fight.

[1] On March 21, 1947, Larkin defeated Billy Graham, a highly rated welterweight before a crowd of 14, 054 at Madison Square Garden.

In the first two rounds, Graham forced the fighting landing squarely in the first, and leaving a considerable gash on Larkin's nose in the second that later required stitches.

[24] On June 20, 1947, Larkin was knocked out by Ike Williams, NBA Lightweight Champion, in the fourth round of a non-title fight at Madison Square Garden.

[25] Larkin's last fight would be loss by fourth-round technical knockout on December 29, 1952, against Steve Marcello, in Providence, Rhode Island.

His attorney claimed he was also a victim in the automobile crash that caused the unfortunate death of the New Jersey driver whose car he struck, but could not prevent Larkin's sentence.