[3][4] Though assumed by some sportswriters to have been a reference to his "pulchritude" or physical appearance, Galento's nickname, "Two Ton", was apparently derived from his work as an iceman: a job he pursued in tandem with his pugilistic career.

"[5] In addition to "Two Ton", Galento was also known as the "Jersey Nightstick", the "TNT Kid", the "One-Man Riot", the "Orange Orangutan", and the "beer barrel that walks like a man".

[34] The licensed boxing judge and combat sports commentator David L. Hudson Jr. writes that Galento "had two characteristics that made him a tough opponent: He could absorb massive amounts of punishment, and he could punch.

"[36] In 1933, the promoter James J. Johnston and the matchmaker Sam McQuade named Galento, alongside Salvatore Ruggirello and Otto von Porat, as one of the hardest "one-punch hitters" in heavyweight boxing.

"[38] Lou Nova, whom Galento defeated in a poorly officiated and bloody encounter in September 1939, called him a "worm" and intimated that the "New Jersey jellyroll" made illicit use of his thumbs.

"[39] In the first of a series of four articles written for The People, "a populist Sunday paper" with a wide circulation,[40][41][42] the journalist A. W. Helliwell argued that, "despite his lack of skill and ringcraft", Galento's “tremendous strength and crushing punch" made "his rough-house tactics dangerous."

Though he apparently consumed two hot dogs in excess of his bet (for a total of fifty-two), and consequently was so bloated as to be unable to fit comfortably into his trunks, Galento dispatched his "hapless" nemesis, the 6'4" "country puncher" Arthur De Kuh, in the third or fourth round: bloodying his nose and sending him crashing to the canvas.

[54] As told by Mee, Galento's conception of exercise was highly unusual: "his idea of roadwork was to sit in a car smoking a fat cigar while his sparring partners got themselves in shape by plodding alongside.

"[56] In 1937, Eddie Brietz, a sportswriter with the Associated Press, noted that "[u]sually reliable sources" swore that the night before he "kayoed Al Ettore in Philly" Galento "made away with 24 hot dogs, six shots of booze and... a dozen beers".

[59] The legendary boxing trainer Ray Arcel, whose charges over a long and distinguished career included Roberto Durán and Larry Holmes,[60][61] was not a fan of Galento.

Still breathing easily, Dempsey ducked under the ropes and began to dress while Galento stood shaking his head in a semi-daze and trying to wipe the blood from his face with the backs of his gloves.

"Louis believes in the outdoor life and healthful exercises", McLemore continued, but "Galento likes to train in a nice dark, smoke-filled poolhall, where the terrific racket made by songbirds, bees and rippling brooks doesn't interfere with his concentration.

Galento told Blonk that he "used to work out two or three hours every day for a fight and run six miles", and then, after his exercise, decamp "across the street" and drink ten or so bottles of beer.

The prominent American literary critic Henry Louis Gates Jr. recounts in his memoir Colored People that during his childhood his father and brother would call him "Two-Ton Tony Galento" due to his being overweight.

[69] Famous and otherwise notable attendees included Tyrone Power, Gene Tunney, Jack Benny, Mary Livingstone, Andy Devine, New York Governor Herbert H. Lehman, and "head G-Man" John Edgar Hoover.

With seconds to go in the round, Louis, following up a successful straight right, caught Galento with a "crisp left on the point of the chin" that put 'Two Ton' down on the seat of his pants.

In his "Win, Lose or Draw" column, Francis E. Stan averred that Galento "did more damage and produced more thrills than more illustrious opponents of Louis such as Primo Carnera, King Levinsky, Max Baer, Paulino Uzcudun, Jack Sharkey and Nathan Mann.

Riffing on a quote from Lord Byron, Rice wrote that "[a]ll that happened to brave Tony in the Yankee Stadium last night was a violent and bloody mixture of lashing, laceration, mayhem, face-lifting assault with two dangerous weapons and a touch of TNT.

[92] Holding forth on what provided his "greatest thrill in sports", United Press newsman Jack Cuddy wrote in 1943 that "[a]mid the electrifying incidents and heroic performances that have stood out like sharply-etched mountain peaks through the years, the Louis-Galento fight to me was the most prominent of all.

"[98] In 1948, 59 fights into his professional career, Louis ranked Galento as his tenth toughest foe: behind Conn, Braddock, Baer, Farr, Schmeling, Walcott, Godoy, Pastor, and Sharkey.

[99] Commenting on the fight in a letter to his son, Patrick, Ernest Hemingway amusedly mused that "Galento certainly came very close to knocking Louis out and if he can do that on beer I wonder what he could do on Frozen Daiquiris?

[104] The newspaperman and author Sid Feder reckoned the fight to have been as "gory and bloody a spectacle as any slaughterhouse ever witnessed"—Galento and Nova "slugged and mauled, rushed in and clinched, but mostly they just fired left hands and watched the blood spurt.

Gayle Talbot, who characterized Galento's performance as a "surprising and amazing exhibition of hard punching and endurance", proclaimed that "[b]oth fighters appeared as if they had been hit by trucks at the finish".

[110] In a retrospective account of Galento versus Nova published in 1951, the Australian boxing writer John Murphy christened the bout the "grisliest knock-em-down and drag-em-out since the days of the last century bully boys.

He squared off against fellow ex-heavyweight contender Primo Carnera, grappled an octopus in a giant fish tank in Seattle, fought a 550 lb bear in a cage in Newark, and boxed a kangaroo in Atlantic City.

"[142] In a conversation with the academic William Baer, the screenwriter and producer Budd Schulberg said of Galento that he was a "natural actor, and I think he was terrific, except he couldn't remember his lines.

In 1943, following an altercation with a motorcycle patrolman named James Meehan,[144] he faced charges of "assault and battery, disorderly conduct and refusal to put a nickel in a parking meter.

"[163] The Canadian heavyweight George Chuvalo, who twice went the distance against Muhammad Ali, details in his autobiography that Galento taught him "how to follow a [head]butt with a short right hand, making it look like the punch caused the damage.

According to the New York Post gossip columnist and anecdotalist Leonard Lyons, the Manhattan restaurateur Toots Shor on seeing the wall inquired: "Where's the real picture—the one showing Joe Louis standing over you after the knockout?"

For Gould, Galento was not a figure of fun, but of pity—the perfect picture of an also-ran: "still cadging drinks in exchange for the true story of his moment of glory: when he knocked Joe Louis down before losing their fight for the heavyweight championship.