Henry Armstrong and Enrico Venturi
Boxers and some other athletes have to weigh in before the bout, because they compete in weight categories. For example, a welterweight boxer must weigh no more than 147 pounds. Since a heavier fighter has an advantage, competitors try to pack on as much muscle as possible without going over the limit. Just before the fight, each competitor is officially weighed. If he is over the limit, he strips off everything and tries again, because sometimes a few ounces can make the difference.
So, over the years we have been treated to a succession of naked weigh-ins.
In 1938, the weigh-ins for a fight between boxers Henry Armstrong and Enrico Venturi were captured by LIFE photographer Carl Mydans. Here's Enrico Venturi weighing in. In those early days, nobody worried about modesty.
And here's Henry Armstrong weighing in.
The boxers' modesty was such a non-issue that the photo of Henry Armstrong stark naked was actually published in the Jan. 31, 1938 issue of LIFE (above).
Many more weigh-ins to come.
4 comments:
Back in the 1960s, I found a stack of Life magazines in my grandmother's attic. She had every single one, back to the first issue. I was bored one day, and began to leaf through them, never suspecting the preponderance of male nudity I'd find in there. There was a lot, from the 1930s to the late 1940s. She let me keep the ones I wanted; she didn't suspect my motives, so I kept the ones with the nudity. A couple years later, my Dad thought they were trash and tossed them. Sigh.
Dan, all issues of LIFE magazine have been scanned and are available online at https://books.google.com/books?id=N0EEAAAAMBAJ&hl=en#all_issues_anchor. That's where I got the photo of the 1938 issue above, and many others that I will be posting. Have a look. Maybe you'll find some of your old favorites.
I have the frontals of Henry Armstrong from this set if you are interested.
thatbearguy@gmail.com
There are on my blog too. thephallophile.blogspot.com
Thanks, bear guy. I have the frontals from that series, too, but I didn't post them today because today was about weighing in. I like the "birthday meat" posts on your blog. Nice!
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