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Lowell Sun - Lowell's Always been a Knockout to Joe DeNucci
By Peter Lucas - 1/26/2010

You're writing for the Lowell Sun?"

"Yeah."

"That's great. Lowell -- my favorite city. My favorite paper."

With that Joe DeNucci, the state auditor, pulled me in for a hug that almost broke my back. He made a fist gesture an NFL quarterback makes when he completes a key downfield pass. "I got my start in Lowell. Lowell is in my heart. The Lowell Sun is in my heart. I won my first fight in Lowell."

He looked around his office at the Statehouse as though it were a boxing ring. "I won the Golden Gloves welterweight division at Lowell Memorial Auditorium in 1956. That's where I got my start. I turned pro the next year. Lowell, the Golden Gloves, propelled me to where I am today."

Joe DeNucci, former top-ranked fighter from 1957 to 1973 with 73 professional fights (and countless amateur bouts), former state representative from Newton from 1981 to 1987, and state auditor from 1988 to present is hanging it all up at the end of his current term. He is 70 years old now and will not seek re-election.

"Do you know that when I announced my candidacy for state auditor I went to Lowell to make the announcement there first?" DeNucci said.

His most recent visit to Lowell was during the filming of The Fighter, Mark Wahlberg's movie about Lowell's native son, "Irish" Micky Ward. "Yeah, I met Mark Wahlberg. A nice kid."

DeNucci will walk away from a key statewide office that annually conducts audits of all state agencies, from local housing authorities to the Big Dig. The job pays him $138,000, has an annual budget of $18 million, and employs 325 people. Besides that, he loves the job. So why leave?

"It's not an easy decision. I've never walked away from a fight in my life. It's difficult for me to leave. But it's the right time to go. It's time," he said.

You might say that DeNucci has had three careers -- fighter, state representative and state auditor -- and has been successful in all three. But it is boxing that easily dominates the conversation once you bring up the subject.

I brought it up because I first saw DeNucci fight at the old Boston Garden in the early '60s when I was a young reporter for the long-defunct Boston Traveler, an afternoon paper that went the way of the fight game.

DeNucci was a rising middleweight with an impressive winning streak against some of the top fighters of the day. He frequently won by knockout.

Then he ran into the late Larry Carney, a tough young fighter from Lowell. DeNucci had three rough fights at the Boston Garden with Carney who, when not fighting, worked for the city of Lowell.

I saw all three.

They were epic battles. It was a time when the fight game was an important sport and it drew thousands of fans to the Garden. Everybody went to the fights.

The first DeNucci/Carney fight, Dec. 9, 1963, was a bloody battle that went 10 rounds and ended in a draw. Carney beat DeNucci the second time in a 10-round split decision on Feb. 17, 1964. They fought again on Dec. 18, 1964, in another battle that ended in another draw.

"I had three tough fights with Larry Carney, and they were all close," DeNucci said. "Without a doubt I thought the world of him. But naturally, I thought I won all three fights."

I later met DeNucci when he worked as a court officer at the Statehouse, a beat I covered back then for the Boston Globe. DeNucci was launching a comeback in 1971 after being inactive for two years. He won five fights in a row.

I persuaded DeNucci to cooperate for a Globe Magazine piece I wanted to do on him. He agreed, and I spent days with him as he went through his training regimen for a big fight with Cha Cha Cabrera of New York at the Garden. He won the fight. The Globe piece ran -- "I had to come back" -- and DeNucci was on his way.

But he had to beat the great Emile Griffith in order to get a championship fight with middleweight champion Carlos Monzon of Argentina.

Unfortunately, Emile Griffith beat DeNucci and Griffith got the title shot instead. DeNucci's fighting life came to an end.

But sometimes, if you're lucky and you work harder than the next guy, you find that when one door closes another door opens.  

What has all of this got to do with politics? Not much. But it has a lot to do with life.