László Papp turned professional after his third Olympic title, in 1957, at the age of 31, after receiving all the permission at home to change careers. His professional career was also full of memorable matches and moments, to say the least, as early as 1958, in his second year in a match in Paris, the young Jean-Paul Belmondo, who had boxed himself until the age of 17 and looked up to the Hungarian wrestler as a role model, took a seat in the front rows. The match, scheduled for 10 rounds, ended with a KO in the third, Belmondo could admire Papp’s efficiency up close, and after the match he could personally shake hands with his idol. How much Pappo admired Belmondo, well, perhaps the best proof is that 17 years later, For his film Fear over the City also included the Hungarian boxer. To be precise, when the detective played by Belmondo questioned the owner of a dilapidated suburban restaurant before showing the witness a photo of a suspect, he went to the “wall of glory” behind the counter and pointed to three photos one after the other, immediately starting with the Hungarian legend: Who is this? To which the owner of the restaurant, almost shocked, answered in a self-evident manner that: Papp Laci (whom, by the way, in addition to his punches, his sense of humor was on point).
Photo: – / AFP
László Papp was a real genius in the ring
The story of his professional European championship defense in 1963 is also worth a visit. On December 6th, he stepped into the ropes at the Palacio de los Deportes in Madrid to defend his middleweight title against local powerhouse Luis Folledo, whom Papp knocked out nicely in the 8th round. So far, we can say that there is nothing special about this, except that next to the defender, the two domestic geniuses of universal football, Ferenc Puskás, who strengthened Real Madrid, and László Kubala, who previously played for Barcelona and then played for Espanyol, took their seats and cheered on their compatriot. After his victory, Papp turned to Puskas and said: “I don’t understand you, Öcsi, you’re complaining that you barely hear a word of Hungarian in Spain. Then tonight, I was cheered on by hundreds of Hungarians here.” To this Major Száguldó replied: “You’re wrong Görbe (this was László Papp’s nickname) – explained Puskás. – Apart from us, there are no Hungarians here. We hired these people with Kubala. Unemployed people from Castile, we bought them the zuga and paid them an hourly wage to encourage you. They also served their wages…”