Coley Wallace

American actor and boxer (1927-2005)

Born

1927

Died

30 January 2005

Citizenship

United States

Sport

boxing

Discipline

heavyweight

Occupation

actor, boxer

Coley Wallace (April 5, 1927 – January 30, 2005) was an American actor and heavyweight boxer who once outpointed Rocky Marciano in a very close split decision three-round amateur fight.

Although Wallace, a Jacksonville, FL native, had a respectable record as a professional (20-7-0), his claim to fame came in 1948 when, as an amateur, he once defeated in a very close split decision future heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano in the finals of the New York Golden Gloves Tournament. The decision was not welcomed by crowd and many considered it a draw. Wallace fought Ezzard Charles in his professional career, among others.

Wallace's contract was "owned" under the table by the notorious Frank "Blinky" Palermo, a member of the Philadelphia crime family. Palermo was imprisoned in 1961 for conspiracy and extortion for the covert ownership of prizefighters.

After boxing career, Wallace acted in four movies, twice portraying the boxer Joe Louis.

Wallace died on January 30, 2005, of heart failure in New York City.

Films

External links

• Wikipedia
• BoxRec
• IMDb
• Wikidata

Facts from Wikidata Q5144731 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.

Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.