BOXING Youngstown native's contributions savored

Ralph Citro has a place in the sport's hall of fame.
CANASTOTA, N.Y. -- Youngstown-born Ralph Citro was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame last month.
Citro, whose family moved to Blackwell, N.J., in 1939, was inducted in the non-participant/observer category.
Some of the others inducted in Citro's category included Bill Gallo, a sports cartoonist at the New York Daily News.
Leaving his mark: Now 75, Citro had an amateur boxing record of 18-3. In fact, his first fight was against his next-door neighbor, Tony Janeiro, on Truesdale Avenue on the East Side.
He was a trainer and boxing gym proprietor and also a matchmaker for Jersey Joe Walcott.
He is widely considered one of boxing's top cutmen with over 125 world championship bouts to his credit.
Some of the former champions Citro worked for as a regular cutman were Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns, Michael Moorer and Riddick Bowe.
He also worked with such well-known and accomplished fighters as Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Alexis Arguello and Aaron Pryor.
Citro also authored the book "So You Want to be a Cornerman?"
On record: A big contribution to the boxing world is Citro's record keeping.
In 1981, he created a central database for boxing records and, in 1984, he began publishing the Computer Boxing Update. It lists boxing and medical records for fighters worldwide and has become the standard for the sport.
International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees in the modern category for 2001 were Ismael Laguna, Laszlo Papp, Willie Pastrano, Ultiminio "Sugar" Ramos and Randy Turpin.