More Troublesome Italians Rioting in Shanghai

I blogged recently about Italian soldiers and nationalists rioting at the Isis cinema in Hongkew in 1937….seems they kept getting into trouble…here they are rioting again in 1938. This time the problem was a boxing match at the old Canidrome Gardens when Chuck Haines, a member of the US Fourth Marines stationed in Shanghai, decked Daspar Allesandri, an Italian Savoy Grenadier stationed in the city, in the third round. Seems the Italians weren’t happy! They may have had reason to be pissed off – it was regularly alleged that fights were fixed at the Canidrome. On the other hand the Marines famously had some tasty boxers in their ranks. Seems the Garde Municipal Frenchtown flics waded in and stopped a full scale riot occurring….Probably they all departed for Blood Alley, got drunk and then finished off their arguments out in the street.