Heavyweight Boxing Champion History

Copyright (C) 1994 by Don Sibrel

Gene Tunney was born in 1898 in New York City.  He became an 
amateur fighter winning the post-Armistice light heavyweight 
tournament in Paris while serving in the Marines.  Not since 
Corbett had there been as dedicated a student of boxing.  He was 
an excellent boxer, fast, and with great skill as a counter-
puncher.  Although no knockout artist, he KOed a number of 
opponents with a preponderance of punishing blows.  Tunney had 
only lost one fight.  This was to Harry Greb, whom he beat twice 
in return matches.  Tunney had easily beaten Tommy Gibbons. 
 
September 23, 1926 in Philadelphia:  Tunney fought Dempsey for 
the title. Early in the first round he was able to land a hard 
right to Dempsey's head that stunned the champion.  The result of 
this blow, and the fact that he was rusty from lack of fights the 
last three years, was that Jack never caught up to the much 
faster challenger.  Tunney won every round.  At the end of the 
ten round fight, Tunney was fresh and unmarked, while Dempsey was 
exhausted with his face cut to ribbons.  After the fight he made 
no excuses for the loss.  He told his wife he just forgot to 
duck.  Jack became more popular to fight fans after this loss 
than he was before it. 

July 21, 1927 in Yankee Stadium:  Dempsey fought Jack Sharkey for 
the right to challenge Tunney.  Sharkey, who was a very tough 
fighter, had a history of being either very good or very poor.  
He was an emotional fighter, who when he lost control, was his 
own worst enemy.  This was another million dollar gate.  Sharkey 
was leading this fight all the way when he dropped his hands to 
complain to the referee of a low blow.  That was all Dempsey 
needed as he quickly KOed Sharkey with a left hook. 
 
September 22, 1927 in Soldier's Field, Chicago:  The second 
Tunney-Dempsey fight was held.  More than 100,000 people paid 
$2,658,600, still a record, to see the scheduled ten round fight.  
It looked like a repeat of their first fight.  Dempsey trying to 
catch his much faster opponent who would jab and get out of the 
way before Jack could do any damage.  In the 7th Jack caught Gene 
with a left hook to the head, followed up with a flurry of 
punches and dumped the champion on the seat of his pants holding 
the middle strand of rope.  Dempsey, with  victory in sight, 
forgot to go to a neutral corner.  The referee properly stopped 
the count until Jack moved.  The champion, to his advantage, 
received an additional five seconds to clear his head before 
rising at the count of nine.  He was able to avoid the 
challenger's rushes and last out the round.  He was even able to 
knock Dempsey down for a short count in the next round with a 
right to the jaw.  Tunney easily won the decision.  He collected 
$990,000 for the fight. 

In twenty rounds of boxing of the two Dempsey-Tunney fights, 
Tunney had easily won nineteen rounds.  The age old question of 
who would have won the second fight if Dempsey had immediately 
gone to a neutral corner can never be answered with certainty.  
Gene claims he would have been able to win. Even if he would have 
been able to get up, he might not have been able to survive the 
rest of the round.  This famous "long count" is part of boxing 
history. 

Dempsey never tried a comeback.  He did not want to endanger his 
health. Both Tex Rickard and Tunney wanted another Tunney-Dempsey 
fight.  But it was not to be. 
 
July 26, 1928 in New York:  Tunney knocked out Tom Heeney. Tex 
Rickard lost $152,000 as only 45,890 paid to see the title fight 
without Dempsey.  Tunney retired two days later.  He became a 
wealthy businessman.  This was the last fight promoted by Tex 
Rickard.  He died in Florida in 1929. 

With Dempsey, Rickard and Tunney gone, boxing went unto the dark 
ages and did not recover until the days of Joe Louis.  After 
Tunney retired, the National Boxing Association and the New York 
Boxing Commission ordered a series of elimination bouts to 
determine the next heavyweight champion. 
 

June 12, 1930 in Yankee Stadium:  The six foot one, 188 lb German 
champion, Max Schmeling, fought the six foot, 197 lb Jack Sharkey 
for the heavyweight championship.  Jack, using jabs, hooks, and 
uppercuts was winning the fight.  In the 4th round, he hit 
Schmeling with a low blow.  Schmeling went down holding his 
groin.  The referee started counting.  The bell, ending the 
round, sounded at the count of five.  As round five started, the 
referee stopped the fight and awarded Schmeling the victory due 
to a foul, the low blow. 

Many people believed that films of the fight showed that the blow 
was not low. Corbett said, "Boxing will never recover from this 
smear."  Stop action of the blow using a VCR does indicate a low 
blow.  Anyhow, Schmeling was the new champion. As a result of 
this fight, a rule was introduced by the New York Boxing 
Commission that did away with all decisions based on fouls.  This 
was a departure from Queensberry. 
 
July 3, 1931 in Cleveland:  Schmeling won over Young Stribling 
when referee stopped fight in the 15th round. 
 

June 21, 1932  at Long Island City:  Schmeling and Sharkey fought 
a second time.  It was a dull, slow, tedious 15 rounds with no 
knockdowns.  Most people thought that Schmeling had won, but the 
decision was given to Sharkey.  Schmeling became the only fighter 
to win the championship lying down and lose it standing up. 
 

Primo Carnera was born in Italy in 1906.  When he was 17 years 
old he stood six feet five and 3/4 inches and weighed 250 lbs.  
He joined a small circus as the strong man and wrestler.  His 
muscular body could withstand almost any blow to the body, but 
unfortunately he had a glass jaw.  European mobsters promoted a 
number of fights where Primo's opponents were either paid to lose 
or were of such low caliber of fighter that even he would win 
easily.  Almost all of his victories were KOs. 

When he came to America, he fell into the hands of New York 
racketeers who did the same thing as their European counterparts. 
 
On June 29, 1933 at the Long Island City Bowl:   Carnera fought 
Sharkey for the heavyweight championship of the world.  Sharkey 
had previously decisioned Carnera.  This time Sharkey, outweighed 
by 60 lbs, easily won the first five rounds by beating his much 
slower opponent to the punch with jabs and hooks to the body.  In 
the 6th round Sharkey went down and out from an "invisible 
punch". 

In the next nine months, Carnera won the following two bouts by 
decisions over second rate fighters: 

October 22, 1933:  Carnera won 15 round decision over Paulino 
Uzcudun in Rome. 

March 1, 1934:  Carnera won 15 round decision over Tommy Loughran 
in Miami. Tommy, outweighed by 86 lbs, said "The big bum kept 
standing on my feet." 

 
Max Baer would be Primo's next opponent.  At six feet two inches 
and weighing 210 lbs., Max had the body and punch to be a great 
champion.  Unfortunately, "Madcap Maxi" was not a serious 
fighter.  He was a continual clown who hated to train and never 
became a good boxer, although he had the tools.  He won a lot of 
fights with early KOs(he had a great punch), but he lost several 
fights to noname fighters. In 1933 he knocked out Max Schmeling 
in the 10th round.  He was just too strong for the German. 
 
June 14, 1934 at the Long Island City Bowl:  Baer  won the title 
from the 265 lb. Carnera in a wild fight.  In the first round Max 
knocked Primo down twice.  The second time Primo pulled Max to 
the floor with him and they continued fighting on the canvas.  
Max yelling to Carnera, "the first one up is a sissy".  They both 
went down together in the second round.  Primo went down a total 
of 12 times in the fight. A record.  The referee stopped the bout 
in the 11th round with Primo taking a savage beating. 

The next fighter to win the heavyweight title was to be Jim 
Braddock.  The native of New York had a poor record, he had lost 
twenty fights, but he had beaten top opponents.  He was a 
methodical straight up fighter with a good left jab and a hard 
right.  He was courageous and honest. 
 
June 13, 1935 at the Long Island Bowl:  Braddock fought Baer for 
the title.  The odds were 10 to 1 for Max Baer.  Only 35,000 
attended the fight.  Jim took charge of the fight early and won 
an easy decision.  He was called the "Cinderella Man".  Films of 
this Baer-Braddock fight show a clowning Baer who appeared not to 
want to win.  

There was no title fight for the next two years. 

Joe Louis was born in 1914 in Alabama.  He moved to Detroit as a 
child.  He had a great record as an amateur, a Golden Glove 
Champion.  He turned pro in 1934 and won his first 12 fights, 10 
by knockout.  Joe was a combination boxer-puncher with a fast 
pair of hands and the hardest hitter a lot of people had ever 
seen.  He could knock out an opponent with just his great left 
jab. 

In the summer of 1935 he KOed Primo Carnera in six rounds. 

The 21 year old, 200 lb., over six foot, "Brown Bomber" knocked 
out Max Baer in four rounds. 

In June 1936 he fought Max Schmeling.  Joe was an overwhelming 
favorite to beat the 31 year old fighter who was considered past 
his prime.  The first part of the fight Louis won easily.  But in 
the 4th round Schmeling dropped Louis with a right to the jaw.  
He came up instantly, but never fully recovered.  Throughout the 
remainder of the fight, Schmeling was able to connect with his 
right hand to Louis's jaw a number of times.  Finally he KOed a 
badly beaten Louis in the 12th round. 

Most people were shocked by the results of the fight.  Louis made 
no excuses and said,"He just whupped me."  Louis had not trained 
hard for the fight, but would not make that mistake again.  He 
trained hard and fought often after that, and wished his 
opponents were Schmeling. 
 
June 22, 1937 at Yankee Stadium:   Before 50,000 patrons, Louis 
fought the 32 year old Braddock for the championship.  The 
heavily favored Louis went down in the first round from a right 
to the head.  He got up instantly.  After out boxing the badly 
beaten champion, Louis knocked him out in the 8th round. After 
the victory, Joe said he would be a fighting champion. 
 
August 30, 1937 in New York:  Louis defended title for the first 
time against Welchman Tommy Farr.  Farr turned out to be a game 
and very tough opponent.  Louis fought a very careful fight.  In 
the fourth round he landed a hard right to the jaw of the 
challenger but was unable to follow it up with a knockout punch.  
The same thing happened in round seven.  Max Schmeling said that 
Joe was afraid of getting hit.  By the tenth round the champion 
had puffing around his right eye.  

The challenger never retreated and gave a good account of 
himself.  The fight went the distance with Louis given the 
decision.  At fights end Farr had blood coming from his nose and 
had gashes under both eyes.  When the decision was rendered many 
fans booed the results not that Farr should have won, but that 
Louis should have fought more aggressively.  He probably should 
have. 
 
February 23, 1938 in New York:  Louis defended against Nathan 
Mann.  In the first round Louis stalked his opponent who was able 
to stay out of his way.  The challenger even handed a hard right 
to the champion's head.  In the second round Mann threw caution 
to the wind and tried to trade punches with Louis.  This was a 
mistake because while the challenger was a game fighter he had 
nowhere near the power in his punches that Louis had.  Louis 
immediately took control of the fight, sent Mann to the canvas 
several times and easily KOed his opponent in the third round.  
Louis said after the fight, "He started to fight me in the 2nd 
round and that wuz his big mistake.  He was a game boy, but he 
couldn't punch."  Louis also said he wanted to fight one more 
time before he defended against Max Schmeling. 
 
April 1, 1938 in Chicago:  Louis defended against Harry Thomas.  
Thomas had never been KOed in sixty professional fights.  The 
preceding December Schmeling had beaten Thomas as the referee 
stopped the fight after Harry was floored seven times. 

Louis toyed with the challenger for most of the first three 
rounds by using only his left jab.  With 15 seconds remaining in 
the third round Louis landed a solid right between the ear and 
temple of Thomas.  The challenger was spun completely around near 
his corner and as he appeared to start to go down his manager set 
the fighter's stool under him and he just sat down.  Louis 
remained standing puzzled in the center of the ring as the round 
ended with Thomas resting on the stool. 

Round four was brutal for the challenger as he was floored four 
times from viscous rights from the champion.  Thomas threw a few 
rights of his own but most landed on the shoulders and arms of 
Louis.   Round five was not much better for Thomas as he took a 
pounding and went down one time from a left hook.  The fight 
ended in the sixth round as Thomas went down from a barrage of 
left hooks and jabs to his head.  He was counted out in 2:50 
seconds of the round while on his hands and knees.  This was a 
very easy fight for the champion and he was unmarked. 
 
June 22, 1938 at Yankee Stadium:  70,000 fans came to see the 
second fight between Louis and Schmeling.  The fight ended in the 
first round.  From the opening bell, Louis hurled himself at the 
seemingly defenseless German.  With a flurry of punches Schmeling 
went down.  He was able to get up, but he could not avoid being 
knocked out.  Before the fight was over, Schmeling handlers cut 
the short wave radio wires that were used to send the radio 
broadcast of the fight to Germany.  One of Louis's blows to the 
body of Schmeling broke the spine of Max in two places. 

The world wide interest in this fight was amazing.  Hitler wanted 
Schmeling to show the world the superiority of Nazi Germany.  
Many people, not just black people, not just American people, but 
people in many countries hated Hitler and everything he stood 
for.  When Joe won he became their hero. 

Many believe that Joe Louis was the greatest fighter of all time.  
Most people would probably believe he was the best ever that 
night.  During his career, he defended the heavyweight title a 
record 25 times.  He was the first champion since Jeffries to 
risk the title against all comers. 
 
January 25, 1939 in  New York:  The 200 lb champion defended 
against the slow 220 lb John Henry Lewis.  The fight was a farce.  
While Louis never took a solid blow he gave the challenger a 
terrible beating.  Under the Louis onslaught, John Henry went 
down for counts of two and three before he caught a solid right 
to the jaw and was downed a third time.  The referee stopped the 
fight at 2:29 seconds of the first round.  Tony Galento said he 
could have KOed John Henry with one punch while it took Louis 
ten. 
 
April 17, 1939 in Los Angeles:  Louis KOed Jack Roper in the 1st 
round of a very short and exciting match.  The fight had hardly 
started when the challenger landed a very hard left hook flush on 
the nose and mouth of the champion.  Louis was momentarily 
staggered and stunned.  Roper in his haste to end the fight 
narrowly missed Louis with another left hook aimed at the head.  
By this time Louis had at least partially recovered and launched 
a barrage of body punches that sent Roper spinning toward the 
ropes.  Then Louis landed a hard left-right combination to the 
jaw that floored Roper.  As the count was reaching ten, the 
challenger was on his hands and knees trying to stand but then 
fell on his face.  The fight lasted 2:20 seconds. 

The champion came close to losing his title.  After the fight 
Louis said that  this was as hard as he had been hit since 
fighting Schmeling. 
 
June 28, 1939 in New York:  Louis defended title against the 
short, 233 lb New Jersey Beer Baron, Tony Galento.  Although an 8 
to 1 underdog, "Two Ton Tony" never took a step backwards and 
gave Louis a very tough fight.  Soon after the fight started, 
Galento rocked Louis with a left hook to the head.  Although the 
champion was in trouble, Tony was just not quick enough to end 
the fight.  Louis fought back and cut the challenger's upper lip 
before the first round ended.  Tony's crouching style gave Louis 
some early problems but as round two started Louis landed a hard 
left to Tony's jaw that spun him to the floor for a two count.  
Louis kept up the attack and by the end of the round the 
challenger was taking a bad beating. 

Louis continued the attack in the third round and staggered his 
opponent with several hard rights.  But while fighting in close, 
Galento landed a quick right and followed with a left that landed 
squarely to the champion's jaw.  Louis went down on the seat of 
his pants but was up at the count of two.  Tony had Louis in 
retreat for the rest of the round, but again as in round one he 
just wasn't fast enough to do any real damage. 

At the beginning of round four, Louis was dancing and staying 
away from the forward moving challenger.  Suddenly the fight 
turned.  Louis landed two left hooks solidly to Tony's jaw and 
had him swaying like a beer barrel.  In the next ten seconds 
Louis landed a barrage of sledgehammer blows to the head of 
Galento. This caused him to stagger and start to go down as the 
referee held him up and stopped the fight at 2:29 seconds of the 
4th round.  Galento ended the fight holding on to the ropes his 
face cut to ribbons.  He made a great effort, fought the fight of 
his life, but was just too easy for Louis to hit.  

Louis said that this was the toughest fight he had ever had.  "I 
hit him with 12 blows as hard as I could and he still didn't go 
down." 
 
September 20, 1939 in Briggs Stadium in Detroit:  The 204 lb 
Louis defended against the 187 lb Bob Pastor.  The fight was 
scheduled for twenty rounds.  The popular champion was fighting 
before his home folks.  In this fight Louis didn't use his left 
hand much because the challenger kept circling away from it.  
Louis started fast and was able to knock down his opponent four 
times in the first round.  Pastor took a number of hard right 
hand shots to his head, but was still able to finish the round 
even though badly hurt.  

In round two the challenger again was knocked down from a hard 
right to the head.  He took a nine count and finished the round 
looking amazingly strong.  From the third to the 11th round 
Pastor was able to avoid any damaging blows from the champion.  
In fact, outside of the first two rounds, it was not a 
particularly brutal fight.  The challenger had only a small gash 
on his left eye lid and a slightly bruised face.  The champion 
had a mouse under his left eye. 

The fight ended suddenly in the 11th round when Louis KOed Pastor 
with a single, clean and neat crushing right to the jaw.  Up to 
that point the challenger looked in good shape. 
 
February 9, 1940 in New York:  Louis defended title against 
Arturo Godoy of Chile.  Although Arturo didn't have a great 
punch, he had great desire.  His style of fighting was a 
continuing puzzle to the champion, and one that he really didn't 
solve, at least not that night.  Godoy tried to fight the whole 
fight on the inside trying not to give Louis any punching room.  
When Joe was successful in getting at long range from the 
challenger, Arturo would go to a crouching and bobbing style and 
Louis, for the most part, couldn't connect with many solid blows. 

In several rounds, Godoy bulled Louis into the ropes and 
exchanged punches on the inside.  Most of the challenger's blows 
bounced of the champion's gloves and shoulders.  Louis in the 
meantime was scoring on more clean, short blows, but couldn't 
connect with many power punches because of the closeness of the 
challenger. 

This mauling, bruising fight went the distance with Godoy coming 
away with puffy eyes and lips with a small cut over one eye.  
Some of the gallery thought that Louis had lost.  Even one 
official, Tommy Shortell, gave the fight to Arturo 10 rounds to 
5.  But the other two officials both gave 10 rounds to Louis as 
did the AP.  Joe clearly won the fight with many more clean 
punches.  

Godoy for some reason clowned it up in the 14th round.  He opened 
the round by going into an exaggerated crouch and letting his 
arms swing loosely about like an ape.  Then suddenly he 
straightened up and danced in wide circles about the puzzled 
champion.  After a few seconds of this he went back to his 
familiar style and the fight continued.  This may have been 
comedy, but the ring side fans would have preferred a knockout. 
 
March 29, 1940 in New York:  Louis defended against the Des 
Moines Fiddler, Johnny Paychek.  The fight was no contest.  In 
the first round Louis landed four solid punches that produced 
three knockdowns, all for a nine count.  The only offense Paychek 
was able to display was a looping right hand that just grazed the 
champion's chin.  That was after the second knockdown. 

The fight ended in 44 seconds of round two when a Louis right 
lifted the challenger off his feet.  Paychek fell to the canvas 
and was counted out.  A very, very easy fight for Louis. 
 
June 20, 1940 in New York:  Louis defended again against Arturo 
Godoy.  Louis weighed 199 lbs, appeared in great shape, and never 
looked better.  He was much more aggressive than in their first 
fight.  The challenger used the same bulling style as before, but 
this time Louis seemed much quicker and hit Arturo hard and often 
in every round.  Gradually the challenger wore down under the 
multitude of blows. 

At the end of round seven, Arturo was standing but out on his 
feet with the referee counting to six as the bell rang.  Round 
eight was all Louis as he landed a torrent of blows that floored 
Godoy for a six count.  Louis then ended the fight with a short 
right to the head of Arturo.  He fell forward on his battered 
face.  The referee then stopped the fight at 1:24 seconds of 
round eight.  A very impressive victory for the champion. 
 
December 16, 1940 in Boston:  Louis defended against Boston's own 
Al McCoy.  Louis was a 12 to 1 favorite and weighed 21 lbs more 
than his opponent.  The fight was a total mismatch.  Joe was 
easily able to land hard punches against McCoy and received not 
much in return.  McCoy's handlers mercifully kept their fighter 
from continuing after the fifth round. 
 
January 31, 1941 in New York:  Louis defended against Red Burman.  
This was to be one of Joe's toughest fights.  Red came after the 
champion from the opening bell.  Numerous times Burman bulled 
Louis around the ring as the challenger was able to land many 
hard wallops to Joe's head and body. 

Louis fought cooly and cautiously against his hard charging 
opponent.  Joe was forced to land only short and quick punches 
instead of having the opportunity to wind up for more powerful 
blows.  Louis said after the fight that Red Burman was the only 
fighter besides Galento who really tried to take the title away 
from him. 

The first three rounds were very hard fought with Burman making a 
surge in round four and clearly winning it.  At this point in the 
fight it looked like anything was possible.  But in round five 
things quickly changed.  Louis buried a jolting right into his 
opponents stomach.  Burman almost doubled over but quickly 
recovered only to take another right to the same spot.  Louis 
then landed maybe his hardest punch ever, a tremendous right to 
his opponents heart. 

Down went Burman, his breath completely gone, draped over the 
lower ring rope gasping for air through contorted lips.  He 
couldn't move as the referee counted him out.  This was a great 
fight that ended in spectacular fashion. 
 
February 17, 1941 in Philadelphia:  Louis defended against home 
town favorite Gus Dorazio.  The challenger can out, fast traded 
some punches with the champion, and did a lot of bobbing, 
weaving, and ducking and held his own in round one.  In round two 
he again traded a few punches but then was jolted with Joe's 
first good punch of the fight.  Gus countered with a right to 
Joe's chin.  The challenger then received a powerful right to his 
own jaw, stiffened, fell forward face first to the canvas and was 
counted out.  

A very easy fight for Louis.  The fight was so one sided that 
State Senator Haluska thought that Dorazio may have taken a dive.  
The Senator wanted an investigation.  However, nothing became of 
it. 
 
March 21, 1941 in Detroit:  Louis defended against Abe Simon.  A 
record crowd of 18,908 saw this fight with over 3,000 late comers 
being turned away.  The 6 feet 4 inch, 254 lb challenger given 
little chance against the 202 lb champion, proved to be a most 
worthy opponent.  Simon a tank of a man, who had never been 
knocked off his feet, shed most of Louis's blows while thumping 
Joe with wagon-tongue left jabs that had the champion's left eye 
almost closed in the later rounds.    In round one Louis 
connected with a vicious right to Abe's whiskers that knocked the 
challenger down.  He was up quickly at the count of one.  Louis 
said after the fight that he knew he was in trouble because he 
had "hit him good." 

Round three provided some comedy.  A solid left hook to the jaw 
of Simon caused him to shake his head and say oh oh.  Louis then 
scored another solid punch to the jaw, a right in this case.  
Simon sat down hard on the canvas and grinned.  He stayed that 
way, then got up when the count reached nine.  Round seven was a 
crowd pleaser with Louis at one point knocking Simon through the 
ropes, then shortly before the bell Simon, now recovered, landed 
a hard left hook to the champion's head that had Joe staggering 
and shaking his head as he went to his corner. 

The bout, scheduled for twenty rounds, looked like it might have 
gone the distance after ten rounds.  Simon probably won rounds 2, 
6 and 10 and held is own in 4 and 8.  But then Louis appeared to 
get stronger and Simon weaker. In round 13, Joe landed a stunning 
left hook to the head and followed it up with a hard right that 
put Simon down for a nine count.  He make it up but Louis 
connected with another right and down Abe went for another nine 
count. Louis landed a left-right combination that rocked the 
challenger who turned away and staggered crazily alone the ropes 
toward his corner.  The referee then stopped the fight at 1:20 
seconds of the 13th round. 
 
April 8, 1941 in St. Louis:  Louis beat Tony Musto when referee 
stopped fight in 9th round. 
 
May 23, 1941 in Washington:  Louis declared winner over Buddy 
Baer, brother of Max, when Buddy was disqualified in 7th round.  
He refused to come out for the 7th round claiming Joe had hit him 
after the bell sounded ending the 6th round.  Buddy had knocked 
Joe through the ropes in the first round. 
 
June 18, 1941 in New York:  Louis defended the title against 
Billy Conn. Conn a fast, brilliant boxer had been light 
heavyweight champion.  Conn, outweighed 174 to 199 lbs, outboxed 
the champion through twelve rounds, and was leading on points.  
Conn, using a devastating left hook, had mostly beat Louis to the 
punch for a good portion of the fight.  Billy, feeling very 
confident at that time, tried to go for a knockout.  But Louis, 
with a quick combination of blows, was able to KO Conn in the 
13th round to salvage the fight.  This was to be the closest 
Louis came to losing the title until he fought Joe Walcott. 
 
September 29, 1941 in New York:  Louis defended against Lou Nova.  
The fight contained little action for the first three rounds.  
Before the fight Louis had been told that Nova would rush in and 
try to fight on the inside.  But the opposite happened.  Lou 
tried to stay away from Joe for the whole fight.  Louis 
cautiously bore in on his opponent and Lou for the most part just 
moved away.  In round four Louis connected with a solid right 
that staggered the challenger, but he survived the round while 
taking more punishment. 

Round five and the first half of round six contained so little 
action that it brought some booing from ringside.  Then suddenly 
Louis feinted with his left and landed one of his hardest punches 
ever - a right to Nova's jaw that had the impact of a sledge 
hammer.  It was written that the great crowd of 60,000 witnessed 
in this single blow the precession and power that they may never 
again see.  Nova just managed to rise at the count of nine.  
Louis quickly landed about 25 shots to the head and body of Nova 
before referee Arthur Donovan stopped the fight at 2:59 seconds 
of the sixth round.  Nova was Floundering about the ring not able 
to protect himself. 

After the fight Ray Carlen, Lou's manager, complained that the 
referee shouldn't have stopped the bout with only one second left 
in the round.  But Nova, who had practiced yoga for the fight, 
had no such complaints.  He said that Donavan could referee all 
of his bouts.  Lou said, "Both us fighters were looking for an 
opening and he found one.  I never was hit so hard in my life.  I 
just forgot to duck." 
 
January 9, 1942 in New York:  Louis defended against Buddy Baer.  
The six foot six inch 250 lb challenger charged Louis at the 
opening bell and forced Joe to clinch near his own corner.  Buddy 
tried some uppercuts at close quarters but Louis broke free and 
then came at Buddy bobbing and weaving ala Jack Dempsey against 
Willard.  Louis forced Baer back across the ring with a number of 
stiff punches about the head and body.  Baer tried to fight back 
but was caught with a left-right combination that drove him into 
the ropes. 

Buddy then was able to hand a right uppercut to the head of 
Louis.  It shook Joe and blooded his lip, but didn't slow him 
down.  If anything it made him more determined.  Away from the 
ropes Louis landed a series of lefts and rights to the head that 
toppled the challenger over backwards to the canvas.  Buddy 
easily made it up at the count of nine but received an explosion 
of punches from all directions ending with a right hook to the 
head that spun Buddy and he then toppled over like a falling 
chimney.  He landed on one shoulder with his head hitting the 
canvas with a loud thud that was heard several rows up from the 
ring. 

Baer barely was able to make the nine count and again received a 
barrage of blows climaxing in a right to his chin.  Down he went.  
This time he was counted out at 2:56 seconds of the first round 
while lying on his back with one glove on the lower ring rope 
trying to pull himself up.  

Louis had put on another awesome display of boxing and punching 
power.  Joe donated his purse to the Navy Relief Fund and entered 
the Army a few days after this fight.  

There was another article of note in the same paper that covered 
the results of the Louis-Baer fight.  Forty six year old Jack 
Dempsey was told by the War Department that he was too old for 
the Army, since he had no previous military experience. 

March 27, 1942 in New York:  Louis defended  against Abe Simon 
again.  The 255 lb challenger fought the same aggressive, boring 
in, awkward fight that he had fought previously.  The 207 lb 
champion tried to stay at long range to get punching room.  In 
round one Louis was able to land a number of hard punches to the 
body and head of Abe, but he survived the round.  At the start of 
round two Abe winked at the referee indicating that he thought 
everything was under control.  Near the end of the round Louis 
landed a succession of left-right combinations to the head of 
Simom and he toppled over like a felled tree.  The bell sounded 
ending round two with the count at two.  Abe's seconds scrambled 
into the ring and carried the groggy behemoth back to his corner. 

It appeared to many at ringside that the challenger wouldn't make 
it up from his stool for round three.  But the bell sounded and 
out he came.  Amazingly he not only recovered and survived round 
three, but more than held his own against Louis.  Abe did loose 
the round from a low blow.  Simon continued to score points with 
his inside brawling and won round four. 

Louis, ever-patient and always looking for an openings, found 
them in the later stages of round five.  He scored a number of 
combinations and knocked Simon on the seat of his pants near his 
corner.  The count reached six and again Abe was saved by the 
bell. Abe's seconds, with much effort, pulled him up and slid his 
stool under him.  Simon made it out for round six and immediately 
caught a left hook and right cross from the champion and down 
went Abe for the third time.  Simom crawled to the ropes and was 
pulling himself up as referee Eddie Josephs counted him out.  
Simon and him manager complained bitterly that he was up before 
the count of ten.  But he was clearly a beaten fighter.  Big, 
strong, tough, but still beaten. 

Louis donated his purse to the Army and Navy Relief Fund.  He 
also had paid $2,500 of his own money for tickets to the fight 
for some of his friends. 

June 19, 1946:  Louis beat Conn again with a KO in the 8th round 
in New York. This was a dull fight with Conn constantly 
retreating without fighting effectively. 

September 18, 1946 in New York:  Louis defended against Tami 
Mauriello.  The challenger had an impressive string of knockouts 
going into this match.  Very early in round one Mauriello landed 
a light left hook followed by a booming overhand right to the 
champion's jaw that almost knocked him down.  Louis knocked back 
into the ropes held on to the charging challenger.  After they 
separated, the challenger moved in close where they exchanged 
punches.  Louis, with the quicker hands, scored a right uppercut 
and left hook to the jaw and down went Tami.  He quickly got up 
to one knee and took an eight count.  Louis, now in charge, 
landed a flurry of punches that knocked the challenger down for 
the second time.  With both knees on the canvas and hands on the 
ropes, Tami Mauriello was counted out. 

December 5, 1947 at Madison Square Garden:  Louis defended his 
title against "Jersey Joe" Walcott. The lightly regarded Walcott 
gave Louis the fight of his life.  In the first round, Louis went 
down from a short right to the head.  Louis quickly got up and 
continued his attack.  In the fourth round, Louis went down from 
another right to the head.  This time Louis was seriously hurt, 
and rose at the count of seven.  Walcott continued to outbox the 
champion and was winning the fight.  His handlers told "Jersey 
Joe" that if he could keep from being knocked out, the 
championship would be his.  In the last few rounds, he was able 
to stay away from the champion.  Most people who saw the fight 
thought that Louis had lost his title.  But the split decision 
went against "Jersey Joe".  Two officials had Louis winning 8-6-1 
and 9-6.  The third official had Walcott the winner by 7-6-2.  
This was the first time that Louis left the ring to jeers. 

The decision was investigated, but the boxing authorities found 
nothing illegal.  But Louis was highly encouraged to give the  
challenger another chance. 

June 25, 1948 at Yankee Stadium:   Louis knocked out Walcott with 
a flurry of combinations in the 12th round.  Joe Louis, while the 
winner, was clearly over the hill.  He retired on March 1, 1949. 


June 22, 1949 in Chicago:  The 35 year old Walcott, fighting now 
for 20 years, fought the six foot, 180 lb, 28 year old Ezzard 
Charles for the vacant heavyweight title.  Charles  was one of 
the best light heavyweights of all time in the mid 1940's.  In 
his career he beat Archie Moore and Billy Maxim three times each.  
In this fight, the two cautious fighters fought 15 dull rounds 
with Charles given the decision.  The NBA recognized Charles as 
world  champion but the NYBC and England didn't. 

August 10, 1949 in New York's Yankee Stadium:  Charles defended 
against 34 year old Gus Lesnevich.  Charles was a 3 to 1 favorite 
against a fighter that was past his prime.  Charles proved to be 
much the better boxer in the 91ø heat.  As in his last bout, 
Ezzard Charles was cool, calm, efficient but not a great puncher 
and therefore not a crowd pleaser.  He did stagger Gus in the 
first round with two rights to the head.  Late in round two he 
rocked Gus with a flurry of light but well placed punches.   

In round three a red and purple blotch appeared under Gus's right 
eye.  In rounds four, five and seven blood flowed from the 
challenger's left eye.  The only round in which Lesnevich won was 
the sixth. Gus's handler Freddy Fierro told referee Ruby 
Goldstein after the seventh round that his fighter's eyes were 
too bad to continue.  The referee consulted with the ringside 
fight doctor then asked Gus if he wanted to continue.  Gus walked 
over and shook Charles's hand signifying that the fight was over.  
A number a fans at ringside booed. 

October 14, 1949 in San Francisco's Cow Palace:  Charles KOed Pat 
Valentino in the 8th round.  Charles again proved that he was a 
very good boxer.  Pat fought hard but was clearly outclassed.  
Charles was unmarked as he was in his last fight.  Blood was 
streaming from the nose of the challenger as he attempted to get 
to his feet before the ten count.  He made it to one knee but 
then toppled over and was counted out. 

August 15, 1950 in Buffalo's Memorial Auditorium:  Charles 
defended against Freddy Beshore.  Charles was a 5 to 1 favorite 
against the lightly regarded challenger.  The small fight crowd 
was partly due to two previous postponements of this fight due to 
training injuries to Charles - a fractured rib and a bruised 
heart muscle.  Again Charles was much the better fighter. While 
he had Beshore practically out on his feet in rounds 4,7,10 and 
14, there were no knockdowns.  Referee Barney Felix stopped the 
bout at 2:53 seconds of the 14th round due to Beshore's right ear 
being in "dangerous condition." 

The fans booed this decision, Charles when he hit the challenger 
after the bell ending the 13th round, and several times in the 
fight when the action was slow.  Beshore and his manager 
protested vigorously that the fight should not have been stopped.  
After the fight the referee stated that Freddie was also bleeding 
from the nose, mouth, left brow, a gash under left eye, and was 
cut in left ear. 

This fight was Buffalo's first and probably last heavyweight 
championship bout. 

September 27, 1950 in Yankee Stadium:  A 216 lb, 36 year old Joe 
Louis fought the 182 lb, 29 year old, Charles.  Louis had looked 
slow in training, but was still favored to win.  Charles won the 
unanimous decision.  He was much quicker than Louis.  Charles now 
had the undisputed title. 

December 5, 1950 in Cincinnati:  The 185 lb champion Ezzard 
Charles defended against 179 lb Nick Barone.  The stocky Syracuse 
ex-Marine forced the fighting from the first bell with a body 
attack against the champion.  Although Barone was able to land a 
large number of hard blows to Charles's ribs with his inside 
fighting, Ezzard never was in any trouble and out boxed Nick in 
almost every round. 

Early in the 11th round, Barone's knees were buckled from a right 
to his chin.  The challenger hung on for a time, but finally 
Charles was able to push Barone away, land a flurry of rights and 
lefts culminating with a solid right to the jaw of Barone and 
down he went.  At the count of six the challenger rolled to his 
side but remained there and was counted out in 2:06 seconds of 
the 11th round.  This was the first time Barone had been floored 
in 53 bouts.  Charles's home town crowd of 10,085 gave him a 
rousing ovation as the fight ended. 

The champion was unmarked, while Barone left the ring with a cut 
lip and eye, and a badly battered nose. 

January 12, 1951 in New York at Madison Square Garden:  Charles 
defended against Lee Oma.  Charles won easily against the lightly 
regarded fighter from Buffalo.   Charles out boxed the challenger 
for nine rounds, and won the fight in 1:19 seconds of round ten 
when the referee stopped the bout.  Oma was unable to defend 
himself after receiving three left hooks to the jaw. 

March 7, 1951 in Detroit:  The 29 year old, 186 lb champion 
defended against the 37 year old, 193 lb challenger Joe Walcott.  
These fighters were to oppose each other a total of five times.  
This fight was much better than their first match 20 months 
previously.  In round four Walcott caught Charles with a crushing 
right to the chin that almost toppled the champion.  He was able 
to hold onto the challenger for the remaining 60 seconds to the 
bell and survived the round. 

In round nine Charles rocked Walcott to the canvas with a right 
to the head and a left hook to the jaw.  In the 14th, a right by 
Charles sent Walcott reeling back against the ropes.  The 15th 
round brought a roar from the crowd when Walcott, sensing defeat, 
launched a final attack and landed a number of solid punches.  
However by this time most of the power was gone from Jersey Joe 
and Charles now became the aggressor and he landed a number of 
heavy punches as the fight ended. 

Charles was given an unanimous decision.  He landed the most 
punches, many of them short punches while fighting in close.  In 
this fight, Charles injured his left ear and would have to be 
sidelined for at least two months.  This was bad news for ex-
champ Joe Louis.  Joe was hoping to fight Charles in the near 
future.  He had gone back into training, got his weight down to 
207 lbs, fought four bouts and appeared to many to be still the 
best fighter around. 

May 30, 1951 in Chicago Stadium:  Charles defended against light 
heavyweight champ. Joey Maxim.  Charles, a 11 to 5 favorite, 
fought for him a very aggressive and not too clean a fight.  
Referee Frank Gilmer warned Charles in rounds one, two, three, 
six, and nine for low blows, heeling with the palm of his hand, 
and for hitting below the belt.  Maxium was also warned several 
times for illegal tactics.  In round four as the fighters were 
being pushed apart by the referee, Maxium landed a hard over hand 
right that staggered the heavyweight champion.  Ezzard stood back 
on wobbly legs and looked at the referee as if asking why he 
permitted Joey to hit on the break. 

For all his warnings, the referee never took a round away from 
either fighter.  The fight went the distance with Charles given 
an unanimous decision over the blood-smeared challenger.  One 
official had it 78 to 72, the other two had it 85 to 65.  The 
United Press scored it in rounds 11-3-1 for Charles. 



July 18, 1951 in Pittsburgh:  Charles defended his title again 
against Joe Walcott.  Charles was heavily favored.  He had easily 
beaten the best fighters of that time.  The first six rounds had 
Charles leading in a very dull fight.  But in the 7th round, to 
the surprise of nearly everyone, Walcott knocked Charles out with 
one punch, a left hook.  Joe Walcott, the 37 year old veteran in 
his fifth attempt, had become heavyweight champion of the world.  
This Bible reading, son-in-law of a preacher, father of six, had 
retired four different times from boxing.  Eight years previous 
to this fight, he was rejected a boxing license in the state of 
New Jersey because of his age. 

One month before Walcott won the championship, Rocky Marciano 
knocked out Rex Layne.  Layne had recently beaten Walcott and had 
lost only one fight.  Marciano, born in 1923 in Brockton, Mass. 
only started boxing when he was 23. The six foot, 190 lb fighter 
had determination, a powerful build, and a blockbuster punch.  He 
had enormous arms and shoulders. 

On October 26, 1951 at Madison Square Garden.  Marciano knocked 
out Joe Louis to put himself in line for the title.  

June 5, 1952 in  Philadelphia:  Walcott defended against Ezzard 
Charles.  The now 38 year old champion tried to prove that his 
win over Charles wasn't by just a lucky punch.  This was another 
dull fight.  Walcott did rally in the 15th round to get a narrow 
but unanimous decision over Charles.  The officials had it 8-7, 
7-6-2 and 9-6 all for Jersey Joe.  The Associated Press had it 7-
6-2 Charles. 

September 23, 1952 in Philadelphia's Municipal Stadium:  Marciano 
fought Walcott before 40,000 fans.  There was tremendous interest 
in this fight.  The young slugger against the aging craftsman.  
It was a tremendous  fight.  In the first round Rocky went down 
for the first time in his career from a left hook to the head.  
The fight turned into a series of spurts, with Walcott more than 
holding his own.  After 12 rounds Walcott was leading in a very 
tough, hard fought fight.  The fight ended suddenly with a short 
right to the head of the champion.  The photos of Walcott's face 
at the time of impact attest to the magnitude of the punch.  
Although "Jersey Joe" lost his title, he gained new respect as a 
fighter.  No one thought that he could give and receive the 
number of punishing blows delivered in the match. 

May 15, 1953 in Chicago:  Marciano easily beat Walcott in their 
return match with a KO in the 1st round.  Time had finally caught 
up to "Jersey Joe".