IN FOUR ROUNDS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 30 June 1939, Page 5

IN FOUR ROUNDS

LOUIS DEFEATS GALENTO ON TEC HNICAL KNOC KOUT CHAMPION FLOORED ONCE | It.P A --By Electric Telegraph —Cnpvr|*htl NEW YORK. 28th June. 11l the title bout, witnessed by a i crowd exceeding 50.000, Joe Louis defeated the challenger, Tony Galentn, by a technical knockout in the fourth round. Louis was floored by Galcnto for a count of two in the third round. Louis has been floored only four times in his career, and no one had knocked Galcnto off his feet before. The contender fought a courageous fight, and against any other than the steely-nerved, lightning-fast Louis he would probably have won, but. as hard as Galcnto could hit the cham-

pion. he was unable to hurt him sufficiently to more than momentarily slow him up. The referee undoubtedly saved Galento from serious injury. Galcnto weighed in at 233f1b and Louis at 200flb. Galento came out plainly intent on taking the fight to the champion, and he landed a series of lefts and rights that drove Louis to the ropes, but the negro responded with a couple of hard rights. It was Galento’s round easily. 1 The second round found Louis tak- : ing the upper hand, and he hit the i c iUllenger at will, opening bad cuts over his eyes and causing Galento to bleed profusely. Galento was floored 'from a right and left to the face, but | be arose without a count and hung on as Louis tried to finish him. It was Louis’s round. LOUIS DOWN In the third round Galento landeu ■ hax-d right, flooring Louis for a count of two. This was the hich point of the round, which saw both administer considerable punishment to each other. It was Galcnto’s round. In the fourth Louis landed a hard right, and blood spurted from G&lento's face. The champion then jabbed the Contender with his left, crossed with his right to the head, and then put Galento back against the ropes with a hard right, where he hammered him with rights and lefts to the head. Galento began to sink to the canvas, and the referee stopped th? bout. GALENTO’S CHANCE LOST The boxing editor of the Associated Press of America says: “When the

I champion arose in the third round from ? t » canvas and managed to stave off ■ Galento’s rush for the rest of the • round. Tony's hopes came to an end. “Galento at this point was within one punch of the world heavyweight championship. Had he been able to land one solid smash when the ‘tan terror’ arose from the floor—had he been able to charge in and connect with Louis in the latter’.; dazed condition—he would have brought to a - climax one of the most amazing rises fistiar.a has ever seen; but he Just didn’t have what it takes.” Galento said after the fight: “I had to get careless and let dat bum stop A sports writer in the American r. agazine “Life” wrote recently:— “Galento has been fighting since 1929, He has always been a poolroom toughie. Because he has no defence, no footwork. no deception, he terrifies his opponents with loud bellows, butting with his head and waving his arms like a windmill. Until 1935. few people outside of New Jersey had ever heard of Tony. In that year he came under the control of manager Joe Jacobs, who lias since built up the loud-talking boxer into a national figure, not unlike th. comic strip’s Joe Palooka. Against Louis, Tony will have to stand up and fight. If he lives through the evening, he should mat- 100,000 dollars, and be able to retire for life to his Orange, N.J., saloon.”