JUDGES AGREED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22822, 1 September 1937, Page 15

JUDGES AGREED

UNANIMOUS VERDICT LOSER CONFOUNDS CRITICS WELSHMAN'S AMAZING STAMINA (Received August 31, ,Y55 p.m.) XKW YORK, August 30 The decision of the judges in the Farr-Louis contest was unanimous, but it was most unpopular. A large section of the crowd of 35,000 spectators booed for a long period. The United I'ress Association's boxing critic states that Farr gave Louis the most amazing battle of tlio negro's career, with the exception of Sclimcling's knockout victory. The New York Times' writer states: "Louis retained the championship, but caught a Tartar. Farr confounded the critics and upset Louis, whose hitting was neutralised, if not altogether nullified. He stood up under the battering blows of tflo negro and fought back savagely, furiously and sometimes contemptuously against tremendous odds."

The commentator for the Northern Alliance of Newspapers Association, writes: "Farr fought back, although he was reeling and glass-eyed during the closing rounds, which .ho won. Yells of admiration came from the crowd at his gameucss. He went in and fought Ills best from start to finish." The consensus of opinion among experts is that Fair is a much abler and gamer fighter than anybody has realised, but he has a fatal weakness owing to a lack of sufficient power in his punches to score a knockout. Louis suffered a contusion of the third knuckle of his right hand and the third knuckle of his left is badly swollen. The injury to his right hand is virtually certain to prevent him from being matched with Schmeling in October, although there has been 110 official announcement. Comments of Contestants Interviewed after the bout, Louis said: "1 would have knocked him out if J. had not hurt my hand. I beat him but I sure would have liked to knock him out. He can't hit, and ho did not hurt me once. He is hard to hit because he keeps pulling away." Farr's comment was: "Louis hits harder than anyone i have ever met. I would like to light him again, but I don't much care, because I fooled all the wise American sporting writers and proved that Farr was not a 'setup.' i will let the American public judge whether I should have won the title." That the result came as a great surprise was emphasised by the betting. When Louis entered the ring the odds favoured him at 10 to 1. Even bets were offered that tho negro would win by a knockout prior to tho sixth round.