JOE LOUIS WINS WORLD TITLE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20762, 24 June 1937, Page 14

JOE LOUIS WINS WORLD TITLE

DECISIVE DEFEAT OF BRADDOCK VICTOR’S DEVASTATING ATTACK United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright (Received June 23, 5.5 p.m.) NEW YORK, June 22. The negTO boxer, Joe Louis, defeated James Braddock, holder of the world’s heavyweight boxing title, by a knockout in the eighth round of a fifteen round bout at Chicago. Braddock was carried unconscious to his corner bleeding profusely from cuts on the lace and nose. Louis’s weight was announced at 14st 111 b and Braddock’s 14st lib. The attendance was 50,000 and the receipts amounted to 700,000 dollars. The Fight Described In the opening round Braddock came out fighting but Louis quickly staggered the champion with a right to the jaw and two rights over the eye, opening a cut. Braddock suddenly whipped a right uppercut to the chin and Louis went down. However he was up before the count. The champion chased him to the ropes and pounded him on the body with both hands. Braddock’s round. The second opened with Braddock again rushing Louis to the ropes, but the advantage was only temporary. His blows were wild and Louis drove a right to the jaw staggering the champion and in the last few seconds of the round Louis had Braddock wobbly from a two-fisted battering to the head. Louis’s round. The third opened with Louis effectively jabbing with the left to the face. Louis suddenly leaped in with a right to the body and left to the face. The contender shook the champion with a sharp right to the jaw just before the bell. Louis’s round. In the fourth round Braddock ended Louis’s cautious boxing with a left to the face and a right to the body angering the contender who proceeded to tilt the champion’s head back with stiff rights and lefts which made Braddock miss many blows. Louis’s round.

Braddock’s eyes were slightly puffed as he came up for the fifth round. He jabbed Louis’s nose causing it to bleed. Louis hooked a left, to the jaw and stepped out of range of Braddock’s right swings. The contender then proceeded to jab Braddock’s face and punish him severely with rights to the body. Louis’s round. In the sixth round Braddock was

badly shaken by a left to the jaw and | two rights to the chin. Then he heed- ; lessly walked into Louis who was driv- | ing lefts and rights to the body and 1 head, re-opening a cut over Braddock’s I left eye. Similar blows staggered the ■ champion and bruised his lips, but he i stood flat-footed vainly trying to I counter his opponent’s vicious blows. ! Louis’s round. Braddock threw his fists about wildly in the seventh, while Louis cut him to ribbons with straight left jabs and rocked him with a right upjjercut to the chin. Braddock was now fighting back blindly. Louis’s left always struck Braddock’s face while the tottering champion was incapable of retaliating. Braddock drove a right feebly to the head before the bell but he was plainly defeated. The end came after seven seconds in the eighth round. Louis opened boxing cautiously stabbing his left to his opponent’s face and keeping out of range of Braddock. He rocked the champion with a short right to the jaw followed by another right to the jaw, flooring Braddock, whom his seconds carried after the count, unconscious to his corner. After the Fight After the fight the new champion Joe Louis said: “My only regret is that I did not have Max Schmeling in the ring to-night instead of the man I knocked out. Braddock was by far the games t man I have ever faced. The wonder to me was that he lasted as long as he did. Braddock punches hard and I am not denying he hurt me several times. I have always wanted the experience of getting floored early in a fight and then coming bacx to win. James Braddock said: “Joe Louis is a good fighter but I think with two bouts under my belt I can beat him. The ring lights hurt my eyes and I admit I was tired after the fifth round but that’s nothing. I’ll fight Louis again and when I do I’ll beat him. No Harks of Battle Joe Louis’s face did not show any marks of being in a battle. He immediately changed into his street clothes and motored to a nearby suburb for the night. He is proceeding home to Detroit to-morrow after collecting 122,000 dollars, his share of the receipts. “NEVER HAD A CHANCE” CRITICS’ VERSION OF FIGHT United Press Asso muon—By Electric Teleernnh Cnnvrl«?ht (Received June 23, 8.45 p.m.) NEW YORK, June 22. Braddock was a badly hurt man at the end of the fight. A crimson stain a foot in diameter was left on the canvas where his head rested, while the count was made. The boxing editor of “The New York Times” says: For those who visioned Braddock’s ascendancy when he j knocked down Louis in the first round,

it was only a temporary vision. It disappeared under cool, calculating, crafty boxing, and savage, vicious punching. Louis’s finishing blow was ore of the hundreds with which Louis pelted and hammered Braddock, who, fighting grimly, fearlessly and willingly, was reduced to a bleeding mass at the end. He suffered haemmorhage from the final blow, and even his seconds turned pale when they saw him lying on the canvas in a pool of blood. The boxing writer of the North American Newspaper Alliance says: The finishing blow was one of the most terrific single punches I have ever seen in the ring. Braddock never had a chance. He was outclassed by youth, speed and power. Braddock had only his gameness and stamina against a fighter whose both hands were lethal. Negro Rejoicings. To deal with eventualities arising from the fight, 1500 police were assigned to the Harlem district, New York, but order was maintained. Chicago’s South-side, however, is reported to be near riot conditions, although the demonstrations were for the most part good natured. Negroes held parades, commandeered trams and otherwise noisily celebrated the first negro victory in a title bout since Jack Johnson won the championship. METEORIC RISE OF LOUIS JOE LOUIS’S RING CAREER Joe Louis, the youthful negro boxer, now twenty-three years of age, has had the most meteoric rise of any boxer in the history of pugilism. Born in Alabama in 1914, he started ring-fighting at an early age, and lost only four of fifty-four consecutive amateur contests. No fewer than fortythree were ’von with a knock-out. Joining the professional rank? on July 4, 1934 he won twenty-seven contests on end -and twenty-one of these by the knoc’.-out. It was in the twenty-eighth bout, on June 20, 1936, that he lost on a knock-out after twelve rounds to Max Schmeling i?. New York. During his brief career, Louis has earned at least £BO,GOO, of which £40.000 came from his battle with Max Baer. Louis is a two-fisted fighter, hitting just as hard with his left as he does with his right. He enters the ring determined on «he annihilation of his opponent, but from the beginning to the end of his fights remains extraordinarily cool. Prior to losing to Schmeling, he knocked out Camera, Levinsky, Baer, and Uzcudun, all within a few months. “HAS BEEN’’ COMES RACK DOCK WORKER’S RISE TO FAME. James Braddock, thirty years of age, the defender of the title, has had a curious history. Early in 1935. after showing erratic form, he was relegated

to the “has beens,” found himself without funds, and went to work on the New York docks at £1 a day. When Baer was scheduled to fight Camera, the promoters looked around for someone to match against Com Griffin in the same ring. They pulled the comparatively unknown Braddock back from the dockyard. His success then set the ball rolling and put the dockhand at the head of the world’s heavyweights. When he met Baer, Baer had been living the life of a playboy and spendthrift for a year and was in poor condition for a gruelling match. Braddock won on points, but he did not much impress as being much above the ruck of other contenders for the title. BATTLE FOR TITLE RECENT FIGHT HISTORY The recent history of the world’s heavyweight championship is: Jack Johnson beat Bums in fourteen rounds at the Sydney Stadium on December 26, 1908. Johnson knocked out Jim Jeffries In fifteen rounds at Reno on July 4, 1910. Jess Willard knocked out Johnson in twenty-six rounds at Havana on April 5, 1915. Jack Dempsey stopped Willard in three rounds at Toledo on July 4, 1919. Gene Tunney outpointed Dempsey in ten rounds at Philadelphia, on September 23, 1926. Tunney retired in 1928 and Jack Sharkey was recognised as champion after defeating “Young” Stribling in ten rounds at Miami on Februasy 27, 1929. Max Schmeling won on a foul in the fourth round in his fight with Sharkey, at New York on June 21, 1930. Snarkey was awarded fifteen rounds decision ovei Schmeling in New York on June 21, 1932. Primo Camera knocked out Sharkey in six rounds at New York on June 29, 1933. Max Baer beat Camera in eleven rounds at New York on June 14, 1934. James Braddock beat Baer on points in June, 1935. FARR TO MEET SCHMELING REQUEST FOR WORLD TITLE BOUT United Press Association—Bv Electric Telegraph Cnnvrieht LONDON, June 22. Tommy Farr (the British heavyweight champion) and Max Schmeling (contender for world championship honours) have signed up for. a fight In London in August or September. The British Control Board will be asked to recognise the bout as a world title fight. The projected match in England between Farr and the winner of the Chicago fight has been abandoned because Louis and Braddock each demanded excessive guarantees.