The Boxing Bulletin History Corner: April 16 - 22, 1930, 1940 & 1950

By Andrew Fruman

Picking up from where we left off last time (April 16 to 22, 1910 & 1920), we're moving on to the years 1930, 1940 and 1950 for the week of April 16 to 22.

In this edition...

• Bud Taylor vs Fidel La Barba - Chicago, April 21, 1930
• Max Baer vs Ernie Owens - Los Angels, April 22, 1930
• Paul Pirrone vs Freddy Fitzgerald - Cleveland, April 22, 1930
• Lou Ambers vs Wally Hally - Denver, April 17, 1940
• Robert Villemain vs Joe Rindone - Boston, April 17, 1950
• Sandy Saddler vs Lauro Salas - junior-lightweight title, Cleveland, April 18, 1950
• Plus plenty more fight reports and pugilistic news of the times...

1930

April 17…

A unification flyweight tilt between the NYSAC recognized champion Midget Wolgast, and the National Boxing Association holder Frankie Genaro (pictured, Antiquities of the Prize Ring) was signed for May 28 at Madison Square Garden. Genaro is also recognized as the world champion in Europe, where he has been campaigning as of late.  He's set to arrive in New York aboard the S.S. France on April 23, and begin training immediately.

The Madison Square Garden Corporation also announced that a date and venue have been set for the already signed lightweight title bout between champion Sammy Mandell and challenger Al Singer.  The battle will take place on July 17 at Yankee Stadium

*   *   *   *

In Ilford, Essex, British featherweight champion Johnny Cuthbert won a fifteen round decision from Len "Tiger" Smith, a last minute substitute for Al Foreman. The London born Foreman, now fighting out of Montreal, refused to fight after a dispute over the gloves to be used…

When it was found that there would be no agreement, the suggestion was made by a member of the Boxing Board of Control that a coin be tossed to decide the issue, but Foreman refused to abide by this and left the ring. Then Cuthbert decided that the gloves favored by Foreman would be used, but again Foreman declined.

– Globe & Mail

April 21…

In a battle of featherweight contenders, Fidel La Barba (124) rebounded from a rough start to win a ten round decision over Bud Taylor (125), at the Coliseum in Chicago.

La Barba (pictured, Antiquities of the Prize Ring), a slight underdog heading into the battle, was very nearly stopped in the opening round. Dropped hard by a crunching right hand, the former flyweight king struggled up at the count of 9 on shaky legs and was barely able to hold off Taylor’s finishing push before the bell came to his rescue.

Taylor, also a former champion (NBA bantamweight), carried the next two sessions by a wide margin, but was unable to smash over another big right, and by the fourth round, La Barba had recovered. From that point on, the Californian was in control…

In those 21 minutes, Taylor was the target for more punches than he ever took in that length of time. La Barba forced his way in close, again and again pinning Taylor on the ropes. In the eighth round Taylor called in his reserve strength. Gamely he fought back and it seemed he still might earn a draw.

One of Bud’s rights again carried to Fidel’s jab, but this time it lacked the power which had rolled the Italian on the floor in the first minutes of the fight. The ninth and tenh went to La Barba without question and convinced the crowd Fidel had fought back to a victory. Bud took it all, still trying, but decisively beaten.

– Wilfrid Smith, Chicago Tribune

Barney Ross suffered the first loss of his pro career on the under-card. The twenty year old lightweight was "given a beating" by Mexican Carlos Garcia in a six rounder.

April 22…

At the Olympic Auditorium, Max Baer (187) won a controversial ten round decision over Ernie Owens (176) in a fight the Los Angels Times called one "one of the most remarkable fights seen at the Olympic in some time."

After losing the first seven rounds, Baer (pictured, Antiquities of the Prize Ring) dropped Owens a total of four times in the eighth and ninth rounds to gain the verdict. The decision in favour of the big hitting Oakland fighter did not go over well with the spectators.

As for Referee Benny Whitman’s decision it was perfect. There wasn’t a great margin of difference between the fighters at the finish, and many thought Owens’s courageous rally in the tenth entitled him to at least a draw.

But Baer’s tremendous splurge of fighting in the eighth and ninth rounds wiped out Owens’s margin in total number of rounds won, and even the tenth couldn’t save the day for the local boy, gamely as he tried.

– Paul Lowry, Los Angeles Times

The loss was made even tougher to swallow for the game local light-heavyweight when he found out his share of the purse. His manager/promoter Dutch Meyers had arranged with the Olympic to accept 50% of the gate, out of which he had to pay Baer a guarantee of $2,500. When that share totalled just under $2,700, it left Owens only with only $189.

*   *   *   *

Tiger Roy Williams (160) won a twelve round decision from highly regarded Gorilla Jones (152) at Memorial Hall in Dayton…

Jones failed to display half the ability expected and many fans were highly disappointed with the showing of the Gorilla. The fight was really saved by the constant driving-in tactics of Williams who won seven on the twelve rounds, three being even, Gorilla taking the others.

– Wire Report from Dayton

* * * *

At Public Hall in Cleveland, up and coming New York welterweight Paul Pirrone knocked out Freddy Fitzgerald of Youngstown in the fourth round of a scheduled 8. Fitzgerald, reportedly the craftier of the two, had the worst of it in the opening couple rounds, but hurt Pirrone with a hard 1-2 combination in the third, and went looking for the finish…

Pirrone, his jaw tingling from that sudden barrage, and looking none too healthy at all, cut loose with a steaming right haymaker.

On the button of the charging Fitzy it exploded – and crash! He was on the floor. Too goofy to avail himself of a lengthier count. Freddy was up at four, to weather another jaw ripper and to stagger – to the enemy’s corner – at the bell.

With a leap and a larrup and a few more of the same, Pirrone proceeded to apply that fourth reel finisher. Freddy stepped clear of one leap, and another. But the third, and the lustiest larrup of all – an overhand right – took.

– James E. Doyle, Cleveland Plain Dealer

1940

April 17…

Featherweight contender Harry Jeffra (125) stayed busy ahead of title bout with Joey Archibald (set for May 20), with an eight round decision over Hitoshi Tanaka (122) at the Armory in Hagerstown. Though outgunned and in trouble in several occasions, Tanaka fought fearlessly, readily engaging Jeffra (pictured, Antiquities of the Prize Ring) from start to finish.

Jack Dempsey was originally scheduled to ref the Jeffra/Tanaka bout, but was called away on business and had to leave the venue early. The former heavyweight champion did stick around long enough to handle a 6 rounder on the under-card between Buddy Holmes of Baltimore and Arthur Johnson of Washington. Holmes was down for a 9 count in the opening round, but came back strongly to earn the draw.

* * * *

With a scheduled title clash against Lew Jenkins fast approaching, lightweight champion Lou Ambers (139) stayed busy with an entertaining, albeit one sided ten round decision over iron jawed Wally Hally (140) in Denver.

The little fellows traded rights and lefts in lively exchanges in nearly every stanza. Hally got the worst in most of them, but kept coming in. The Hollywood battler, who boasts he never has heard the 10-count over him, was guilty of frequently hanging on and tied up Ambers in nearly every round when the champion’s attack grew hot.

- Associated Press

Despite looking increasingly ragged over the later stages of the bout, Hally somehow managed to stage a couple mini-rallies in the tenth round, although the fast jabbing Ambers (pictured, Antiquities of the Prize Ring) was always in complete control.

April 19…

Norman Selby, aka Charles "Kid" McCoy (pictured in 1940, Antiquities of the Prize Ring) committed suicide in a Detroit hotel room…

McCoy, who did more and saw more in his 66 years than the average man dares dream about, died from either an overdose of sleeping medicine or poison, Dr Lyle C. Ling, deputy coroner, said.

Hobo and millionaire sportsman; dishwasher and social lion; claimant of the world’s middleweight title and convict; owner of an exclusive New York jewelery store and bankrupt; movie actor and saloon porter; auto racer and confidante of Maurice Maeterlinck, the poet and mystic; hero of a short story classic by Richard Harding Davis and demonstrator of a new-fangled health suspender – these descriptions all fitted the kid, who was married nine times, three times to the same woman.

– Associated Press

McCoy had been a resident of Detroit and working as a guard for the Ford Motor company since being paroled from San Quentin in 1932. He had served nearly eight years at the prison for the shooting death of Theresa Mors, a married woman he had been seeing at the time.

When told of McCoy’s passing, Sailor Tom Sharkey (pictured, Antiquities of the Prize Ring) had a few things to say to the United Press about the man he’d fought back in 1899 …

"I’m sorry to hear about McCoy’s death for he was a great fighter. But you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t say nice things about him.

"He came into the ring that night with his gloves on. Tommy O’Rourke, my manager, ordered the gloves removed. We found almost half a ton of plaster along with the heavy bandages. Had the plaster stayed on McCoy probably would have knocked me out for keeps. Do you wonder I didn’t have exactly pleasant memories of McCoy?

"McCoy was probably the hardest hitter the fight game ever knew, outside of James J. Jeffries. They were betting 10 to 6 McCoy would beat me, and when the Kid knocked me down in the first round, the ringside went wild and the odds went up to 10 to 3 it was all over.

"But I weathered the storm and I came along to the 10th round. I couldn’t box him – he was too slick. So went for his stomach. That finished him. Tim Hurst was the referee and he counted him out in the 10th.

"I’ll have to tell the truth about McCoy; he was fast, cold blooded, a good feinter, but just plain mean. Recall that trick of his of stopping apparently to tie a shoe lace, then catching his opponent off guard, and knocking him cold?"

– Sailor Tom Sharkey

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle’s write-up of the McCoy/Sharkey fight mentioned the issue in question…

When the hands of the fighters were examined it was found that McCoy had tightly wrapped his right with heavy black tape. All other details had been arranged in the dressing rooms, but O’Rourke had not seen this tape and he objected. McCoy walked over to Sharkey’s corner to discuss the matter and his second promptly carried his chair across the ring, the Kid languidly sinking into it while half of the crowd laughed and the remainder sighed in anticipation of a wordy war. McCoy was in the wrong, however, and he removed about half of the bandages.

– Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 11, 1899

After the bout, Sharkey said that McCoy (pictured, Antiquities of the Prize Ring) hit harder than he had believed possible.

1950

April 17…

Middleweight contender Robert Villemain (160) won a ten round majority decision over local fighter Joe Rindone (160 ½) at a packed Boston Garden. The two judges had Villemain (pictured, Antiquities of the Prize Ring) winning by scores of 100-92, 96-95 while referee Joe Zapustas had the bout all even at 97-97. The decision was loudly booed by the crowd.

The chunky Villemain, who bobs and weaves inside opponents to land both fists, spotted the straight-punching Rindone the first three rounds. Villemain succeeded in dominating the action from then on except in the ninth, when Rindone put on a spectacular two-fisted attack to the head and body.

But that took too much out of the tiring jut-jawed home-bred, who took a severe pasting as Villemain sped through the finale in whirlwind fashion.

– Bill King, Associated Press

April 18…

At the Arena in Cleveland, Sandy Saddler (130) defended his junior lightweight title with a ninth round stoppage of Lauro Salas (130). With the resurrected 130lb title – the brainchild of promoter Larry Atkins and only recognized in Ohio - at stake, the bout was scheduled for fifteen rounds.

Referee Jackie Davis stopped the fight after the badly beaten Salas (pictured, Antiquities of the Prize Ring) had barely made it to his feet after being dropped in his corner by a flush left hand. According to James E. Doyle of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Saddler had used his left elbow liberally during the contest, and the win did not meet with the approval of the 5,239 spectators.

Also taking exception was Salas’ manager Roger Leighton who assailed Saddler with a none-too clean verbal barrage. Saddler and the manager nearly came to blows, before Davis pushed the angry fighter back to his corner.

In the lead-up to the bout with Salas, much of the discussion surrounded Saddler's quest for a rubber match with Willie Pep.  Saddler expressed confidence that he’d have featherweight champion in the ring again soon…

"He’ll sign all right. Where else can he get the kind of money he’ll draw for boxin’ me – even if it don’t come to a hundred grand? And when that fight is over, it’ll be Sandy back in the saddle again, even if Sandy does say so himself."

– Sandy Saddler

April 21…

In a battle of promising local welterweights, Johnny Saxton (145) remained undefeated with a come from behind ten round split decision victory over Joe Miceli (142 ¾) at New York’s St. Nicholas Arena. The 19 year old Brooklyn fighter dropped his slightly older and more experienced East Side opponent twice in the seventh round and once in the tenth to earn the win.

*   *   *   *

Joe Gould, passed away at his home in New York at age 53 from leukemia. Gould had risen to prominence as the man who managed Jim Braddock to the heavyweight title with only a handshake agreement.

Pictured on the left with Jim Braddock at the Joe Louis vs Primo Carnera bout in 1935 (Antiquities of the Prize Ring)

The fight manager was a colourful figure in boxing circles for many years. Diminutive in stature, he sported fawn-colored clothes and was addicted to expensive cigars and deluxe restaurants.

– New York Times

For more great boxing photos of the past, make sure to visit Antiquities of the Prize Ring.

Check back in a few days for more of The Boxing Bulletin's History Corner as we move on to the week of April 23 to 29.

e-mail Andrew Fruman