1939: Boxing

In a year that saw boxing subjected to more than the customary amount of knocks from within and without, Joe Louis reigned supreme: Henry Armstrong won the palm for activity and consistency: Billy Conn established himself as one of the sport's foremost exponents as well as the most likely looking prospect for development; and Tony Galento, providing the year's greatest thrill, stood out singularly, viewed from any angle of his barrel-like frame.

Louis went calmly about the business of defending his world heavyweight title and adding to his fortune. He knocked out, in order, John Henry Lewis, Jack Roper, Tony Galento and Bob Pastor.

Armstrong placed his welterweight crown on the competitive block no fewer than eleven times, which will suffice for a record until a better one comes along. True, the challengers were not in all cases first-class. The 147-pound division of the ring does not hold ten first-class challengers. But the fact remains Armstrong's crown was in jeopardy in eleven distinct bouts in a sport where it is an established fact a title is at stake whenever a champion steps between the ropes with a rival at weight.

Armstrong dropped his lightweight title to Lou Ambers, Herkimer Hurricane, on a disputed decision last August. In this battle Hammering Henry retained his heavier title only because it was expressly understood in advance of the bout that because Armstrong would be compelled to weigh down to 135 pounds or less, it would not be reasonable to have the 147-pound title ride on the result. This arrangement was something of a departure for old-timers from the days before legislative measures brought their regulating influence when a champion's title or titles were involved any time he entered a ring against a challenger at weight, regardless of whether he were fighting for the lighter or heavier crown.

Conn, after conquering Fred Apostoli for a second time in one of the year's outstanding bouts, ended the light-heavyweight championship reign of Melio Bettina, Beacon. N. Y., boxer, in July, winning a fifteen-round decision. Bettina had gained recognition as class champion in February with a victory over Tiger Jack Fox in a State Athletic Commission supervised elimination. The elimination was arranged to determine a successor to John Henry Lewis who had to abdicate when a medical examination disclosed an optic irregularity. When Bettina clamored for another chance at the title he had held such a short time, Conn obliged and in September again defeated Bettina in a bout that brought Pittsburgh once again to the forefront as one of the boxing centers of America. Not since the days when the late Harry Greb was the idol of the mining belt was such interest manifested in a boxing event.

All told 25 championship battles were waged in the course of the year. Every class was represented but the forgotten flyweight division. The scarcity of little men, the difficulty in reaching agreement on the outstanding ring midget, saw this once popular class approach almost to the point of extinction.

In addition to the eleven title struggles by Armstrong, the four by Louis, the three in the light-heavy-weight division and the lone lightweight championship, the middleweight class saw 3 championships by 2 title claimants, the featherweight division saw Joey Archibald of Providence twice defend his crown (although the second defense left an ugly aftermath), and Sixto Escobar once defended his bantamweight title before voluntarily surrendering the title.

Boxing was investigated in California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois and New York. The nation's legislative halls in Washington, D. C., echoed a demand for Federal control of the sport. Harry Thomas purportedly confessed he engaged in fake fights with Max Schmeling and Galento in 1937 and 1938. A bout between Galento and Natie Brown in Detroit ended in such dissatisfaction that Brown was banned, Galento was under a modified band and the commission chairman resigned.

Louis, of course, was the year's leading fistic figure. He knocked out his four challengers in less than seventeen completed rounds. John Henry Lewis was the first victim. He succumbed in January in 2:29 of the first round. Next came Jack Roper, who was toppled in April in 2:20 of the first round.

Galento was crushed in June in 2:29 of the fourth round after surprising with an attack which staggered Louis in the first round and saw the champion floored under a left hook to the jaw in the third. Here was the year's biggest thrill, the spectacle of the Brown Bomber on a ring floor for the first time since 1937 when James J. Braddock upset him with a right uppercut to the chin, before being hammered out of the title in Chicago. And, in September, Louis knocked out Pastor in 38 seconds of the eleventh round in Detroit, crushing a gallant bid by a challenger who had stormed through three previous rounds with dangerous power.

Louis grossed a total of $273,986 for his year's labor, collecting his largest purse for the Pastor battle. This contest also drew the largest gate of the year, $347,870. The champion's share was $118,400. With Galento, Louis drew $283,303 and received $96,323. For polishing off Lewis so quickly, the champion collected $34,413 and his purse for the speedy set-to with Roper was $34,850. This year's earnings brought the grand total for Louis' career dating back to 1934, to $1,669,722, placing him third only to Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney in this highly desirable department.

Armstrong made his title defenses in the 147-pound class against Baby Arizmendi, Bobby Pacho (twice), Lew Feldman, Davey Day, Ernie Roderick (in London, Eng.), Al Manfredo, Howard Scott, Ritchie Fontaine and Jimmy Garrison (twice). All but three of the contests ended in knockouts. Arizmendi went ten rounds, Roderick lasted fifteen and Garrison survived ten in their first battle.

The decision by which Armstrong was shorn of his lightweight title by Ambers in August created widespread controversy because the result came in a rough-house bout in which Armstrong lost by foul penalties, while Ambers, equally guilty, went unpenalized.

In the middleweight division Ceferino Garcia knocked out Fred Apostoli in seven exciting rounds to gain recognition in New York and California. Al Hostak, National Boxing Association champion, knocked out Solly Krieger in four rounds at Seattle, and disposed of Eric Seelig in one round at Cleveland, to retain his standing. Archibald held the featherweight title against Leo Rodak and Henry Jeffra, winning decisions over each although the Jeffra verdict was roundly condemned. Escobar held the bantamweight title by winning a decision over Kayo Morgan in fifteen unimpressive rounds at San Juan, P. R., last April and shortly afterward surrendered the crown. The flyweight class was the ring's step-child through the year.

The professional sport had its first experience with television. A bout was televised for the first time in London, Eng., in February, with not altogether satisfactory results. A bout in which Lou Nova knocked out Max Baer in eleven rounds last June was telecast from the Yankee Stadium in New York with moderate success. Nova, incidentally, was the victim of one of the year's outstanding upsets when he was knocked out by Galento in fourteen rounds at Philadelphia.

Amateur and collegiate boxing flourished. Popularity of the sport swelled the ranks of amateurs, providing greater and more varied competition in Amateur Athletic Union State, sectional and national championships conducted from coast to coast. In collegiate boxing West Point won the Eastern Intercollegiate Association championships; the Eastern Conference title went to Bucknell, the Southeastern Conference championship to Louisiana State and the mythical National Collegiate A.A. championship was claimed by the University of Wisconsin whose fistic team accounted for four of the eight individual titles.