1941: Boxing

Professional Boxing.

Only two of the champions who were class leaders in boxing, as 1941 was ushered in, finished the year as title-holders. Joseph Louis Barrow, the famed Brown Bomber known as Joe Louis, ruled the heavyweight roost, unassailed, or practically so, despite the fact he defended his title no less than seven times. Lou Salica, product of New York's East Side, maintained his position at the top of the bantamweight class through three title defenses. In all other six standard divisions of boxing, changes were effected, some of them after conflicting championship claims which made for a repetition of the confusion which has surrounded ring championships through most of the years of the modern era.

Alone, pre-eminently, Louis was the outstanding figure in the sport, the greatest 'fighting' heavyweight champion the ring has ever known, a credit to the Negro race and to the sport he leads so capably. He had defended his title nineteen times since 1937 when the year ended.

He started the year's title defenses Jan. 31, when he knocked out Clarence (Red) Burman of Baltimore, in five rounds in New York. On Feb. 17, Louis journeyed to Philadelphia and knocked out Gus Dorazio in two rounds. He was in Detroit, March 21, where he disposed of Abe Simon, Long Island ring giant, in thirteen rounds. In St. Louis, on April 8, Louis knocked out Tony Musto, Chicagoan, in nine rounds.

The champion's next bout was on May 23, in Washington, D. C., and in this contest Louis disposed of Buddy Baer, California's giant challenger, in seven exciting rounds. On June 18, Louis knocked out Billy Conn, Pittsburgher, in thirteen rounds in New York and on Sept. 29 the champion knocked out Lou Nova. Californian, in six rounds in New York. The Conn and Nova battles were Louis' most important of the year. They were held in the Polo Grounds, New York before the season's largest professional paid crowds. But it was from Baer, first, and then Conn that Louis experienced his greatest difficulty.

Baer surprised Louis and the boxing world by dumping the champion out of the ring in the very first round of their Washington clash. Recovering from this astonishing ordeal Louis came back savagely, gradually to beat Baer down until he floored the challenger twice in the sixth round and rendered Baer helpless. The round ended with Louis accidentally striking Baer after the bell and Ancil Hoffman, manager of Baer, forthwith claiming a foul. He demanded that Referee Arthur Donovan rule a foul disqualification, which would have involved the transfer of Louis' title, and refused to let Baer respond to the bell for the seventh round. Referee Donovan ignored the claim of foul, disqualified Baer for his manager's refusal to let the boxer come up for the seventh round, a disqualification that gave Louis credit for a knockout, and the bout ended in confusion. Manager Hoffman's attempts to have the decision reviewed and changed were rejected.

Conn, a clever, shifty boxer, gave Louis trouble for twelve rounds of their scheduled fifteen-round encounter. He floored the champion with a left hook to the jaw near the end of the twelfth round. Encouraged at this success Conn discarded his boxing speed, agility and brilliance in a reckless bid for a knockout in the thirteenth round and was himself crumpled under the pulverizing blows of the champion.

Against Nova, Louis experienced absolutely no trouble. In the first flash of real fighting the bout held Louis knocked out his foe in the sixth round. The bout was unanimously declared to be one of the most disappointing heavyweight championships of modern times.

The largest crowd, 56,549 persons, witnessed the Nova match. The receipts amounted to $583,821. A crowd of 54,484 persons saw the Conn bout for which the receipts were $451,743. For the Conn and Nova bouts Louis collected $347,678. His income from the five other bouts, added to this figure, boosted to more than $2,180,000 his ring earnings from the day he laid down his laborer's tools in the Ford plant at Detroit, back in 1934.

In order to get the match with Louis, Conn had to surrender his world light-heavyweight title. This created a confusing situation until Gus Lesnevich, Cliffside Park, N. J., boxer, conquered Tami Mauriello of New York, on Aug. 26, establishing an undisputed champion. Lesnevich repeated the victory in a return bout staged Nov. 14.

The middleweight class was clouded in confusing title claims when Billy Soose of Farrell, Pa., surrendered the championship. This was cleared up on Nov. 28, when Tony Zale of Gary, Ind., who had been recognized as champion by the National Boxing Association but not in New York and other non-affiliate localities, defeated Georgie Abrams of the U.S. Navy, to gain clear claim to the title.

An upset was provided in the welterweight class when Freddie (Red) Cochrane of Newark, N. J., defeated Fritzie Zivic of Pittsburgh, in Newark, July 29, and became champion. Cochrane did not again defend the title through the year. Lew Jenkins, Sweet-water, Tex., who was lightweight champion as the year opened, lost his title on Dec. 19 when Sammy Angott of Washington, Pa., won a fifteen-round decision over him in New York, a bout that witnessed Jenkins' only title defense of the year.

The featherweight championship had Chalky Wright, Los Angeles, and Jackie Wilson of Pittsburgh, as claimants when the year ended, Wright being recognized by the New York State Athletic Commission, and Wilson by the National Boxing Association.

In the bantamweight class Salica held his title through two defenses against Tommy Forte of Philadelphia and another against Lou Transparenti of Baltimore. The flyweight class was inactive.

Amateur Boxing.

Amateur boxing proceeded with undiminished interest despite gathering war clouds in Amateur Athletic Union circles. Attendances were on the increase. But in college circles the sport suffered. The Eastern Intercollegiate Conference championships were cancelled; Cornell dropped boxing as an intercollegiate sport, expanding on the intramural plan, and Annapolis considered dropping the sport on an intercollegiate competitive scale, long before the treacherous visit of the Japanese to Pearl Harbor. The Eastern Intercollegiate Association championship title was won by Syracuse University. The National Collegiate Athletic Association championship title was won by University of Idaho, which also gained three individual titles.

The war abroad cancelled all foreign boxing of any consequence. Only bouts of minor importance were held and these principally for the entertainment of service men.