1942: Boxing

Boxing felt the impact of the war through 1942. Title events were conspicuous by their absence for the most part. Defense requirements militated against important outdoor activities. Champions, ex-champions, title contenders, flocked to the defense of their country, forgetting the ring for the greater battle as a soldier, a sailor, a marine or a coast guard.

Joe Louis, kingpin of them all, set the example. He enlisted soon after the first of the year. Billy Conn, his foremost challenger from Pittsburgh, followed suit. Gus Lesnevich, world light-heavyweight champion, from Cliffside Park, N. H.; Tony Zale, Gary, Ind., boxer who is the world middleweight title-holder; and Freddie (Red) Cochrane of Newark, N. J., holder of the welterweight crown, were other champions in service. As might be expected, competition for these titles was 'frozen' except in the case of Louis. He made two defenses of his crown, contributing his purse for each bout to service relief organizations, the aggregate amounting to $83,246.

Louis knocked out the towering Buddy Baer of California, in Madison Square Garden on Jan. 9, the bout, scheduled for fifteen rounds, ending after exactly 2 minutes 56 seconds of the first round. Immediately following this match Louis enlisted in the army, his induction being effected at Camp Upton, L. I.

On furlough from his army duties, Louis in Madison Square Garden on March 27 knocked out Abe Simon, Long Island behemoth, in 16 seconds of the seventh round of what was scheduled as a fifteen-round bout. An attempt was made by Promoter Mike Jacobs of New York to arrange a Columbus Day outdoor bout between Louis and Conn, in the interests of Army relief. The boxers had been furloughed and entered light training for the bout, but Secretary of War Stimson, solving a question that developed over whether debts of the boxers amounting to more than $130,000 should be liquidated, ruled instead to liquidate the bout plans and peremptorily order both soldiers back to military duties.

There was a crowd of 18,870 at Louis' abbreviated bout with Baer and the receipts amounted to $189,700, the year's largest receipts as well as the year's biggest boxing gathering. The Navy Relief Society, for which the bout was held, profited to the extent of $89,092, of which $47,100 represented Louis' purse, contributed in toto. Proceeds from Louis' bout against Simon, amounting to $64,980, went to the Army Emergency Relief Fund for which the bout was held. Louis' purse, $36,146, was the largest contribution to this nest egg. The match attracted 18,220 persons and receipts of $132,431.

The fact they were in service kept Lesnevich, Zale and Cochrane inactive, so that title competition in the light-heavyweight, middleweight and welterweight classes was nil.

In the lightweight class Sammy Angott, Washington, Pa., defended his title once, winning a decision from Allie Stolz, Newark, N. J., on May 15, and subsequently surrendered the title, claiming he was forsaking the ring to enter a defense plant. Thereupon the New York State Athletic Commission, approving a meeting between Beau Jack (Sidney Walker), Augusta, Ga., and Tippy Larkin, Garfield, N. J., as a championship bout on Dec. 18, recognized Jack as title-holder when he knocked out Larkin in 1 minute 19 seconds of the third round of a scheduled fifteen-round bout.

The National Boxing Association, with which the New York State Athletic Commission is not affiliated, declined to recognize Jack as champion, favoring, instead, an elimination tournament of nation-wide scope.

Chalky Wright, Los Angeles, Calif., after retaining his title against Harry Jeffra in Baltimore, June 19, and against Charles (Lulu) Costantino, New York, on Sept. 25, lost his world featherweight championship to Willie Pep, Hartford, Conn., on Nov. 20, when Pep scored an upset decision in fifteen rounds. This ring division, too, was clouded in dispute, since the N. B. A. recognized Jackie Wilson, Pittsburgh, Pa., as champion.

Manuel Ortiz, Mexico City, was recognized by the N. B. A. as world bantamweight title-holder as a consequence of a twelve-round decision he scored over Lou Salica, New York, in California, Aug. 7. The New York State Athletic Commission, however, declined to recognize Ortiz's title claims. Competition in the flyweight class was at a complete standstill.

The University of Maryland won the Eastern Intercollegiate Association championships at Charlottesville, Va., March 7, without producing an individual champion among its 5-man team. Contrasting was the work of the University of Wisconsin's 4-man team which won the National Collegiate Athletic Association championships at Baton Rouge, La., March 28, and bagged four individual titles.

Competitors from widely scattered points won championships at the Amateur Athletic Union's annual title tournament in Boston, April 13, 14 and 15. Titles were scattered over an area which included Cleveland, O., New Orleans, La., Fort Mitchel, N. Y., Lackawanna, N. Y., Saugus, Mass., St. Louis, Mo., and Pittsburgh, Pa.