Evening star., 1937-06-23
Youngest Heavy Champion.

boy. is the youngest fighter ever
to win the heavyweight title. At %
he is just a year younger than Jack
Dempsey was when the Manassa
Mauler knocked out the giant Jess
Willard at Toledo in 1919. He is the
second Negro ever to win the crown.
Jack johnson came in before him to
batter the relic Of James j. Jeffries
into helplessness in Reno 27 years ago.
Critics agreed today. however the
young Negro's hold on the crown won't
be secure, beyond argument, unless
and until he evens the score with
Schmeling. The German, still the
logical contender, may be matched to
fight Louis in New York this Septem-
ber. Meantime, Schmeling is slated to
tight Tommy Farr, the British Empire
champion, abroad.
Braddock, an old man, as boxing
goes, and idle for two years since he
won the title from Max Baer in June,
1885, gave away eight years to the De-
troit dynamiter, and could not stand
up under that handicap. All he had
was . courageous, Irish fighting heart
and ability to take It," He survived
seven rounds In defending his cham
pionship against bitter odds, but the
way he defended 1t brought thunderous
cheers from the huge crowd.
Never Heard the Count.
THE fight ended with the game Brad
= dock lying helpless on the canvas
floor Of the ring. He was bleeding from
the mouth, cut and battered. In the
language OF the ring he was knocked
dead. He never heard the referee.
Tommy Thomas, count the fatal 10
over him. His handlers tenderly picked
him off the floor and carried him to a
corner. where it required minutes to
restore him to his senses.
AS Braddock came out for the eighth
round he was worried, wabbly cham
pion. But he gamely walked into
Louis blistering fire. Suddenly, Louis
shot out with terrific left hook that
landed in Braddock's midsection. An
other left caught the champion on the
chin. His knees buckled and he began
to sag. Then, in the next instant, Louis
drove cruel right-hand smash to the
jaw and Braddock sank to the floor,
rolling over on his right side, with his
head resting on his arm He remained
motionless as the referee counted over
him.
This was the moment Louis had been
waiting for. He was standing in n
y1yifl ,io
his face. Instead of looking at the
fallen Braddock, he stared with sneer
at Braddocks handlers. No doubt he
was thinking to himself We'll, told
you I'd lick your guy and there he is"
Sentiment With Braddock.
TT WAS the golden moment of an
amazing career in which he sky
rocked to world championship glory in
three dramatic years. The crowd at
f1rSt was stunned. Braddock, under
dog in the betting, carried the senti-
ment Of the majority because he had
been poor and had fought his way back
from Government relief rolls to the top
and because he is tremendously popular
personally. As the champion lay mo-
tionless on the canvas, the yells of the
spectators suddenly grew into a mad
roar, as row upon row of humans took
1t up.
Braddock, instead of boxing cau-
tiously, started to slug with Louis at
the very beginning They hardly
reached the center of the ring before
Braddock walked into the Negro chal-
lenger and drove powerful right that
Just missed Louis chin Louis then
opened with shower of lefts and
rights that caused Braddock to retreat
momentarily.
Then to the astonishment of the
spectators the champion drove a right
uppercut to the chin that dropped
Louis as If he'd been hit with an ak.
The blow, however, apparently landed
on his Adams apple instead Of on the
button. Louis jumped up and backed
out OF danger before the timekeeper
could begin count. Braddock was un-
able to press his sudden advantage.