The Wilmington morning star., 1941-02-01
KNOCKOUT PUNCH
IS BLOW TO BODY
Baltimore Battler Gives AS
Much As He Receives for
Four Rounds of Fight
By SID FEEDER

Louis wheeled out a new kind of
bomb from his arsenal tonight and
with it knocked out Clarence the Red
Burman to successfully pass the
''unlucky 10" in his record-breaking
run as world heavyweight champion.
For the first time in his three-year
reign as king of the fistic world, he
knocked out a rival with a punch to
the body-a smashing right hard
that polished off a game, gallant,
troublesome challenger for keeps in
two minutes and 40 seconds of the
fifth round.
So unexpected was it. that the
crowd in Madison Square Garden let
out an audible gasp as the Brown
Bomber revealed this new way of ar
irving at the old result. Up to to-
night, he had flattened ten of the
u battlers who had challenged the
reign he began when he finished old
Jim Braddock in Chicago in 1887.
Each time, head punches were the
'crushers." Tonight, coming up
against the "13 jinx" - which was
anything but that-he turned the
trick with a punch under the heart
that stopped the Baltimore battler
dead.
A crowd of 1S,O61 pad So, S99 to
see the show.
For four rounds, Clarence the Red,
rated for the past two years among
the worlds first five heavyweights,
gave as good as he received. Nat
urally. he couldn't match the negro's
punching power. But, fighting out OF
a crouch, he absorbed all of Joe's
Sunday punches and came charg-
ing in. He cut Louis right eye slight
ly in the first round. In the third
he hit Joe a larruping left to the
face, that half turned the champion
around. A few seconds later, Joe
slipped to one knee in Burman's cor
ner. but was up Immediately.
Then, in the fifth, it happened.
Cautious up to then. Louis went to
work like a factory hand with the
boss watching. He belted Burman all
over the ring. bloodied his nose and
widened a cash on Reds left eye
brow.
Finally. he Unanswered his man
along the ropes. near the Burman
corner, stood off and let go with as
vicious a righthand body punch as
this Eighth avenue sports arena has
ever seen. Red Strengthened out OF
his crouch: a funny look spread owe
his face. Then he toppled. He fell
with his head and neck across the
bottom strand of the ropes and
stayed that way. moving only slight
", as Referee Frank Fullam COM
pleted his count.
At 2O2R. Louis was a slightly
larger fighting man than he has
been in his most recent outings. De
spite his weight edge - Burman
weighed 1SS-Joe did not appear tc
have the usual dynamite in his right
hand. Either that or Red carries
a special brand of cement in his
chin. For Burman took any mum
Der of solid smashes on the jaw and
didn't let them bother him.
AT the same time, he tossed some
punches at Joe himself that didn't
make the champion smile with glee.
One of these, a left hook coming out
of a crouch, similar to the style
,,-oJ NV ola Jaol> Domnsoy Rode
sponsor for several years, made Zoe
blink in the first round. Another,
in the fourth, was followed by a
right that momentarily stung the
bomber.
Afterward, in his dressing room,
Joe said he "reckoned' the right to
the body was "jes' about the hard
est punch I EVER threw"
That's a good, tough boy" he
said of his challenger.
Burman said as he recalled the
knockout there were three body
punches that turned the trick.
"The last one-that right under
the heart-that was the killer-diller,
though he explained.
From here on, Louis goes through
the busiest indoor season a heavy
weight champion eve has sche'
duled. Already knockout winner in
two outings this winter-he stopped
AL Mccoy in Boston last month
he takes on Gus Dorazio in Philadel'
phia February II; Abe Simon in
| Detroit in March and Arthuro Godoy
in Los Angeles in April before head
ing for the big outdoor shot with
Billy Conn, the Pittsburgh pretty
boy, in New York in June.
That is, he'll carry out the sche-
dule if Uncle Sam doesn't toss a
monkey-wrench into it. Joe's draft
number is 378 and the champion
disclosing the fact, figured it "looks
like Uncle Samuel's got me already
don't ito"