Word: braddock
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Made wary by the enthusiasm for Louis expressed by sportswriters who only a fortnight before had erroneously picked Max Baer to beat James J. Braddock, sophisticated spectators were surprised by what happened in the first round. Instead of cautiously sizing up an adversary who outweighed him 260 lb. to 196 lb., Louis immediately smashed a right to Carnera's mouth. Because his careless handlers had neglected to give the hulking Italian the mouthpiece which all fighters wear to protect their gums and lips from their teeth, blood began to trickle down Carnera...
When James J-Braddock paid off his $367.24 indebtedness for relief, the Hudson County, N. J., bureau reported the incident to superiors, adding: "Incidentally, Mr. Braddock recently became the champion heavyweight of the world...
...that point the champion's comedy ceased. With "the wife and kiddies" heavy on his mind, earnest Jimmy Braddock met Baer's sporadic, inconclusive assaults, kept brushing aside his extended left, boring in, plodding on, piling up points. As an exhibition of good boxing, the match lacked intrinsic excitement. But the crowd was on its toes right up to the final bell on the chance that Baer might somehow suddenly land the dread blow which would cut down the striving underdog. But Max Baer, having frittered away his early chances, never did. When the referee and judges compared...
...dressing room, new Champion Jimmy Braddock, whom 22 men have previously defeated, explained his part in what was essentially the most colorless championship match in a decade: "I knew in the seventh that I had him. ... I took his Sunday punch and it didn't hurt me. Say, I guess that Bowl jinx still holds good." His night-watchman father, his mother, his four brothers had witnessed his victory. His wife, onetime telephone operator and mother of three, stayed fearfully at home, listening to the radio account of the fight. Champion Braddock dashed off to a Manhattan hotel...
Although in England the race aroused greater sporting interest than the Baer-Braddock fight punctilious, curly-haired Jack Lovelock was making no promises. "My condition does not displease me," he admitted. But he deplored anticipating records on the ground that "it might stimulate too high a degree of expectancy in the public." He said he preferred the "British race": beat the other fellows and let the records go hang...