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Concluding with a summary of the key action for November of 1929.

Nov. 15, 1929: Friday night fights heads West to Denver's Mammoth Gardens. This time, it's a packed card, no title bouts, headlined by all-time great Benny Leonard. The co-feature matches the top two ranked MW contenders, veterans Panama Joe Gans and Bryan Downey, both of whom are at Post-Prime career stage. This is the fifth career meeting for these two ring warriors, and Gans has won three of the previous four encounters. This time, he lands the more telling blows to build a comfortable points lead over Downey by the midway point (49-46 on the unofficial scorecard). Downey steps up the pace, closing the gap in the later rounds despite suffering a cut nose and, late in the bout, some minour swelling under his right eye. The bout goes to the judges and it's a UD 10 win for Panama Joe Gans (97-93, 96-94, 98-92), moving the Panamanian to 52-12-3 (19) while Downey slips to 47-19-4 (21) overall. Then, Benny Leonard looks to rebound from his WBA WW title loss to Jimmy McLarnin, taking on rugged Pete Latzo, the former NABF WW Champion who is also coming off a loss. Leonard looks to be the more effective boxer in the early rounds, repeatedly beating Latzo to the punch. Then, suddenly, a clash of heads and the nature of the bout is changed as Leonard emerges with a gash over his left eye as a result. Latzo presses forward while Leonard takes a much more cautious approach. The crowd senses a possible upset when, in the middle of round seven, a sudden halt is called as the cut becomes too severe for Leonard to continue. Since it was the result of an accidental butt, the bout reverts to the scorecards after round six. Leonard takes a controversial STD 7 (59-56, 56-59, 58-57) even though the post-fight stats show the two were even on punches landed, with Latzo landing a much higher percentage. In any event, the win moves Leonard to 74-4-1 (41) compared to 30-12-1 (11) post-fight for Latzo. Any talk of a possible rematch will have to be postponed until Leonard's eye has time to heal. .

Nov. 16, 1929: Back to Rome, Italy for another fight card at the Palazzo. This time, it's a relatively weak undercard leading to a WBA title clash matching Jose Lombardo, the reigning FW king, with former Champ, Louis Kaplan. Only notable bout on the undercard sees Italian HW contender Erminio Spalla bolster his status with a TKO 5 pummeling of aging Pat Lester; it was the 22nd premature stoppage registered by Spalla who is now 31-12 and looking for another shot at the EBU title. On to the WBC title fight, with Kaplan -- the loser to Lombardo in a controversial DQ call earlier in the year -- getting a long-awaited rematch, but not before Lombardo had defended the WBA belt twice since. Lombardo looks to work his way inside and seems to be effectively early, as Kaplan's left eye begins to puff up as early as round four. Kaplan is able to withstand the pressure, firing back with a jab that proves to be an obstacle to Lombardo's progress. In round eight, however, Lombardo catches Kaplan with a short, clean hook that puts the challenger down for a count of seven. The Champ, however, can't finish the job, and a defensive-minded Kaplan settles in as the bout lasts the distance. In a close one, Kaplan regains the title with a MD 15 (146-139, 143-143, 145-141) as the one knockdown clearly did not carry sway with two of the judges. Post-fight, Kaplan moves to 35-7-1 (10) compared to 28-9-3 (17) for Lombardo.

Nov. 16, 1929: Next fight card is at the Briggs Stadium in Detroit. Sully Montgomery and Joe Sekyra and matched for the vacant NABF title belt. It is the first meeting of the two, neither of whom is ranked in the top 20, but the higher ranked guys were either ineligible, not interested, or not available at the time the sanctioning body wished to stage this title bout. Not much action until round four, when Montgomery nails Sekyra with a strong shot that puts Joe on the deck for a six-count. A round later, the pendulum swings the other way as Montgomery suffers a cut over his right eye. The cut is reopened in round seven. In round eight, it's Sekyra's turn as he suffers a similar cut over his right eye. Once again, in round nine, the cut over Montgomery's eye is reopened once again. The cut becomes a problem, and in round 11 it is serious enough to cause a premature end. Because the cut was ruled the result of an unintentional butt, it goes to the scorecards after the 10th round. Montgomery, who will move to Post-Prime in 1930, takes a UTD 11 (98-91, 97-92, 98-91) despite the problems with the cut. Montgomery moves to 29-9-1 (10) with the win, while Sekyra still sports impressive career totals of 18-4 (14).

Nov. 22, 1929: It's back "Down Under" for Friday night fights, this time at Sydney, Australia. It's a big event, topped by a WBA HW title contest. Main support has two top WWs, each looking to move up the rankings; it's Filipino and former OPBF Champ Irineo Flores against the hard-hitting Cuban, Manuel Quintero. Things look up for Flores until Quintero breaks through with a big shot that puts the Filipino down for an eight-count in round five. Quintero continues to move forward but Flores quickly recovers, flicking his jab that eventually results in a badly swollen right eye for the Cuban. A strong counterpuncher, Flores rocks Quintero with a hard uppercut, turning the bout around in his favor. It goes the distance, and despite the knockdown, it's a solid UD 10 win for Flores (98-92, 96-93, 98-92) to move the Filipino to 30-11-2 (17) while Quintero slips to 20-3-4 (10). Then, it's on to the WBA HW title fight, with Young Stribling taking on George Thompson, who becomes the first Aussie to challenge for the WBA HW belt since Colin Bell back in 1916. Both men are in great shape, with Stribling having won his last six while Thompson is 3-0 for the year, inlcuding a OPBF title win over Tom Heeney. Stribling starts well, building a solid lead after five (49-46) on the unofficial card. Thompson is clearly bothered by a rapidly swelling right eye. It turns out to be an easy defense for the "King of the Canebrakes," who maintains control for the rest of the bout. The UD 15 win for Stribling (by an identical 147-138 on all three cards) moves him to 33-5-1 (18) overall in his third stint as WBA HW king, while Thompson is now 23-5-1 (13).

Nov. 23, 1929: Next fight card at Atlantic City's Convention Hall features some up-and-coming young fighters, but no title bouts. In one co-main event, it is two unbeaten LHs, Tiger Jack Fox and Willard Dix, while the other co-main event is a rematch between MWs Ben Jeby and Tony Tozzo, who battled to a draw last time out. Before the youngsters take to the ring, veteran HW Luis Firpo, the "Wild Bull of the Pampas," is matched with another veteran HW, Jack Dorval, in a 10-rounder that is action-packed. Firpo lands a nice combination to deck Dorval in round five, but Dorval battles back, putting Firpo down twice, once in round eight and then for good in the final stanza as the Argentinian just seemed to run out of gas near the end. KO 10 for Dorval, who is now 20-10 (14) compared to 30-17-2 (24) for the well-traveled Firpo. Then the unbeaten LHs take to the ring; the action heats up right away as Fox catches Dix with a nice cross for the bout's first KD. Less than a minute later, Dix is down again, the result of a nice combination from Tiger Jack. Still plenty of time left to finish the job, which Fox does with an overhand right -- the three knockdown rule being in effect, it goes down as a TKO 1 for Fox, who improved to 12-0 (11) with the win, while Dix's first setback leaves him at 11-1 (7). Then, Tozzo and Jeby square off in a rematch of their last bout, which ended in a draw. Jeby is on target early, and by the end of the first round, there is noticeable swelling under the right eye of Tozzo. Tozzo battles back, putting Jeby down briefly in round five. Jeby comes back to even the score at one KD apiece when he connects with a nice combination a round later. The see-saw affair remains in doubt right until the later rounds, when Jeby is cut over the right eye and also falls victim to a Tozzo cross to take a second trip to the canvas in round nine. Still, it's a fairly close one that goes to the scorecards, with Tozzo getting the nod via a MD 10 (95-93, 94-94, 95-93) in an action-packed co-main event. The win lifts Tozzo to 12-1-1 (9) compared to 10-1-1 (7) for Jeby.

Nov. 29, 1929: Back to the UK and the Earl's Court for the final Friday night card of November. Two title bouts are on the menu, including one WBA title clash. First, in the co-feature, sees Brit Johnny Cuthbert in action, defending his Commonwealth FW crown against South Africa's Willie Smith. Cuthbert gets off quickly, catching Smith with a quick combination to score the bout's first knockdown in the opening round. Smith recovers well, scrambling back to his feet and making a contest of the bout through the middle rounds. Finally, in round 11, Cuthbert delivers the clincher when he nails Smith with a nice uppercut for the bout's second and final KD. Smith, to his credit, manages to the last the distance but the two KDs lift Cuthbert to a UD 12 win (115-111, 116-111, 116-111) to move his career mark to 24-15-1 (8) while Smith is 18-4 (5) after the loss.
The final bout on the card features the "Whitechapel Whirlwind," Jack Kid Berg, defending his WBA JWW crown against the man he took it from, former Champ Pinkey Mitchell. Berg is making his fourth title defense since the belt changed hands via his TKO of Mitchell in early 1928; these two are the only WBA JWW Champions in the brief history of the division (which dates back to 1923). This time, Mitchell looks sharp early, taking advantage of a lethargic looking Berg. By the end of five, there is noticeable swelling under Berg's right eye. Urged on by his corner and the fans, Berg picks up the pace in the middle rounds. He gradually begins to wear down Mitchell, who tires badly and looks increasingly desperate in the later rounds. Berg goes on to retain the title via a UD 15 (146-139, 146-139, 144-141) to move his career totals to an excellent 23-1-2 (12), the one loss coming when he stepped up to WW class and lost to Joe Dundee. Mitchell, who made a valiant effor but fell short, is 33-14-4 (14) post-fight.

Nov. 30, 1929: Final fight card of the month at New York's Madison Square Garden also has double-barreled title bout action that tops a strong card to wrap up the month. Both title bouts are in the LW division, one for the WBA title but the main support is a rematch for the NABF LW crown, essentially a replay of a contest in early October that ended in a controversial DQ call. It's the two Sammys, Fuller and Mandell, vying for the belt now held by Sammy Fuller who has two prior wins versus Mandell. There is not much to choose between the two in the opening rounds, but in round three Mandell is cut over the right eye. Undeterred, the "Rockford Sheik" bounces back with a strong round five, then he has Fuller in big trouble late in round seven when a sharp combination rocks the Champ. Fuller does not seems to recover, and Mandell does enough to claim the belt via a UD 12 (116-113, 116-113, 117-113) in a bout that was relatively uneventful compared to their October encounter. The win lifts Mandell to 30-11 (9) while it's just the third setback for Fuller, now 26-3 (8).
The main event has Billy Petrolle making his first defense less than two months after taking the WBA title in September 1929. His opponent is veteran Sid Terris, who gets off quickly in the opening round, leaving Petrolle with signs of swelling under his right eye. The "Fargo Express" takes awhile to get rolling, finally picking up the pace in the middle rounds, landing repeatedly and causing some swelling around Terris' left eye. In round 10, Petrolle connects with a solid uppercut that causes Terris to cover up. Terris seems to put defense first, hoping to get the nod from the judges. In the later rounds, both men tire badly, and then -- in the final stanza -- Terris repeatedly begins hitting on the break, leading to his disqualification after a couple of warnings from ref Abe Goldstein. Tough decision, but Petrolle had seized control and had a narrow one or two point lead on all three cards when the action was halted. Nonetheless, it goes down as a DQ 15 win for Petrolle who is now 30-3-2 (18) compared to 23-8-3 (7) for Terris.