Okay, got all of the boxing matches for June and July simmed so I will post a brief update from each weightclass and then will be ready to resume the day by day articles in a few days.
HEAVYWEIGHTS
Attention in the heavyweight division is focused squarely on August 17 when champion Joe Louis puts his perfect 9-0 record on the line against top contender Ezzard Charles (20-1). Charles only loss came against Louis in the post-war tournament title matchup. Charles is looking to avenge the 8th round TKO he suffered on that day.
In recent heavyweight action Jersey Joe Walcott earned a third round knockout victory over unranked Pat Valentino while in a matchup between the then 3rd and 4th highest ranked fighters in the division Nathan Mann scored a slim but unanimous decision over Roscoe Toles in Toles hometown of Detroit.
Other fights of note saw LeClaire, Iowa's Jeffrey xSmith improve to 2-0 with an unanimous decision over Johnny Shkor. Brooklyn native JT xCampbell scored a 13th round knock out in his match with Carl Nielson of Denmark. German Jurgen xHucke fell to 1-1 after losing a decision to Pennsylvania journeyman Gene Jones (15-15). After nearly knocking out Joe Louis in a heavyweight title shot a year ago things have gotten progressively worse for Tami Mauriello. The latest setback, his fourth since the Louis loss, was a unanimous decision loss to Frenchman Stephane Olek (15-13). Mauriello falls to 16-8-1 and has been badly beaten in each of his four fights since flooring Louis.
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Here are the top 10 Heavyweights
1 Joe Louis 9-0 Detroit
2 Ezzard Charles 20-1 Cincinnati
3 Nathan Mann 19-5-1 Hamden, Conn.
4 Elmer Ray 23-5 Hasting, Florida
5 Lee Q Murray 11-2 South Norwalk, Conn.
6 Jersey Joe Walcott 24-2-2 Merchantville, NJ
7 Tommy Gomez 25-6 Tampa
8 Roscoe Toles 19-5 Detroit
9 Clarence Henry 20-6-1 Los Angeles
10 Nino Valdez 18-5 Havana, Cuba
LIGHTHEAVYWEIGHTS
A quiet summer in the division although on September 1st champion Lloyd Marshall will meet top ranked contender Archie Moore. Just one bout over the past two months among top 10 fighters. In it 6th ranked Billy Smith won by a 10th round knock out of Melio Bettina, who had been ranked 9th at the time.
Other fights saw German Rudel xDietrich fall to 1-1 as a pro after losing a majority decision to a young San Francisco fighter named Dave Whitlock. Whitlock is 3-0 and working his way up the division.
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TOP 10 LIGHTHEAVYWEIGHTS
1 Lloyd Marshall 23-4-1 Cleveland
2 Archie Moore 32-2 Benoit, Mississippi
3 Freddie Mills 32-14-1 Bournemouth, England
4 Billy Conn 28-1-2 Pittsburgh
5 Jimmy Bivins 29-3 Cleveland
6 Billy Smith 15-9 Atlantic City, NJ
7 Henry Hall 19-14-3 New Orleans
8 Tommy Yarosz 26-8-2 Monaca, Pennsylvania
9 Charley Williams 18-8-1 Kansas City
10 Bob Murphy 24-8 Flagler, Colorado
MIDDLEWEIGHTS
CONTROVERSIAL STOPPAGE ALLOWS ZALE TO RETAIN TITLE
With 46 seconds left in the 15th and final round the referee stopped the fight giving Tony Zale a TKO win over George Abrams to succesfully defend his middleweight title. Zale was all over Abrams in the round and while it was clear the challenger was virtually defenseless at the time of the stoppage his corner was incensed because Abrams was clearly winning the fight and needed just to survive the round to claim the title. A few days after the fight both sides agreed to a rematch which will be held in December.
In other middleweight bouts of note Artie Towne, ranked 10th at the time scored a second round TKO of Carl Olson who was ranked 7th but now drops out of the top 10. Meanwhile all 3 board member created middleweights suffered losses. Chicago's Rocco xDiSaldo fell to 0-2 after losing an unanimous decision to Belgium born Cyrille Delanoit (26-10-1). Italian Giovanni xRago (0-2) suffered an 11th round TKO loss to Steve Belloise (20-6). Belloise was just coming off a fight where he took former world champion Jake LaMotta the distance before losing by decision. Finally, Charlie Boom-Boom xSmith (1-1) dropped a decision to Milwaukee's Jackie Darthard (8-4).
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TOP 10 MIDDLEWEIGHTS
1 Tony Zale 37-4 Chicago
2 Holman Williams 27-1 Pensacola, Florida
3 Jake LaMotta 15-1 Bronx, New York
4 George Abrams 32-5-2 Roanoke, Virginia
5 Jose Basora 29-2 Puerto Rico
6 Charley Burley 14-4 Bessemer, Pennsylvania
7 Artie Towne 17-3-1 New York City
8 Marcel Cerdan 25-5 France
9 Artie Levine 22-9-1 Cleveland
10 Randy Turpin 22-4-1 Leamington Spa, England
remaining divisions will follow