FEATHERWEIGHTS
A number of fighters in the bottom half of the top 10 were in action over the past couple of months but the big fight in the division is August 11th when undefeated World Champion Willie Pep meets Charlie Riley in the challengers hometown of St Louis.
Recent action saw 8th ranked Simon Vegara win by TKO over then 7th ranked Georgie Hansford in Los Angeles. The referee called the fight after a serious cut over Hansford's right eye made it impossible for the boxer to see properly.
Chalky Wright looked impressive in beating Pat Iacobucci senseless in their bout. The referee stopped it in the third round after Wright had floored his opponent twice. The victory moved Wright from 9th to 3rd in the rankings.
Across the pond Jim Kenny scored an unanimous decision over Frankie Kelly to claim the British Featherweight title. Kenny, who declined to participate in the post-war tournament, improves to 3-0. Kelly loses the British title in his first defense.
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TOP 10 FEATHERWEIGHTS
1 Willie Pep 18-0 Hartford
2 Sandy Saddler 23-2 Boston
3 Chalky Wright 26-6-1 San Bernadino, California
4 Henry Armstrong 30-2 Columbus, Mississippi
5 Ray Famechon 25-12 Sous-le-Bois-Maubeurge, France
6 Charlie Riley 23-4 St Louis
7 Harold Hoshino 25-4-1 Seattle
8 Simon Vegara 38-6-2 Panama
9 Jim Kenny 3-0 Polmont, Scotland
10 Eddie Compo 26-6-3 New Haven, Connecticut
BANTAMWEIGHT
GALVANI WINS WORLD TITLE WHILE KING REIGNS IN EUROPE
Cuba's Luis Galvani claimed the World Bantamweight crown with a 10th round TKO victory over champion Luis Romero in the champ's home country of Spain. Galvani wore down Romero over the course of the first nine rounds and had the champ defenseless as he pummelled him in the 10th. Romero did not drop to the canvas but the referee called the fight when it was clear Romero could not defend himself. Galvani improves to 32-4-1 while Romero's title reign was shortlived. The Spaniard falls to 21-7-1 and loses the belt in his first defense.
After beating Fernando Gagnon for the World title Romero was forced to surrender his European belt. The European title was decided when Britian's Johnny King scored an unanimous decision over Italian Guido Ferracin in the final of a 4-fighter elimination tournament. King, 37-6, is not considered one of the top 10 bantamweights in the world.
In other action British champion Gus Foran (25-6) looked strong in earning a decision over Australian Elley Bennett.
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TOP 10 BANTAMWEIGHTS
1 Luis Galvani 32-4-1 Havana, Cuba
2 Fernando Gagnon 32-4-1 Disaerli, Quebec, Canada
3 Luis Romero 21-7-1 Arcila, Spain
4 Tony Olivera 25-3-2 San Francisco
5 Gus Foran 25-6 Liverpool, England
6 David Kui Kong Young 34-3 Honolulu
7 Manuel Ortiz 38-2-2 Corona, California
8 Luis Castillo 27-12-3 Mexico City
9 Harold Dade 23-8-2 Chicago
10 Hiroshi Horiguchi 24-12-2 Chigasaki, Japan
FLYWEIGHTS
Despite getting knocked down in the 9th round Jackie Patterson earned a relatively easy decision over champion Teddy Gardner to become the new World Featherweight title holder. The victory improves Patterson's record to 21-2 while Gardner falls to 17-3-1.
In the only other flyweight bout of note Valentin Angelmann won a majority decision over Honore Pratesi to claim the French title.
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TOP 10 FLYWEIGHTS
1 Jackie Paterson 21-2 Ayrshire, Scotland
2 Teddy Gardner 17-3-1 West Hartlepool, England
3 Vic Herman 14-4-2 Glasgow, Scotland
4 Speedy Akira 15-4-2 Yokohama, Japan
5 Black Pico 16-2 Havana, Cuba
6 Maurice Sandeyron 14-7-2 Paris, France
7 Rinty Monaghan 17-4-1 Belfast, Ireland
8 Peter Kane 17-2-1 Liverpool, England
9 Ed Doran 16-3 Ireland
10 Valentin Angelmann 12-5-2 Colmar, France
That should have everything up to date. Dell says my new cpu should arrive Monday so by Wednesday I expect to have everything back to normal and will recommence the daily reports beginning on August 1st.
Among the things we can look forward to is the baseball pennant races heating up: Phillies and Bucs fighting it out in the NL while the Red Sox and Browns try and catch Cleveland in the junior circuit. Individually, Ted Williams seems to have a decent shot at the triple crown while Preacher Roe is chasing a 30-win season.
The NFL training camps are underway and week one of the preseason is just a few days off. How will rookie Otto Graham do in Tampa and can anyone stop the Bears are two of the key questions. College football is a month away from it's opening kickoff and the teams to beat look to be Michigan, Notre Dame and Texas. The Irish have a great senior QB in Johnny Lujack while the Longhorns have one of their own in Bobby Layne.
As mentioned earlier the boxing action heats up in August with the Sugar Ray Robinson-Tommy Bell rematch and Heavyweight champ Joe Louis meets Ezzard Charles in a rematch of their bout last year when Charles suffered his only post-war loss.