[JCWeb]

This report covers a total of 56 bouts taking place during the second half of July 1942. One WBA title bout is included in this report.

July 18, 1942: To Europe for a fight card at Gothenburg’s Ullevi Stadium. No title bouts on the agenda, and top of the card features two WW contenders, American Eddie Dolan, a former WBA WW Champion, and Gustav Eder, a former EBU WW titleholder. First meeting of the two, and Eder starts well, with a big edge in the punches landed stats. Dolan recovers from a slow start and, by the midway point, the unofficial scorer has Dolan in front by a narrow one-point margin (48-47). Into the later stages of the bout, with the momentum having swung in favor of Dolan, the German fighter responds by stepping up the pace and becoming more and more aggressive. The bout goes the distance, and Dolan piles up enough points to secure a UD 10 verdict (95-94, 97-92, 96-93), thus lifting his career totals to 37-9-5 (14); the loss leaves Eder, who is still at Prime career stage, at 39-11-10 (9).

July 18, 1942: Two HW contenders top the next fight card, which takes place at St. Louis’ Kiel Auditorium. The two protagonists – Abe Simon and Jack Trammell – both sluggers, have not met before, and Simon enters the bout at Post-Prime while Trammell is still in the Prime stage of his career. In the early going, Trammell pulls ahead after a big round two. Simon, however, manages to resist and keeps the bout close; the unofficial card has Trammell up by just one point (48-47) at the midway point of the bout. Into the second half of the bout, with both fighters showing signs of fatigue, and in round seven, Simon rips open a cut over the left eye of Trammell. In round eight, Trammell, with blood still trickling down his face, responds with a big cross, decking Simon, who manages to arise just as the bell sounds, ending the round and preventing Trammell from doing further damage. With punches landed essentially even, the two battle down to the end, and a final round KD by Trammell sets him up to take a UD 10 (97-91, 97-91, 97-92), enabling Trammell to move up in the HW ranks. Post-bout career records: Trammell, 32-12 (15); Simon, 29-6-1 (21).

July 24, 1942: Next up is a Friday night card at Buenos Aires’ Luna Park. Topping the agenda is an LABF HW title bout, with Alberto Santiago Lovell defending the title against veteran Chilean HW Arturo Godoy. First meeting of the two, and Godoy manages to pose a challenge, despite suffering from the effects of a partially swollen right eye, which begins to puff up as early as round three. However, a round later, there is some noticeable redness around the left eye of Lovell. The bout is a close one, but comes to a sudden end early in the sixth round, as a hand injury forces Godoy to retire, handing a TKO 6 win to Lovell, who retains the belt and improves his overall record to 29-11-1 (23), and Godoy slips to 29-15 (14) with the loss. A peek at the scorecards after five rounds showed Lovell ahead on two of the three cards, despite the fact that the punches landed stats favored the Chilean challenger.

July 25, 1942: Next fistic action is at the Earls Court, in London. The feature matches two veteran BWs who have not met before, ex-WBA BW Champ Pablo Dano and ex-NABF and ex-LABF BW Champ Sixto Escobar. Both guys are at Post-Prime, in declining form, and it is Escobar who seizes the early initiative and pulls ahead in the early going. At the midway point, Dano has begun to respond, but Escobar still has a slight edge (48-47) on the unofficial card. Dano continues to rally, and the bout is wide open heading into the final few rounds. Late in round eight, Escobar catches Dano with a big left, staggering the Filipino fighter. Dano tries to battle back, suffering from the effects of a rapidly swelling left eye. The bout goes the distance, and Escobar walks away with a UD 10 (97-94, 96-95, 97-93) to run his career record to 34-13-5 (10), while the loss leaves Dano at 40-16-6 (18).

July 25, 1942: Next is a big card at New York City and the Polo Grounds, with a WBA title matchup topping the agenda. First up, on the undercard, are a pair of unbeaten LH fighters, as 8-0 Ezzard Charles faces his sternest test to date, taking on slugger Joe Kahut. Despite Kahut’s vaunted reputation as a power puncher (six KO wins in six bouts), Charles is able to land more blows and, by the end of round five of the scheduled eight-rounder, there is noticeable puffiness under the left eye of Kahut. In round seven, Kahut gets careless and Charles puts him on the deck once, twice, and finally for a third time and the automatic TKO verdict. TKO 7 for Charles runs his unbeaten record to an impressive 9-0 (8), as he now prepares to move up in status to the world of 10-round, co-feature bouts. Three more unbeaten prospects follow Charles into the ring in other preliminary bout action. LW Ike Williams runs his record to 15-0 (15) with a ninth round TKO of an overmatched Ray Lunny. Up-and-coming FW prospect Willie “Will O the Wisp” Pep faces Cuban prospect Miguel Acevedo, who has just one loss in 14 prior bouts. Pep, who relies more on guile and boxing ability as opposed to sheer power, outpoints his opponent in a lopsided UD 10 result (99-91 on all three cards) to improve to 13-0 (10). Then, two unbeaten WW prospects do battle, as “Sugar” Ray Robinson faces George Costner. A pair of Robinson uppercuts do major damage in the opening round, sending Costner to the canvas on two occasions. Another Robinson uppercut in round three delivers the coup-de-grace, as this time, Costner is unable to beat the count. Impressive KO 3 for Robinson, moving him to 14-0 (11) overall. Then, in a long awaited match-up, two current WBA Champions do battle in the main event as WBA HW Champ Joe Louis faces Billy Conn, who recently regained the WBA LH title. With Louis’ WBA HW title at stake, a large crowd has gathered to see if Conn can knock the heavily favored Louis off his title perch. It is the first meeting of these two, and Louis is hoping to improve on his most recent result – a technical draw with Tommy Farr that serves as a minor blemish on a stellar ring record. Louis starts well, using the jab and an occasional uppercut to take the opening round. Conn adopts a more defensive posture which serves him well in round two and for most of round three, until he gets caught by a Louis combination that puts him down for a nine-count near the end of the third round. More punishing blows from Louis follow in round four, and there is noticeable puffiness under the left eye of the challenger as Conn returns to his corner. In round five, both men work on the inside, and this favors Louis, the more powerful puncher of the two. After five, Louis is well ahead on the unofficial card (49-45), with Conn managing to win just one round (the second). Into the middle rounds, and Louis is content to hammer away at Conn from the outside, gradually wearing down the lighter challenger. In round nine, an overhand right from Louis drops Conn for a second time. The challenger manages to recover, covering up to last the round, but in round 10, he goes down for a third time, this time barely managing to beat the count. After easing up for a couple of rounds, Louis ends it with three more KDs in round 13 for an automatic TKO 13 – a dominating performance by the “Brown Bomber.” Post-bout career records: Louis, 39-1-1 (37); Conn, 29-5-3 (12).

July 31, 1942: The month wraps with a Friday night card at Atlantic City. No titles at stake, and the only noteworthy bout is the main event, which pairs two ranked FW contenders, as OPBF FW Champ Tsuneo Horiguchi faces veteran American Leo Rodak, who will have the support of the hometown crowd. Early in round three, there is trouble for the Japanese fighter who comes away from an inside exchange bleeding from a cut lip. At the halfway point, the unofficial scorer at ringside has Rodak up by a couple of points (49-47). In the later rounds, Horiguchi becomes more aggressive, and Rodak shows signs of fatigue, while the cut on Horiguchi’s mouth appears to be under control. In round seven, a devastating hook from Horiguchi drops Rodak, who resumes only after taking a seven count. A second KD follows a round later, and two more KDs in round nine turn the tide heavily in favor of the Japanese fighter. Thus, it’s no surprise to see Horiguchi declared a UD 10 winner (96-90, 96-90, 97-90) to move his career totals to 31-9-1 (16). The loss leaves Rodak at 27-12 (7).