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This report covers a total of 58 bouts taking place during the second half of May 1941. One WBA title bout is included in this report.

May 17, 1941: Fistic action continues with a card at the Rand Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, a venue seeing increasing use during the war years. No titles on the line, and the feature matches homegrown crowd favorite Laurie Stevens with Eddie Cool in a matchup of two top 10 LW contenders. No prior meetings of the two, and Stevens – seeking to rebuild his resume and perhaps regain the Commonwealth LW title – is the aggressor of the two through the early rounds while Cool, who once held the USBA LW title, takes a more passive approach. Cool’s slick boxing and more accurate punching enable him to seize an early points advantage (49-47, according to the unofficial scorer) at the halfway point of the bout. In the second half of the bout, Stevens continues to press forward, taking advantage of a stamina edge over Cool. The result is a strong rally by Stevens who manages to catch Cool with a big hook in the final round, but he is unable to put the American away. The pro-Stevens crowd howls in protest as the judges’ cards are read, announcing Cool as the MD 10 winner (96-95, 95-95, 96-94), a somewhat surprising result given all three judges had Stevens winning the final three rounds. Anyway, the post-bout career marks are: Cool, 37-16-5 (12); Stevens, 27-8-1 (18).

May 17, 1941: Next up is a card at Detroit’s Briggs Stadium. Again, no titles on the line, and the feature pits two ranked MW contenders against each other. First up, on the undercard is “the Cincinnnati Cobra,” the promising LH prospect, Ezzard Charles, taking on a TC in his third career outing. The bout is over in the first round, a KO 1 for Charles who runs his career record to a perfect 3-0 (3). Charles, who is still in his teens, has been brought along carefully, and his next bout will be later in the year, after he turns 20. In the main event, it’s the “Boxing Bellhop,” Freddie Apostoli, against Cuban Kid Tunero, in a rematch of a prior encounter, back in 1940, that went the way of Tunero (via a SD 10). This time around, Tunero has a good opening round but runs into trouble in round two, after Apostoli rips open a gash over his right eye. Good cornerwork manages to keep the cut under control, and Tunero continues to swing away, with an aggressive posture, rocking Apostoli with a three-punch combo midway through round five. As a result, the unofficial scorer at ringside has Tunero ahead by a comfortable margin (49-46) at the halfway point. Apostoli bounces back with a good round in the sixth, reopening the cut and also causing some initial swelling to appear around Tunero’s injured eye. Then, in round seven, he rains a combination of blows that drop Tunero to the canvas. The Cuban fighter barely beats the count, arising at the count of nine, and covers up to survive the round. The cut is reopened in round nine, and begins bleeding profusely. A halt is ordered, and because the cut is ruled due to an accidental butt, the bout is decided based on the scorecards after round eight. By this measure, thanks to the one KD, Apostoli is declared the UTD 8 victor (76-74 on all three cards). The win, a popular one with the fight fans here in Detroit, lifts Apostoli to 26-6-2 (21) compared to 32-13-5 (10) for Tunero.

May 23, 1941: Next is a Friday night card at Boston Garden. The main event features two long-time HW contenders in a key “crossroads” fight for both men’s careers. Roscoe Toles faces Max Baer in a rematch of a 1937 encounter that resulted in a UD win for Toles. Now, four years later, with Baer at Post-Prime career stage, Toles is hoping for a repeat win to boost his prospects for another title try. Solid start for Toles, who literally leaves his mark in the form of a cut under the left eye of Baer. More trouble for Baer in round four, when Toles rips open a second cut above the left eye. At the midway point, it’s a solid points lead for Toles (50-46, according to the unofficial scorer). Battling the effects of the cuts and aging, Baer tries to put pressure on his opponent, all to no avail. The UD 10 goes the way of Toles (by scores of 98-92, 98-93, 97-93), re-establishing his credentials as a top HW contender. Post-bout career marks: 34-7-3 (6) for Toles; 32-16 (28) for Baer.

May 24, 1941: London’s venerable Harringay Arena is the venue for the next fistic action, with a twin bill topping the card. In the first co-feature, veteran HW Tommy Farr takes on the much younger Jack London in a 10-round, non-title affair. Not much action through the first five rounds, but what little action tends to favor Farr, who builds a nice points lead (49-46 on the unofficial card) by the midway point. By the end of round seven, a frustrated London – bothered by a rapidly swollen left eye, is beginning to suck wind, unable to cope with Farr’s superior boxing skills. Farr goes on to take a fairly routine UD 10 win (by scores of 96-94, 98-92, 98-92). Post-bout career records: Farr, 48-16-3 (16); London, 26-9-2 (14). The finale is for the GBU BW title, currently held by former WBA BW Champ Johnny King. Challenging King for the belt is Tom Smith, who held the GBU BW title briefly in the 1938-39 time frame. Surprisingly, the two have not met previously. King, the more aggressive of the two, starts well, establishing control on the inside while Smith elects to stay on the outside, assuming a more passive posture. Smith manages to rebound from a subpar start with a strong showing in round three, with some good two-fisted counterpunching that causes some puffiness around both eyes of the Champ. The bruising battle continues with the unofficial scorer having it even (57-all) at the midway point, which sees Smith showing some signs of swelling around his left eye as King is repeatedly on target with some accurate punching. Big stamina edge for King, the more experienced fighter, heading into the later rounds. Headed into the final few rounds, more pinpoint accuracy from King has Smith suffering from some swelling from the right eye as well, and Smith, trailing now, decides to become more aggressive in the final two rounds. In the final round, Smith connects with a big hook, and King attempts to cover up, but Smith lands a solid combination, putting King down and out. Big turn of events, upset of the year candidate, the KO 12 allows Smith, now 21-8-6 (11), to regain the GBU BW crown. King, now 52-8-1 (21), is still at Prime career stage and has hopes of rebounding from this surprising setback. (A check of the scorecards showed King well ahead on all three cards, so Smith needed the KO to win, and he succeeded in doing so.)

May 30, 1941: Next card is a Friday night affair at Manila’s Rizal Arena, and the main event is for the OPBF Flyweight title. Little Dado, the current holder, stung by a couple of recent losses, decides to make his first defense against fellow Filipino Small Montana, the man he defeated to earn the belt a year ago. Montana’s is coming off an upset MD win over Benny Lynch, while Dado is coming off a shocking loss to Rinty Monaghan (also via MD). Not much in the way of action in the early rounds, with a slight edge to the challenger, who seems the more active of the two. Then, midway through round four, a sharp right cross from Montana rips open a gash over the left eye of Dado. Blood spurts out; after conferring with the ring physician, the bout is halted and Montana is declared the victor via the cuts stoppage. TKO 4 for Montana enables him to regain the OPBF title and improves his career record to 26-12-4 (9). Little Dado, who suffered his third career loss in his last four bouts, and is now 24-3 (13).

May 31, 1941: Final card of the month takes place at New York City’s Yankee Stadium. Some exciting WBA title action on store, but first, on the undercard is unbeaten young WW prospect “Sugar” Ray Robinson who, in his toughest test to date, faces Morris Reif, his first non-TC opponent, in an 8-rounder. Reif, at 18, is even a couple of years younger than Robinson, with an unbeaten string of wins in his first five bouts while Sugar Ray has remained perfect (7 wins, 7 KO) in his first seven outings. The bout remains close for the first few rounds, then Robinson begins to dominate, landing some hard shots in round three. A vicious hook from Robinson puts Reif on the deck in round four, bur Sugar Ray cannot finish Reif who recovers (and wisely covers up) Robinson continues to hammer away at a stubborn opponent, who goes down a second time from a Robinson combination in round seven, but nonetheless manages to regain his footing and last the distance. Solid UD 8 points win for Robinson (80-71, 79-72, 80-71), who was taken the distance for the first time and is 8-0 (7) after the win; Reif dropped to 5-1 (4) with the loss. After several more preliminary bouts, time for the main event, and it is the WBA LH title on the line, as Lloyd Marshall, who won the title earlier in the year, takes on veteran Tiger Jack Fox in his initial title defense. First meeting of the two, and it has been a long wait for Fox – almost seven years – since he lost the WBA title to Maxie Rosenbloom in late 1934. Fox starts well, landing some solid blows in round twoo and causing some initial swelling around the left eye of Marshall. In round three, Fox continues to fire away, drilling Marshall with a hard cross that forces the Champ to cover up. After the first five, the unofficial scorer has a narrow one-point lead (48-47) for the challenger. In round seven, Marshall tries to become more aggressive, working his way inside but, after a series of exchange of blows, he falls victim to a solid combination from Fox that puts him down and out. KO 7 for Fox, who regains the WBA title after a seven-year hiatus, improving his career record to 51-6-1 (36) with the win. The loss drops Marshall to 20-2-2 (19).