Sport: Black-Jack Joe

Joe hooked with his left but missed , . . in close now, he’s peppering John Henry with rights and lefts . . . Joe clips John Henry with a left and right to the head, a hard right to the jaw . . . John Henry is down . . . he’s up . . . now Joe is pounding John Henry’s body . . . John Henry flicks a left to the body . . . Joe lands two rights to the head . . . John Henry is down again . . . he’s up at the count of two . . . Joe is pounding John Henry with rights and lefts … John Henry is down … at the count of five the referee stops the fight . . . it’s all over.

Those who heard sputterings like this coming out of the radio one night last week chuckled because they were sitting at home, were perched before bars, or rolling along in their cars—and not among the fans who paid as much as $16.50 for a seat to watch a two-and-a-half-minute prize fight between 25-year-old Joe Louis and 25-year-old John Henry Lewis at Madison Square Garden.

Heavyweight Champion Joe Louis was a 10-to-1 favorite before ringtime. But John Henry Lewis, just seven days older but three years wiser in ring experience, is one of the most skilful boxers in the business. He had been defeated only seven times in 99 fights, had never been knocked out, and had successfully defended his world’s light-heavyweight championship against all comers the past three years.

There were those who said Champion Joe would carry John Henry a few rounds because they were pals, fellow Negroes. But those who fight Joe nowadays also fight a terrible fear of what he can do to them, and Joe mowed John Henry down in about the time it takes to tee up and drive a golf ball.

Who Next? Most experts now agree that Joe Louis is the greatest fisticuffer of all time, predict that no one will beat him in the next two years—some say five, some say ten. Nevertheless, boxing managers are raking the country for a potential “white hope.” Most promising youngsters discovered since last summer are a pair of Irishmen, Pat Comiskey and Billy Conn, and a Bohemian named Johnny Paychek (né Pacek). Eighteen-year-old Pat Comiskey of Paterson, N. J. has a powerful right-hand punch, has knocked out eight opponents in a row. Pittsburgh’s 6-ft. Billy Conn, 21 and still growing, has a powerful left hook, has defeated five one-time world’s middleweight champions. Johnny Paychek, a Des Moines bellhop, is the hope of the Midwest. Onetime national Golden Gloves champion, sedate, violin-playing Johnny Paychek has won 16 fights (twelve by knockouts) since last April.

But these up-&-coming pugilists are at least two years away from heavyweight championship calibre. In the meantime, in order to give customers their money’s worth, one sportswriter suggested that Black-jack Joe take on all current contenders—Lou Nova, Max Baer, Bob Pastor, Tony Galento—in one evening, one at a time, like a barfly’s dream.