The Carnival of Champions

By Gene Pantalone

Author of From Boxing Ring to Battlefield: The Life of War Hero Lew Jenkins

Available on Amazon

“This is a superb book that I highly recommend to all boxing fans. It is a great read.”

(Al Bernstein, Hall of Fame Boxing Analyst, Showtime)

From Boxing Ring to Battlefield is an engaging read. Katie Jenkins. . . comes across as a particularly interesting character. . . . I knew next to nothing about Lew Jenkins when I started reading From Boxing Ring to Battlefield. I feel as though I know him much better now. (Thomas Hauser, Boxing Writers Association of America Nat Fleischer Award, author of book Missing nominated for four Academy Awards)

In July 1937, promoter Mike Jacobs, who at the time was such a dominate promoter he was known as Mr. Boxing, had the idea to put together an unprecedented boxing card with four championship bouts. He would promote it as the Carnival of Champions. Jacobs committed to four title fights to be staged at the Polo Grounds where the New York Giants baseball team played their home games. The four championship bouts would match world lightweight champion Lou Ambers against Pedro Montañez, world welterweight champion Barney Ross against Ceferino Garcia, world bantamweight champion Sixto Escobar [the first native of Puerto Rico to hold a title] against Harry Jeffra, and French middleweight champion Marcel Thil against Fred Apostoli. Before the fight date arrived, controversy arose over the middleweight bout. Thil regarded himself as the world middleweight champion. The New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) recognized Freddie Steele as the champion. Under NYSAC compulsion, both boxers had to sign an agreement stipulating that no title would be at stake if they wanted to fight in New York.

Jacobs signed a contract stipulating for him to pay lightweight champion Lou Ambers $65,000 with an opportunity of 20 percent of the gate. It was an all-time high guarantee for a lightweight. In time, Jacobs had every fighter signed to an elaborate scale. Besides Ambers’s contract, he signed his challenger, Montañez, for $40,000. He signed Ross for $35,000, Thil $30,000, Escobar $12,500, Garcia $5,000, Apostoli $5,000, and Jeffra $2,500. If his receipts reached the $350,000 mark, Jacobs predicted he stood to realize a sizable profit. Though not a large sum of money by today’s standard, in 1937 it was exorbitant. Jacobs did not ignore his philanthropy for the event. He committed 10 percent of his profits to the House of Calvary Cancer Hospital.

Mike Jacobs had committed about $200,000 of his own money. He believed that with the Polo Grounds tickets scaled from $3 to $16.50, he might achieve a gate of $500,000. When it was suggested that a financial loss on the event was a possibility, he grinned and shrugged.

“What of it?” he said. “We’ll all have a lot of fun, won’t we? We’ll see some good fights and give a lot of fellows some work.”

Three of the Carnival of Champion fighters trained at Madame Bey’s boxing camp in Chatham Township, New Jersey, and another three trained at Dr. Bier’s camp in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, where Joe Louis trained for most of his fights. World lightweight champion Lou Ambers, world bantamweight champion Sixto Escobar, and middleweight challenger Fred Apostoli all trained in Chatham Township. Whitey Bimstein, who was in the corner of more champions than anyone in the history of boxing, trained all three. Ceferino Garcia, Marcel Thil, and Pedro Montañez trained in Pompton Lakes.

Ceferino Garcia, Marcel Thil and Pedro Montañez at their training camp before the fight in Pompton Lakes, NJ.

For the lightweight title bout, Charley Goldman, better known as a trainer, was Ambers’s new manager succeeding Al Weill [Weill would become Ambers’s manager again after this event]. Goldman and Weill would collaborate to campaign many fighters, including undefeated world heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano.

Journalists, photographers, and fans inundated the Bey camp before the Carnival of Champions date. One of the most remarkable facets of the training of Lou Ambers, Sixto Escobar, and Fred Apostoli at Madame Bey’s was the friendliness among them in the camp. When the press was told they would share Madame Bey’s camp for the Carnival of Champions, many anticipated that animosity would result. Nothing transpired. Madame Bey, who ran the camp, structured their training to avoid conflict. Escobar started first at one o’clock, Ambers followed at two o’clock, and Apostoli at three o’clock. Just one happy family, a reporter said.

Madame Bey talking to Mike Jacobs at her boxing camp.

On September 13, Al Buck reported on the fighters for the New York Post. He asked Ambers if he thought he had won the night Montañez received a close and disputed decision in their previous ten-round nontitle bout at Madison Square Garden. Ambers, ever the sportsman, gave his reply.

“I don’t know,” Ambers answered. “I never know who is winning when I’m fighting.”

Ambers was asked how he liked his new manager, Charley Goldman.

“Fine,” Ambers said as he winked. “Swell.”

Goldman said nothing. Heavyweight Tony Galento, Dumb Dan Morgan, a former manager, Kid McPartland, the former lightweight boxer who retired in 1905 and now was a boxing judge and referee, Al Weill, and manager Joe Jacobs, who had managed Andre Routis, Max Schmeling, and Tony Galento, were also at the camp. Weill asked how Ambers looked.

“Better than he’s looked for some time, but he gets hit with too many right hands,” Joe Jacobs observed. “I counted ten during the three rounds he boxed with Augie Gonzales.”

“I’m rolling with ’em, Joe, and I’m not quite right yet,” Ambers explained to Joe Jacobs. “Gonzales is a smart young fellow, and I honestly only felt three of his punches.”

On one day, the press asked Whitey Bimstein, trainer of all three at Bey’s camp, about the bouts.

“The winners?” Whitey said. “They’re all here, Escobar, Ambers, and Apostoli.”

Sixto Escobar with Whitey Bimstein.

As the big event neared, and thinking of ways to maximize the revenues, promoter Mike Jacobs made a shift in the order of the fights for the Carnival of Champions at the Polo Grounds. Marcel Thil of France would open the event against Fred Apostoli. Jacobs said he changed the fight order to enable European newspapers to receive news of the fight some hours earlier than if it had been later. In the second bout, he put the Barney Ross match with Ceferino Garcia. The third bout would be Lou Ambers against Pedro Montañez. The finale would be Sixto Escobar and Harry Jeffra. A preliminary bout would open the program at 7:45 in the evening, and the Thil-Apostoli bout would begin at 8:10.

On September 23, 1937, Mike Jacobs held his Carnival of Champions at the Polo Grounds. It was an unprecedented event in boxing history. The event started on time at 7:45 with a four-round preliminary bout of such little importance that Mike Jacobs forgot to list the fighters [it was a lightweight bout between Young Chappie and Auggie Gonzales that resulted in a draw]. Amongst the crowd of 45,000 were governors, United States senators and congressmen, mayors, judges, lawyers, bankers, stockbrokers, industry leaders, society people, stage and screen stars, and figures from many fields of sport. WNBC broadcast the event over the radio. It was fifty-five rounds of championship fights. Not one knockdown occurred.

In the first title fight of the night, though only the Boxing Federation of Europe considered it a championship bout, Fred Apostoli, in the only fight not to go fifteen rounds, defeated Marcel Thil. The Frenchman was stopped in the tenth round with a severe cut over his right eye. Thil led on the scorecards at the time of the stoppage. This was the thirty-two-year-old Thil’s final career bout. Apostoli, along with most of boxing, considered Freddie Steele the world middleweight champion. Apostoli could not claim the title.

Fred Apostoli and Marcel Thil bout.

In the second title bout, Barney Ross broke his left hand during his bout yet still retained his welterweight title with a unanimous decision over Filipino Ceferino Garcia, who claimed Ross head-butted him. “In as masterful an exhibition of boxing, as admirable a demonstration of fighting courage and as determined a stand a champion has flashed in recent years, Ross matched his wits against the power of his challenger’s punches and won the unanimous decision,” reported the New York Times.

Barney Ross and Ceferino Garcia bout.

Next, Lou Ambers retained his lightweight title by avenging his previous loss to Montañez. Both judges gave Ambers the edge, with the referee scoring it even. The unofficial Associated Press scorecard had it overwhelmingly for Ambers with a 12-1-2 score. “At every turn... the shifty, unorthodox Ambers was the master,” reported the New York Times.

Lou Ambers sang in his dressing room, as he often did, “Put on your old gray bonnet with the blue ribbons on it.”

“Save those gloves,” Ambers shouted, hardly missing a note in his song and then started to dance. He traveled to his hometown of Herkimer, New York, after the bout with his brothers Joe and Angelo, his friend Father Gustave, and a lucky pair of boxing gloves.

Lou Ambers and Pedro Montañez bout.

Sixto Escobar lost his bantamweight title to Harry Jeffra in a lopsided match to the surprise of many. Jeffra “so far outclassed Escobar as to make the match surprisingly one-sided,” reported the New York Times. Harry Jeffra, despite winning, complained because he fought around midnight. Escobar also stated his annoyance claiming the delay made him cold.

“Ten o’clock’s my bedtime,” Jeffra declared.

Sixto Escobar and Harry Jeffra bout.

Of the 45,000 in attendance, 32,600 were paying customers. The gross receipts were $232,644. After the $20,000 stadium rental and other expenses, the net amounted to $198,634. After paying the $190,000 guarantees to the fighters, Mike Jacobs had a little profit, but it set future matches for Jacobs that made the night worth it.

A video of the event exists on YouTube that was uploaded by the Boxing Hall of Fame Las Vegas.

Photos used in this article is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. Code § 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use.

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The Making of the First Great Boxing Promoter: Tex Rickard

George Lewis “Tex” Rickard was one of boxing’s greatest promoters. In the early years, he ushered in the golden age of prizefighting, the period from the 1920s through 1950s. He was a gambler who would wager on anything.

Tex Rickard

In 1921, the sporting world had its first million-dollar gate. It was a boxing match held in Jersey City, New Jersey. The public paid $1,789,238 to watch Jack Dempsey retain the world heavyweight title with a fourth-round knockout over world light heavyweight champion Frenchman Georges Carpentier. Jack Dempsey, heavyweight champion from 1919 to 1926, his manager, Jack “Doc” Kearns, and promoter Tex Rickard, grossed $8,400,000 in five fights between 1921 and 1927. Rickard would also form the National Hockey League, which included his New York Ranges, named after the lawmen from his home state—the Texas Rangers.

Rickard was a slender, finely dressed man. His attire included a vested suit with a pocket watch chain above the belt, hat, and cane. He was thin lipped with a half-smoked, chewed cigar protruding from the corner of his mouth. He thrived on exhilaration, saying, “… I’ve never been far away from excitement …” His stoic expression was unmistakable on his lined, weathered face. It showed the wear as a cowboy from the Midwestern plains of his youth. He had an imperturbable disposition. He neither laughed, except for a fake forced laugh, nor wept. Rickard acquired these traits during his years as a boy and young adult.

He was born on January 2, 1870, in Kansas City, Missouri, to a poor family. He had the infamous outlaws Frank and Jesse James, along with their mother, as his next-door neighbors. He was four years old, but Rickard remembered the James brothers and Jesse’s thick, rough beard. They would flip coins to Rickard and other kids.

His family moved to Sherman, Texas, when Rickard was still a child. When he was eleven, his father died. He took a job as a cowboy on the plains of Texas with the East Ranch to support his mother and many brothers and sisters. By the age of fifteen, he had ridden through fifteen states on horseback working for the ranch. Not long after, word spread that Rickard was one of the best shots in Texas. An injury from a longhorn ended Rickard’s days as a cowboy. At the age of twenty-three, he became the marshal of Henrietta, Texas, and gained the nickname “Tex.” In 1894, he married and had a child. Both his wife and child died within a year. Many of his siblings died shortly after. With nothing to keep him in Texas, he went to Alaska. It possessed the potential of fortune that he desired—the gold rush in the Klondike.

In Alaska, Rickard and a partner, George Cormack, claimed an area, which they sold. Rickard received $60,000 in gold dust. “I thought I was fixed for life,” Rickard said many years later. Rickard opened a saloon with Tom Turner, and it became the biggest saloon and gambling house in Dawson City. After four months, his gambling took his fortune. In four hours, he lost $150,000, which included the saloon. In St. Michaels, he met Jim White and opened a new saloon in Nome. Here, Rickard promoted his first fight as entertainment for his patrons. After they attracted a packed house, Rickard saw the potential in the sport.

Rickard had recouped almost everything he lost in Dawson City. He left Alaska and went to San Francisco where he accepted a job of promoting the world lightweight title fight between Battling Nelson and the champion Joe Gans. Rickard chose the Casino Amphitheatre in Goldfield, Nevada, to stage the fight. Rickard acted as Gans’ manager. He had heated discussions with Nelson’s manager, Nolan, about the purse distribution. Rickard never held fight managers in high regard after this. When the townspeople heard what was happening, they gave their support to Gans. Nelson’s popularity waned. They guaranteed manager Nolan that if Nelson did not fight, Nolan would be going home horizontally. Nolan withdrew his demands and settled for $22,500. That allowed Rickard to pay Gans $11,000. He would have received nothing if not for Rickard. As much disdain as Rickard had for managers, he sympathized with the prizefighters. In later years, when Gans had no money, Rickard staked him, so he could fight. Rickard would repeat the practice with other prizefighters throughout his career.

On September 3, 1906, the fight took place. The large crowd, which included Teddy Roosevelt’s son Kermit, paid $69,715 to see the fight. They were decidedly behind the black Gans, not the white Nelson, an unusual occurrence for that time. Joe Gans, the Old Master, lived up to his ring name by out-boxing Nelson despite breaking his hand in the thirty-third round. Nelson reverted to many flagrant fouls that infuriated the crowd to near riot. After forty-two grueling rounds in the searing Nevada heat, Gans took a left hook to the groin that sent him to the canvas. He could not get up. They awarded Gans the fight by disqualification because of the foul.

With this prizefight, Rickard saw the fervor it caused among the people. Rickard did not expect to make money from the fight but had a $13,000 profit. He would be in the fight game for the rest of his life. Two philosophies that were used in the bout Rickard would apply to other fight promotions—you must provide money to make money, and it attracted attention if you promoted one fighter as the villain and the other a hero. When people would tell him he spent too much, he continued to prove them wrong with increased gates.

Joe Gans vs. Battling Nelson

Tex Rickard, now a promoter for prizefights, found that he had competition for big fights with other promoters who had realized the financial rewards from successful bouts. Rickard often conceived an angle to outmaneuver his competitors. This became clear when the Jack Johnson and Jim Jefferies fight was announced; everyone wanted to promote it. Rickard befriended Johnson, who told him the highest bid would be $100,000. The principles opened the bids in Hoboken, New Jersey, with Johnson present. A certified check accompanied each bid except one. Rickard’s bid contained $101,000 in cash. Rickard had outmaneuvered his competitors. The principles awarded him the fight. He would soon regret the victory.

From the onset, Rickard went through a barrage of protests for allowing a black man to fight a white man, despite Johnson having defended his title in America four times against whites. Given the success and complete opposite sentiment Rickard had experienced when he promoted the black Gans against the white Nelson in a lightweight championship, he did not foresee the fervor with which white America would object to the bout.

Economics overshadowed racism as cities competed to host the event. Rickard had a stadium erected in San Francisco. Governor Gillette canceled the match due to the ongoing pressure of hosting a mixed-race bout. Rickard lost the money he spent and had to refund the presales. He decided to hold the fight in Reno, Nevada, the same state he had so much success with the Gans-Nelson bout. He built another stadium, costing even more than the one in San Francisco. It became the first time someone erected an arena to hold a bout. When neither fighter could agree on a referee, someone from Johnson’s camp suggested that Rickard take the job. To Rickard’s surprise, Jeffries agreed, and Rickard with no choice became promoter and referee.

Before a crowd of 15,600 paying $275,000 on July 4, 1910, Jim Jeffries and Jack Johnson entered the ring under the blazing Nevada sun. It was Jeffries’s first fight in five idle years away from boxing. At thirty-five, Jeffries lost close to a hundred pounds to get to his fighting weight. Jeffries took the shaded corner. An official reminded him that they had agreed to flip a coin to determine the corner. When Jeffries’s manager, Sam Berger, went to Johnson’s corner to flip the coin, Johnson told him, “That’s all right Sam. You just stay right where you are. This here corner’s good enough for us."

Johnson destroyed the undefeated Jeffries. Rickard stopped the scheduled forty-five-round fight in the fifteenth round while simultaneously Berger entered the ring with a towel to end it. Jeffries received $50,000 plus over $66,000 for the movie rights. Johnson received $70,600 plus another $51,000 for the movie rights. They estimated the motion picture money at $270,000.

Among those in attendance was a young fifteen-year-old by the name of William Harrison Dempsey, better known as Jack Dempsey. The youngster came via a Pullman train car for the expressed purpose of watching the championship bout. Days before the bout, he would stalk Rickard in awe of the promoter. He attended the fighters’ training camps. Many years later, the two would be formally introduced, producing an epic business association. 

Jack Johnson vs. Jim Jeffries

In 1925, Tex Rickard built the new Madison Square Garden, which did not officially open until December 15, but held a boxing match before then. It was the third building to hold the Garden name. The current Madison Square Garden that opened in 1968 was the fourth. The Garden of 1925 was the creation of Tex Richard. He financed it with a group he called his “six hundred millionaires,” a number of wealthy friends. He built it at a cost of $4,750,000 in 249 days. The media called it the "House That Tex Built."

The new 1925 Garden held many historical events through its existence, but its main purpose was to host boxing events for which it could accommodate 18,500 fans, with seating on three levels. It measured two hundred feet by three hundred seventy-five feet. Though designed by noted architect Thomas W. Lamb, it had poor viewing for some seating. Deficient ventilation would give a hazy appearance inside, especially in the upper seats, due to permitted smoking.

Tex Rickard arrived in Miami Beach on December 28, 1929. He was there to arrange one of his heavyweight elimination bouts between Jack Sharkey and Young Stribling and discuss with Jack Dempsey his proposed comeback. Early on New Year’s Day, he complained of pains, and the doctors rushed him to Allison Hospital for an emergency operation. On New Year’s night of 1929, Tex Rickard was operated on and his appendix removed. The next day, he showed signs of a quick recovery. Despite the early optimism of the doctors, Rickard’s health deteriorated.

“Practically the same condition existed tonight as this afternoon. Mr. Rickard’s resistance was possibly slightly lower. His temperature remained at 103, and his pulse had increased from 132 at 4 p.m. to 140 at this time.” Signed Dr. E. H. Adkins.

The hospital allowed Dempsey, who had arrived in Palm Beach, to see Rickard for a moment. When he left the hospital, he said the promoter told him, “‘Jack, I’ve got this fight licked.’”

Before lapsing into a coma from which he never rallied, he turned to his wife and friends who gathered at his bedside with the assertion that he was “getting a tough break, but I’ll fight.” Then he grasped the hand of his wife and in a concerned, feeble voice inquired about his eight-year-old daughter, Maxine. When told that Maxine was all right and wanted her father to get well, Rickard said, “Help me over this, sweetheart, I’m fighting my …” He did not finish the sentence, and in two hours the man who was not just associated with boxing, he was boxing, was dead at fifty-nine.

The body of Tex Rickard came to New York in a great $15,000 bronze casket. Jack Dempsey and Walter Fields, brother of comedic actor W. C. Fields, were among the pallbearers. The casket lay in state at Madison Square Garden, "Rickard’s own Temple to Fistiana," where Max Schmeling had fought just days before. Huge crowds came to pay their last respects.

“My sympathy goes out to Mr. Rickard’s family,” Gene Tunney said from a vacation spot. “I feel his death keenly as one of his myriad of friends. The world of sport has undoubtedly lost a genius. There probably never will be another promoter so capable of stirring the public interest. It might truly be said that whatever his hands touched turned to gold.”

“My best pal is gone!” Jack Dempsey said. “Quietly and nobly he slipped away. His greatest fight was lost … Ten minutes before the end Tex opened his eyes. His hand lay in mine. … His eyes carried the message that meant only one thing. He knew then that the battle was over … For twelve years Tex was my loyal friend.”

With the death of Rickard died any thought that Jack Dempsey would make a comeback.

“The secret pact that we had made ended with his tragic passing,” Dempsey said. “My conditional promise to fight again so that he might perhaps realize his final ambition of ‘Just one more million-dollar gate’ is automatically shattered.”

Rickard’s planned match between Sharkey and Stribling occurred on February 27, 1929, at Flamingo Park, Miami Beach, Florida. Sharkey won the ten-round decision.

People line the streets of New York for Tex Rickard’s funeral

Rickard died one of the wealthiest men in sports at the time. His estate was estimated at $2,000,000. For a man who started with nothing from the Missouri plains, it was a sizable sum. The New York Trust Company, executor, refused to divulge the exact amount. The will provided for his widow, daughter, mother-in-law, sisters, nieces, nephews, and a cousin of his first wife. His estate included properties in Boston, Miami Beach, South America, securities in South American corporations, the Cattle Company of Paraguay, and brokerage accounts and bank accounts in New York and Florida.

Tex Rickard's Oil Company

Promoters thought to take Rickard’s place were Humbert Fugazy, Jim Mullen, Jimmy Johnston, and Paddy Harmen. None would obtain the stature of Rickard, but one man who had worked closely with Rickard in his biggest promotions would wield the power in boxing that Rickard had. He would not get involved in boxing promotion for another five years. When he did, it would be with absolute power. Mike Jacobs would be a man who would rival Rickard’s accomplishments.

Tex Rickard is Buried in New York

Gene Pantalone

Author of From Boxing Ring to Battlefield: The Life of War Hero Lew Jenkins

Available for pre-order on Amazon and from Rowman and Littlefield

“The life of Lew Jenkins is the stuff of boxing legend. From his Depression era upbringing and carnival barnstorming to winning a world title and squandering it all before becoming a war hero, Jenkins is an epic pulp novel come to life. In the capable hands of Gene Pantalone the story brims with all the hardscrabble detail you want in a great boxing book. This is a must-read for fans of the squared circle's history.”

-Chad Dundas, lead MMA sportswriter for the Bleacher Report and award-winning author of Champion of the World

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Welshman Tommy Farr: The First Heavyweight Title Defense by Joe Louis and Farr’s Fights in America

Tommy Farr and Joe Louis in a pre-fight publicity photo

Thomas “Tommy” George Paul Farr was born March 12, 1913, in his family home at 3 Railway Terrace, Clydach Vale, Tonypandy, Rhondda, Glamorgan, South Wales. He was the son of George Farr from Cork, Ireland, and Sarah. Tommy was one of eight children, he had three brothers and four sisters. Farr grew up in a poor part of Wales. His thirty-nine-year-old mother, after being bedridden for a time with severe bronchitis and heart problems, died when he was nine. His father, an Irish bare-knuckle fighter, died briefly after. Farr became the main source of income for his family. He began working in the mines where his father had sustained injuries that led to his death. Farr bore blue coal scars on his back, received from crawling around small holes in the mines as a young boy, and a mine explosion causing pieces of coal to hit Farr’s face and body. The marks he received from the explosion would be carried for the rest of his life. Welsh boxing historian and referee Winford Jones said it was his loathing of the mines rather than any love of boxing that first drove twelve-year-old Farr into boxing. The press called him the Tonypandy Terror, and the American press simply referred to him as Tonypandy. He became the British heavyweight champion and never lost the title in the ring; he relinquished it to fight Joe Louis.

In 1937, the twenty-four-year-old boxer from Wales, Tommy Farr, came to America to challenge Joe Louis for the world heavyweight title in his first defense since winning the belt from James Braddock. Before the Louis bout, Farr had gone twenty fights without a loss. Those fights included the defeat of former heavyweight champion Max Baer when he was touring England and former light heavyweight champion Tommy Loughran. The circumstances that earned Farr a chance at the title were a strange mix of boxing politics and a German regime that threatened the world. Here is what went down that set up the Louis-Farr bout.

The year before, Max Schmeling, the only man to have defeated Joe Louis at that time, found himself caught up in the politics of boxing. On August 8, 1936, Schmeling arrived in Lakehurst, New Jersey, on the Hindenburg airship. He came for the expressed purpose of signing and fighting for the world heavyweight title against James Braddock. Schmeling and Braddock signed contracts for the bout shortly after Schmeling’s arrival. The fight was tentatively scheduled for September 26, 1936. In mid-August, Braddock’s manager, Joe Gould, said that Braddock suffered from a bone enlargement of the little finger on his left hand and postponed the match.

In December, they signed again for a bout on June 3, 1937. A picture of Schmeling and Braddock after the signing appeared in newspapers. Ten hours before the rescheduled fight, Schmeling appeared at the weigh-in. The commission president, General George Phelan, stood and greeted Schmeling with a formal statement. Braddock did not show, the fight was canceled, and Braddock was fined one thousand dollars. Schmeling called the fine ludicrous. Tickets and posters had already been printed, and the Madison Square Garden Long Island Bowl marquee displayed the fight. A newsreel called Ghosts Stalk in Empty Arena for “Phantom Fight” showed the weigh-in and empty arena. Braddock had already signed a contract for a title fight with Joe Louis. That fight took place in Chicago a few weeks later with Louis winning the title. A clause in that contract, not publicized, stated that Braddock would receive 10 percent of Louis’s earnings for the next ten years. Joe Louis defended his title twenty-five times in that decade. By not fighting Schmeling, Braddock became a wealthy man.

Madison Square Garden Long Island Bowl Marquee and event tickets for the Braddock-Schmeling fight that never took place

Schmeling awaited a title opportunity. His perceived close links to the Nazi Party and the fact that there was more money to be made from Braddock versus Louis shunted him aside. As Louis stopped Braddock and claimed his crown in June 1937, a furious Schmeling, with the backing of Hitler and the Nazis, planned a showdown with the Welshman Tommy Farr. They labeled it “the real world championship.”

Before the Schmeling-Farr bout took place, promoter Mike Jacobs outmaneuvered Schmeling to protect his fighter—Joe Louis. Mike Jacobs, who exerted so much dominance in the fight game that he was called Mr. Boxing, did not want an alternate heavyweight champion recognized in Europe. He made a big-money offer to Farr. He guaranteed him a fight with Louis on August 30, 1937. It would be Louis’s first title defense. Farr accepted the fight and Mike Jacobs’ terms.

Farr trained for the Joe Louis fight in the New Jersey shore resort town of Long Branch at the city-owned speedway. Joe Louis trained at his usual Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, camp. When the Welshman was to step into the ring against Louis, he would be demonstrating his Welsh pride by wearing on his trunks a small, red silk Welsh dragon, which had adorned the trunks of the late Freddie Welsh when the latter won the British lightweight crown and the Lonsdale belt from Johnny Summers and the world lightweight championship from Willie Ritchie. It was sent to Farr by Gwilyn Seaton of Pontypridd [Welsh’s hometown], a friend of Welsh who had it since 1914.

Left Photo: Joe Louis, Tommy Farr weigh-in. Right Photo: Boxers introduced prior to the August 30, 1937, Joe Louis-Tommy Farr bout. Left to right: Referee Arthur Donovan, Jack Johnson, James Braddock, Announcer, [obscured boxer], Barney Ross, Pedro Montanez, Jack Sharkey (partially obscured), Mickey Walker [facing right], Gene Tunney, Jack Dempsey, Marcel Thil, Max Baer, Max Schmeling, and Johnny Dundee

At the weigh-in for his fight against Joe Louis, Louis asked Tommy how he got the blue coal scars on his back. Rather than telling him they were from crawling in tiny holes down the mines, Tommy said they were from fighting tigers in his days at the circus. If he meant to intimidate Louis, it seemed to have worked based on how the fight would unfold.

About 37,000 fans came to see the five-to-one favorite Joe Louis defend his title for the first time against Tommy Farr at Yankee Stadium on August 30, 1937. About ten million Britons stayed up at 3:00 am, which was already August 31 in Great Britain, to tune into the radio broadcast of the fight. At the Cambrian Colliery, Rhondda, where Farr once worked, they changed the shift times especially for the occasion, and loudspeakers were set up in public halls for fans to hear the fight. Few in America gave Farr a chance to even be on his feet after fifteen rounds. What ensued did not demonstrate the superiority that Louis would show throughout his career.

Though Louis had no problem piling up points against the Welshman, his punching power was absent, and he jabbed out a victory with his left. Only at the end of the fifth round did he throw a telling punch that had Farr in trouble, but that was quickly remedied by the sound of the bell. Farr thrilled the crowd with his game, determined fashion in which he took the fight to Louis. In the last three rounds, long, jagged cuts under Farr’s eyes spewed blood and had him blinded. “I couldn’t see him,” Farr said after the fight. Louis kept it up with his left jab that Farr could no longer locate. The fight ended with no knockdowns.

Photos from the Tommy Farr-Joe Louis heavyweight title fight

The unanimous decision in favor of Louis was greeted with boos that cascaded throughout Yankee Stadium. Farr became the second man to take Louis the fifteen-round distance, losing the decision. The crowd thought the Welshman had done enough to garner a decision. Some ringside observers thought Farr had won. The fight verdict outraged Farr’s fans in Wales.

“I gave them a good go, didn’t I,” Farr said from his dressing room.

Farr admitted the better man won that night.

“My face looked like a dug-up road after he’d finished with it,” Farr said.

“I’ve only got to think about Joe Louis, and my nose starts bleeding.”

Years later, Farr was quoted as having said, “At the end, I thought I might have got it. If they had made it a draw, I would have been happy.”

The boxing world ridiculed Louis’s effort, they should have waited for him to finish his career.

Jack Dempsey: Fifteen years ago, against that sort of fighters, I would have sent Jack Kearns [Dempsey’s manager] out to do the fighting, and I would have stayed in the comer.

Jack Johnson: Give me three pork chops and a breath of fresh air, and I’ll challenge ’em both.

Jack Sharkey: And to think they used to boo me! That’s not the same Louis who knocked my head off with a left.

Gene Tunney: Very interesting engagement. Very!

James Braddock: I’d like another whack at that championship. If he had fought the same fight against me that he did against Farr, Louis never would have taken the title. I may be bad, but not that bad.

Barney Ross: Louis won going away, but he didn’t look very good doing it. I never saw a man with his punching power so consistently refuse to use it. He wouldn’t hook, he wouldn’t throw that right. All he did was jab.

Max Schmeling: I will beat Louis every day in the week, and twice on Sundays. He didn’t try for a knockout because he was scared he might get hurt. That hurt hand? An alibi, maybe, huh? [Louis would knock out Schmeling in the first round of their next fight.]

Pedro Montanez: Is it true the big fellows get fifty and sixty thousands dollars for that?

Mickey Walker: And to think I gave up a dinner of steamed clams and beer to watch this thing.

Benny Leonard: I was born too soon and too light.

Johnny Dundee: So was I.

Max Baer: I could beat ’em both. I am the greatest fighter in the world. I’ll be champion again before the end of next year. Whatta you think of the suit I got on? Paid two hundred smackers for it in London. Class, kid, That’s Maxie.

Lou Ambers: Farr’s a game guy. Ain’t it a shame he can’t punch. I can’t figure out how any man that big can’t knock your head off.

Marcel Thil: Mon Dieu!

Sixto Escobar: The big ones they very slow. Come watch me. Sixto, he fly.

Ted Broadribb, Farr’s manager, parted ways with him after the Louis fight. Farr’s next bout was to be against James Braddock on January 21, 1938, at Madison Square Garden. It would be Braddock’s first fight since losing the title to Joe Louis. To train for the Braddock fight, Farr went to Madame Bey’s camp located in Chatham Township, New Jersey. At the time, it was the most famous boxing camp that through its existence attracted no fewer than fourteen heavyweight champions and eighty International Hall of Fame inductees.

Snow piled up from a recent storm at Madame Bey’s Camp on January 17, 1938. Promoter Mike Jacobs arrived to check on Tommy Farr. It was Jacobs’s Twentieth Century Sporting Club that was promoting Farr’s bout with James Braddock. Mike Jacobs arrived in a limousine that the driver drove into a snow bank. Jacobs barked orders and assisted with words of suggestion to those engaged in extracting the limousine out of the snow bank. He also directed traffic while the vehicle remained stuck.

After the limousine issue was resolved, Jacobs went inside Madame Bey’s farmhouse. She had made a chicken that he consented to carve. Joe Jacobs [no relation to Mike Jacobs], the manager of Max Schmeling and Tony Galento, was at Bey’s, too. Afterward, they went to watch Farr work out.

Tommy Farr had started his day with a six-mile jog over the snow-covered hills. He skipped rope for ten minutes before punching both the light and heavy bags. He shadowboxed a round and sparred a round with Jack Tebo, a Canadian heavyweight. Tebo was the only sparring partner to remain on his feet for two rounds. With his other sparring partners, Farr knocked down Paul Pross with a left hook to the jaw and knocked Steve Colucci down twice.

“He looks good, doesn’t he?” Mike Jacobs asked when Farr knocked down Steve Colucci for the second time with a short right to the jaw.

“Damn good,” Joe Jacobs agreed.

“I like the way Tommy uses his left hand,” Gunnar Barlund commented, a heavyweight whose next fight was against Buddy Baer.

“Schmeling or Galento would kick the hell out of him,” added Bud Gorman, a good heavyweight from ten years earlier.

“Say, Joe, how about a go at Galento?” Farr inquired, his workout finished.

“Anytime,” manager Joe Jacobs replied, “Mike here’s a promoter.”

“Well, I’ve nothing to do after Friday night,” Farr declared.

“Galento’s ready,” Joe Jacobs insisted. “Mike can make the match now.”

“How about it, Mike?” Farr asked.

“Say, you and Braddock are going to draw a lot of people from New Jersey,” Mike Jacobs answered, ignoring both Tommy and Joe’s interest in a Galento match.

Mike Jacobs was asked what he thought of Farr’s chances against James Braddock.

“He likes to fight and just because he’s swapping punches in there with his sparring partners doesn’t mean he’s going to lead with his chin,” Mike Jacobs explained.

“I’m the promoter and can’t pick a winner, but this fellow’s ready for a hard fight. He’s in better shape than he was when he finished at Long Branch for the Joe Louis fight."

Joe Jacobs said he wanted to see James Braddock work before committing himself but joined in the general approval voiced for Tommy Farr. After his workout completed, Farr went for a rubdown. After the rubdown, Farr began conversing with Joe Jacobs again.

“Say, Joe, Schmeling has nothing to fear from Ben Foord,” Farr predicted of the man he had defeated for the British heavyweight title. “Foord could be a great fighter but won’t train. He’s got a big head.”

“I’ll be ready in September if Max beats Joe Louis,” Farr declared.

“Okay,” Joe Jacobs said.

Farr decided to forego sparring the next day, the final day before the bout. He skipped rope for half an hour and did calisthenics, bag punching, and shadowboxing. That same day, James Braddock, training at Dr. Biers in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, was visited by world heavyweight champion Joe Louis and New York Yankee outfield star Joe DiMaggio. Louis had beaten Farr and Braddock.

“Braddock appears faster than he was in Chicago,” Louis commented, referring to their title fight. “I don’t want to forecast a result. Braddock punches harder than Farr, but Farr has youth and speed with him.”

A capacity crowd of more than 18,000 attended the fight at Madison Square Garden on January 21, 1938. Farr was about ten years younger than Braddock. Farr started strong for the first eight rounds of a ten-round fight. As in the Louis bout, he took the fight to Braddock. It was in the last two rounds that Braddock turned the tide. He showed his superior power.

When the men came out for the last round, the Braddock-biased crowd roared. Braddock was desperate, as he must have known he was behind. Both men, exhausted, showed their resolve. Braddock hammered away at Farr. It was a savage fight. The Garden emitted a tremendous roar. Braddock had come back. Braddock had beaten off the years that weighed upon him. Now he was beating Farr. The ending bell rang. The two kept fighting; neither heard it as the crowd drowned it out. Journalist Wilbur Wood wrote, “Napoleon cynically remarked that God is on the side which has the heavier artillery. James J. Braddock demonstrated that when he opened up with his big guns in the last two rounds.”

“It is too bad Jim didn’t start sooner,” somebody said after the bout. 

“He couldn’t,” the man sitting beside him countered. “He wouldn’t have had enough left to carry him through the tenth round.”

Now the fight was over, and the ring was swarming with seconds. Joe Gould, Braddock’s manager, shook hands with Farr as the fighters went back to their corners. The seconds sponged off the men, and the crowd stood waiting for the decision. Then the announcement came. 

“The winner—Braddock!”

Braddock won a split verdict over Tommy Farr. The scoring was as close as a fight could get. Judge Charley Lynch scored it four to six; Judge George LeCron six to four; referee Johnny McAvoy had it four to four with two even. The scorecard was a draw, but the referee gave it to Braddock on points.

A roar came from the pro-Braddock crowd. Braddock clenched his hands over his head in greeting his fans. Farr was dumbfounded by the decision, thinking he had earned it by his dominant performance before the ninth round. In anger, Farr threw his robe draped about him. Braddock went to shake Farr’s hand, but Farr turned away and left down the steps from his corner. In the ring, Braddock’s handlers jumped about as the crowd still roared. The crowd had seen a game old fighter come from behind to win.

Newspapers printed that Farr said referee Johnny McAvoy was coaching Braddock during the last round. Farr denied the accusation. Farr said after the fight that he had an injured left hand, but nothing had been stated before the fight. Farr would apologize a few days later to Braddock, but the damage was already done. He met with Mike Jacobs to make amends. Unable to hide his disgust, the meeting did not go well. Summing the sentiment of the journalists toward Farr, Al Buck wrote, “Within the next few days, Tommy Farr would go to Miami with the best wishes of the sportswriters who hope, quite sincerely, that he never returns.”

Eleven days after the fight on February 1st, Braddock announced his retirement. He knew his thirty-two-year-old body had enough. The time arrived to leave the game. He did not need to subject himself to more punishment. He had a $500,000 payday from the Joe Louis fight and a percentage of the champion’s future earnings. He was financially secure.

Tommy Farr returned to Madame Bey’s camp and was welcomed. It never mattered to Madame Bey what the newspapers printed; she judged her boys on a different set of criteria—her own. She had come to know the rigors of preparing for a fight and the psychological toll it took. She understood the disappointment after hard preparations and the difficulty in acceptance of losing a close decision. Farr was back for his third consecutive fight against a world champion. It would be against ex-heavyweight champion Max Baer, the man he beat in England. It would be Farr the boxer against Baer the puncher. Despite the antics after the James Braddock fight, Tommy Farr used Braddock’s former manager, Joe Gould, for the Max Baer bout.

Left Photo: Tommy Farr, his new manager, Joe Gould, and his new trainer, Doc Robb, at Madame Bey’s camp in Chatham Township, New Jersey, preparing for Max Baer bout. Right Photo: Tommy Farr with camp proprietor, Madame Bey

Journalist Edward Van Every went to Madame Bey’s to report on Farr’s preparation. He reported that to his surprise, Farr seemed to be working at a tireless pace and punching harder than ever before. Paul Pross, Charley Massera, and most sparring partners engaged were on the verge of a knockout daily.

When fight day arrived, March 11, 1938, at Madison Square Garden, a crowd of 18,222 saw the fight. Gone were Baer’s clowning antics. He knocked down the rugged Farr in the second and third rounds. Farr lasted the full fifteen rounds. The decision was unanimous and not close. Scoring was thirteen to two, eleven to three with one even, and nine to five with one even in favor of a more serious Max Baer.

Left Photo: James Braddock, Tommy Farr. Right Photo: Max Baer, Tommy Farr

Farr would fight two more times in America against Lou Nova and Red Burman, both of whom had future title fights with Joe Louis, losing both by a decision. Though all his fights went the distance, he would be winless in America. His last loss in America would be against Red Burman. Three months later, after returning to England, he would defeat Burman in London. Farr never fought in America again. For the year and a half he was in America, the rugged Welshman fought the best the heavyweight division had to offer and took every fight the distance.

Tommy Farr first retired in 1940. He lost his money from boxing and attempted a comeback in 1950 at the age of thirty-six to make a living. He retired again in 1953. Farr later ran a pub in Brighton, Sussex, and died on St. David’s Day [the patron saint of Wales] of liver cancer at his home in 1986. Farr was inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame in 1997. Farr’s final record: won 84 (24 KOs) + lost 34 (6 KOs) + drawn 17 + no contest 2 = 137 fights.

Tommy Farr Memorial

Gene Pantalone

Author of From Boxing Ring to Battlefield: The Life of War Hero Lew Jenkins - Available for pre-order on Amazon.

“Too often the history of boxing boils down to tales about heavyweights, as if the exploits of Sullivan, Johnson, Dempsey, Louis, Marciano, Ali, and Tyson are all that matter. Well, Lew Jenkins—lightweight champion, war hero, and a danger to himself as much as any opponent—mattered. His is the story of survival in the ring, in two wars, and in life. Gene Pantalone’s biography of Jenkins richly recounts a fascinating life. ‘Only in America,’ as the great Don King always said.”

-Randy Roberts, professor of history, Purdue University, author, Joe Louis: Hard Times Man, and co-author, A Season in the Sun: The Rise of Mickey Mantle

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