It’s 1942, a month after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the United States is at war. As the country enters this new chapter in its history, one thing remains unchanged: the undisputed world heavyweight champion is Joe Louis. Since he won the title in 1937, “The Brown Bomber” is clearly the most dominant heavyweight king since Jack Dempsey, far better than all the others who have no serious title challengers left. But Louis has some unfinished business with Buddy Baer, younger brother of former champion Max Baer and, at nearly 6’7″ and over 240 pounds, one of the biggest men to ever fight for the heavyweight crown.
The lack of competition for Louis was not a new problem. By 1939 it was evident that there was no viable threat to the “Brown Bomber.” In December 1940, Louis’ promoter Mike Jacobs announced that Joe would embark on a tour of monthly title fights, seven in total, culminating in a showdown with light heavyweight champion Billy Conn. the Month Club,” with Louis beating one overmatched opponent after another and Buddy Baer had been the final “bum” of the tour. However, in that first meeting between the two in May, it proved to be quite the opposite.
With significant height and reach advantages, Baer was also 36 pounds heavier than the champion. Louis remained the better boxer and harder puncher, but Joe had difficulty catching Baer and the aggressive challenger forced him to give ground. In the first round, Baer backed Louis into the ropes and, to everyone’s surprise, he dropped Joe with a quick right hand followed by a hard left hook. The champion was immediately up and looking unharmed, but Baer pressed until the end of the round. The amazement in the stands of Washington DC’s Griffith Stadium was palpable. This was the first time since the legendary fight between Dempsey and Firpo that a heavyweight champion was eliminated from the ring.
The next four rounds were a hectic affair, with Louis maintaining advantages in power and accuracy while Baer, undaunted, advanced behind heavy right hands. To the delight of the crowd, he had some success, backing Louis into the ropes in the third round and punching, and in the fourth his attack forced Joe to hold on. At that time the champion had swelling around his left eye.
The fifth round saw plenty of face-to-face action, with both men landing damaging punches, but in the sixth the champion asserted his superiority, dropping Baer twice with crushing right hands. As a dazed Baer stood up after the second fall, the bell rang. But with all the crowd noise, Louis didn’t hear the gong and several seconds after it rang he hit Baer with another right hand and dropped the challenger for the third time.
Dragged back to his corner, Baer was clearly done for, but rather than give up, his manager refused to allow his wrestler to continue claiming he had been fouled with that punch after the bell. The referee disqualified Baer and the end of an otherwise exciting fight left a bad taste in everyone’s mouths. After Louis defeated Conn and Lou Nova, a return with Baer was scheduled for New York’s Madison Square Garden.
As he demonstrated several times, Louis was especially lethal in rematches and this time the champion attacked from the start with strong one-two combinations, never giving the burly challenger a chance to land his big bombs. Just twenty seconds into the fight, the champion rocked Baer with a right hand before pounding him from one side of the ring to the other. Two minutes into a vicious left to the gut froze Baer and Louis hit a right to the jaw that put the bigger man on his back.
The challenger stood up only to be met by a ferocious assault that ultimately sent him to the canvas for a second time. Baer bravely got back to his feet, but two right hands and a strong hook felled him like a felled tree. This time he couldn’t beat the count.
Baer said years later, “The only way he could have beaten Louis that night was with a baseball bat.”
This was the first in a series of battles in which Louis donated his entire purse to help the war effort, and the day after the battle he enlisted in the army. He was only 27 years old, but boxing fans would see him perform only twice over the next four years as Joe dedicated himself to helping the United States defeat Germany and Japan. When he returned from the war, his athletic prime had passed. Therefore, Buddy Baer’s three-minute destruction of him stands as one of the last great performances by a legendary champion who remains perhaps the most devastating puncher in heavyweight history.
Immediately after the fight, Baer also joined the army and never boxed again. Instead, he pursued an acting career after the war, starring in films such as Hell Canyon Outlaws and Giant from the Unknown. -Michael Carbert
