Bob Pastor eliminated Lem Franklin from contention for a crack at Louis

I did quite a bit of research on that fight (and on Franklin). What do you need, mon ami? :bbb

 

Yes he did. Franklin was in line to fight Louis, he only had to get past the unfortunate "gatekeeper" to Louis's title that was Bob Pastor, due to having lost twice to Louis already.

It was a fairly big fight and there is a lot of coverage out there. Franklin suffered a bad KO loss and a loss of confidence due to his belief that a relatively light puncher such as Pastor shouldn't be able to hurt him.

Here are some choice articles that are worth a read:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...IBAJ&pg=4578,4762659&dq=pastor+franklin&hl=en

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AIBAJ&pg=3902,825911&dq=pastor+franklin&hl=en

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AIBAJ&pg=1196,896908&dq=pastor+franklin&hl=en

 

Here is an excerpt from an unfinished (as of yet) piece I wrote on Franklin:

This content is protected

This content is protected

This content is protected

 

A close modern-day approximation to this bout would be the Nigel Benn-Michael Watson fight. Like Franklin, Benn exploded out of his corner and shot his bolt early. Watson bided his time, played tight defense and put in his shots when he could. In both instances the smarter boxer wore out the blitzing puncher.

But unlike Franklin, Benn was able to recover and have a successful career.

 

Why oh why did they all have to fight Pastor?

If there was one contender who everybody in that era should have avoided like the plague it was him.

 

Nice thread.

Franklin had a better run, but almost the same thing happened to Turkey Thompson. Thompson had a 12-0 run with 10 stoppages beating a fading Teddy Yarosz in the process until he bumped into Pastor and lost twice to him. Bivins dropped a SD to Pastor too.
Cheeky spoiling *******.

 

He and Joe Louis had the same amateur trainer (whose name escapes me for the moment). That trainer claimed Lem was the harder puncher. So did Hall of Fame baseball legend Tris Speaker, who was a boxing fan and most likely saw many hard-hitting heavyweights come and go over the decades.

High praise :smoke

 

Franklin's right, Thompson's left hook, Sheppard's whatever he touched you with... Lots of fireworks between that lot. The trainer was George Moody?

 

One should never confuse what a fighter says in the press with reality. The Freddie Fuducua match was Franklin’s 5th professional fight. Here’s the truth. From 1940-1942. Franklin won 20 matches in a row, including KO’s over Simon and Musto. Louis gave title shots to Simon and Muston in 1941. Franklin also Ko’d Sheppard, Bivins, and Reddish during this time same time period. Franklin was very qualified.


Franklin was a puncher, and IMO Louis could have easily made a match with him, but opted not to. The risk vs. reward was not in Louis favor. One loss back then did not take a man out of the picture for many in the bum of the month club.

Elmer Ray was another fighter who was worthy of a title match with Louis. In Louis 26 title defenses, he only fought two black men, one of whom was sick ( John Henry Lewis ) , and the other really made him look bad by flooring him twice, and winning the majority of the rounds in both matches ( Walcott ).

 

Bob Pastor an NYU product was a helluva boxer spoiler who was fearless...Beat just about anyone bigger than him, except Joe Louis, UNTIL the night of Sept. 6.1940 when
the great fiery LH champion Billy Conn gave Bob Pastor a thrashing stopping Pastor in the 13th round...What does this say about Pittsburgh's second greatest fighter, Billy Conn. ?