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

Many years ago in the 1940s I saw a movie called "The Pittsburgh Kid"
starring Billy Conn..And there is a scene where Henry Armstrong boxes with Billy a round...I have tried to get a copy of that old picture to no avail...

 

Born there, yes, but Bessemer played no part his development as a fighter. Burley came to Pittsburgh as a youngster. Like Conn, he learned, honed and mastered his craft in Pittsburgh boxing rings and gyms and under the tutelage of Pittburgh fighters and trainers.

Pittsburgh was Burley's "school" (or "college" if you will) in addition to being his lifelong home, sans a short stay in Bessemer as a kid. He was a "Pittsburgh fighter" through and through:smoke:good

 

S, I stand corrected !

 

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Franklin deserved a shot and he was going to get it until he got knocked out. Then he got knocked out again and again and again and again.

There were several opponents worse than Franklin who got a shot at the title, but when you defend the title at Louis's pace, there are bound to be poor defenses. Louis-Franklin could have potentially been built into an important fight, it just was not to be.

Think of the Klitschko brothers. They've had their share of Mormeck's and Sosnowski's as every active champion has, but there's reason to believe that if David Haye were to have been knocked out by a former Klitschko challenger in a tune-up bout and then went onto a streak of KO losses, he probably wouldn't have received a shot.

 

This.

This bout was a title eliminator to see who was to fight Louis in September.

 

Louis should have fought Franklin, period.