[1936] "Sharkey Still Unconvinced Louis Great, Fails to Remember Which Round he Lost in"

Some fighters are more reliable in their testimony than others.

 

" Yankee Stadium ,the bell,the next thing I know,he starts smothering me with punches,and I'm waiting for that one opportune moment and then I'm going to drive it in.The next thing I remember,the knockdown keeper had given me the count of ten on his fingers.He's supposed to be hammering with a gavel." Jack Sharkey 1971 . Fighters have egos they consciously or unconsciously invent reasons why things went against them.

 

I have read that one possible manifestation of a concussion is being able to see, but not hear, as a person recovers his senses. I've been hit on the jaw a few times, but I can't remember one way or the other whether my hearing was affected more than my sight from the blow.

I like this quote. It sounds genuine. And it gives ample testimony to the argument that Louis hit as hard as anyone when the punch landed on the spot he was targeting, even if Sharkey didn't remember years later. As the old saying goes, Sharkey "didn't know what hit him" and any derogatory comments he made later on about Louis' punching power should be discounted entirely.