Did Willie Pep lack heart?

Just so we don't have old timers or avid supporters of Pep going ape ****, I'm simply posing the question and trying to get to bottom of the results in two of his fights with Sandy Saddler. Unfortunately, I haven't seen the first two fights, but I realize he lost the opener by stoppage and then avenged that with a masterful boxing display. I'd be nice to be able to view these fights for myself, but fights 3 and 4 were quite ambiguous to say the least.

Willie Pep was pretty much handing out a boxing lesson in the third fight, despite suffering a serious knockdown. His combination's were working well, and Saddler was basically being kept off balance by Pep's jab and his constant movement. The fight wasn't being watched in it's entirety but the highlights clearly showed Pep getting the better off the action with his boxing. Then suddenly, in-between rounds, Pep is forced to quit on his stool because of a dislocation. I'm not a fighter, I've never experienced this myself, but I tend to think it's pretty serious and nearly impossible to carry on with such an injury.

Fight four was much of the same, despite Pep sustaining a knockdown, and looking pretty weak as the fight progressed, I still thought he was getting the best of what clean action was to be seen. This altercation was very dirty, with thumbings of the eye, wrestling, and Pep constantly hooking his feet around Saddler's, seemingly in attempt to trip him to the canvas. It wasn't pleasing on the eye, but some of Pep's offensive work certainly was. Again, Pep could no longer continue late on in the fight and Saddler was awarded the winner.

Willie Pep was obviously a walking miracle to be fighting at this point in the first place considering the plane crash, but he seemed fairly fragile to me. I can excuse the dislocation, that's obviously quite serious, but even in the fourth fight, the knockdown seemed to be pretty soft, and was a result of just inside pressure as opposed to any solid punch. Moreover, in the fourth fight, Pep seemed to be weakening fairly quickly after some body shots and all of the wrestling going on. Instead of going out on his shield, or even attempting to win the fight, he wasn't allowed to continue.

Can someone clear this up? Am I missing some important points leading up to these stoppages? Were these the ill effects of the plane crash Pep suffered? The stoppages just seemed a little soft to me, at least the knockdowns did.

Discuss.

 

Was he criticized at the time? I tend to think had he been operating in today's Featherweight division, and would openly admit to "not feeling like it" after a grueling fight, he'd be heavily criticized by fans and sports writers.

 

Yeah, reading it back, I recognized this myself but didn't think anyone would call me out on it. Damn you, GreatA!

 

Watching that link you posted here GreatA, those short uppercuts inside looked pretty nasty actually.

 

Why do you very rarely ever address the thread question? :think

 

McGrain is a stellar poster and infinitely more knowledgeable than myself, but he doesn't ever seem to the address the thread question, at least not in my threads. Just curious as to why that is, that's all.