How Did Tommy Farr Do So Well Against Prime Louis ?

The Louis-Farr fight was also thrown together pretty quickly as more of a defensive move against Schmeling.

When Braddock chose Louis over Max, Schmeling and his promoters had negotiated with Farr's team for Max and Tommy to fight for the "heavyweight title" to be recognized by both the UK and Germany.

Many experts at the time considered Schmeling the top heavyweight above both Louis (who he'd stopped) and Braddock.

So as soon as Louis beat Braddock, Louis' management offered Farr a title shot and pulled the rug out from under the Schmeling-Farr fight.

That's why it occurred so quickly after Louis beat Braddock.

When most champs won the title, they tended to take a long break. Most of the heavyweight champs going back a decade or more only fought once a year, if that.

Louis had been on a pretty hectic pace - fighting 33 times in three years.

He was 23. He'd just won the title. He thought he was due a long rest ... and then his team threw the Farr fight at him almost immediately, and like two weeks after he beat Braddock, he was back in the gym again training for his first title defense.

I just don't think he expected to be back so soon, he needed a break and his performance showed.

Then he took the next six months off.

 

Good points!

 

Great info

 

Which one's you, Mac?

 

The "I am white myself" is a clue.The Black guy is trainer Jimmy Glenn, the photo was taken in his NY Bar
" Jimmy's Corner."

 

Farr likely overperformed a bit.
Louis likely underperformed a bit.
The result was that Farr did better than expected.
Is it really debate-worthy?

 

Another factor is that Louis often struggled with foreigners bring unable to impose his american essentialism in them. Farr, Godoy,and Schmeling being prime examples.

 

I wouldn't say he struggled with foreigners. He didn't struggle with former champ Carnera. He didn't struggle with Uzcudan. Hell, when the sound of the punch echoed thru the crowd, people thought he killed Uzcudan when he floored him. He didn't struggle with lower lights like Jorge Brescia or Hans Birkie.

Like every top fighter, Louis could have an off night. The truth is he didn't expect to be back in the ring two months after winning the title against Farr. Like I mentioned, that fight was made simply to block Farr-Schmeling and to preserve Louis' claim at the title.

There weren't a half dozen sanctioning bodies back then. But there were numerous times in heavyweight history where everyone didn't agree on who the rightful champ was at the time. I've posted links to publications before that - at the time - had Schmeling ranked above both Louis and Braddock. People forget that, or gets glossed over, when the matter is eventually settled.

But there was legit debate over who the champ really was at that moment in time. The Farr signing was meant to block a fight between Farr and Schmeling that WOULD HAVE BEEN viewed as a heavyweight title fight in the UK and Germany. Those were two very big markets. Much bigger, lets say, than Joe Frazier being recognized by five states in the U.S. when he fought Mathis.

Louis had fought A LOT - 33 times in the first 35 months of his career, including the night he won the title. He thought he was going to have a long break like other heavyweight champs. But he was rushed back into the ring against Farr. So he fought 34 times in 37 months. And, in that last bout, it went the distance.

Louis won a clear decision by all accounts. But he was human. Knockout punchers don't always score knockouts. Sometimes people need a break.

 

This isn't strictly true.
Going back a bit Braddock had signed to defend his title against Schmeling,Joe Gould had put up a$5000 as a guarantee of good faith that the fight would happen.


Mike Jacobs who had the 5 years promotional rights for Louis ,did not want to promote a Braddock vSchmeling fight which Schmeling would probably have won ,and then taken his title back to Germany.This would have put Jacobs, who would soon control MSG, behind the 8 ball.
A fly in the ointment was that Jacobs had a 2 years contract with Schmeling and Max also owed him $31,000

Jacobs had a powerful ally in the Anti Nazi League they were sending telegrams to the Athletic Commission
demanding that the Braddock v Schmeling fight be cancelled,threatening to buy space in newspapers and radio air time and tell the American public that if they went to the fight they would be supporting Nazi Germany.,they also threatened to picket every box office that sold tickets for the fight.
Meanwhile Joe Gould, Braddock's manager was offered $500,000 for Braddock to defend against Louis at the Illinois Sporting Club. Gould ,who was nothing if not pragmatic ,realised Louis would probably beat his meal ticket so he was looking for a sweetheart deal for both Braddock and himself.
Jacobs stood to take 50% of the $$$$ from a fight between Braddock and Schmeling and he wanted to have his cake and eat it.
He suggested that Schmeling step aside and let Braddock defend against Louis,and the winner meet Schmeling in Berlin later in the year. Schmeling understandably would not go for it.
Schmeling offered to fight Farr in London for C.B Cochran,but Farr said I want who ever is the champion ,no one else.


Joe Gould then had some heavy duty guys
hi jack Roxborough and bundle him into the back room of a night club where Gould was waiting.Gould told Roxy he wanted 50% of Louis in the probable event he beat Braddock.Roxy basically told him to f*ck himself.Gould replied well then Braddock doesn't fight Louis. Roxy held his ground and Gould reduced his offer to 25% then 20%.Roxy told Gould to go see Jacobs which he did.
The end result was Gould and Braddock got 10% of Jacobs subsequent promotions whilst Louis was champion.That sealed the deal and Schmeling was out in the cold. . Louis was now signed to challenge Braddock for the title onJune22nd at Soldiers Field the venue was switched to Comiskey Park because the owners of the first choice of site wanted too much rent.
The day after Louis signed to fight Braddock the President of MSG entered arestraining order on the fight, saying Braddock must honour his contract with Schmeling.Schmeling flew to the US from Germany and offered Braddock $350,000 to defend against him in Germany this never got serious attention from Gould because the terms of his defence against Louis were that he got a flat guarantee of $500,000 or an option of 50% of the gate and 50% of the movie and radio rights plus the secret 10% of Jacobs promotional earnings from Louis' defences.
Schmeling was signed to fight Braddock onJune 3rd and he turned up for the weigh in ,but there was no Braddock.Louis and Braddock were signed forJune22nd. MSG actually began selling tickets for a Braddock v Schmeling title fightand put an injunction into stop the Braddock Louis fight the Judge of the US Court Of Appeals ruled that only the Braddock Louis fight contract was valid.Maybe it was a political decision we will never really know.
This effectively smashed MSG's monopoly of the heavyweight division and opened the door for Jacobs rise to premier promoter. Louis won the title and Jacobs tied him up for a further 5 years. A couple of weeks after the fight Louis met Jacobs to discuss his first defence. Jacobs suggested either Tommy Farr or Len Harvey ,the fight to be in London. Jacobs eventualy settled on Farr. Problem was a Uk promoter had a contract for Schmeling to fight Farr.
To further muddy the waters a Pittsburgh promoter offered Louis a$450,000 gaurantee for defend against John Henry Lewis ,Louis was all for it but Jacobs nixed the deal saying to Blacks won't draw. As to Louis being pressured into a quick title defence that came for Black & Roxborough they felt that as the first black heavyweight champion since Johnson Louis had to constantly prove himself.
Louis bruised the knuckles of his right hand on Farr's head in the third round,this hampered him and allowed Farr to look his best. Louis was of the opinion he would have stopped Farr in 5rds without his hand injury.
Bottom line, without all the wheeling and dealing Schmeling would have fought Braddock and probably become the first man to regain the heavyweight title!

 

Most of the post was informative but had nothing to do with Louis-Farr.

But you're right on topic with this part above.

Schmeling and Farr had an agreement to fight and IT WAS going to be recognized as for the world heavyweight title in the UK and Germany.

That's specifically why they picked Farr ... to block what would have been a world heavyweight title fight recognized by the UK and Germany. Had Schmeling been signed to fight another guy for title recognition, they would've tried to make a fight with that other boxer.

It was all about blocking Schmeling from staging a heavyweight title fight of his own and having other countries recognize him as the champion, because Schmeling was rated above Louis and Braddock by RING and numerous other pubs going into the Louis-Braddock and Schmeling-Farr fights.

 

I tried to give some background to the events.Once Louis had ko'd Braddock Farr wanted nothing to do with Schmeling ,he sensibly wanted to fight the champion.

 

That's why it was a good move on Louis' team. If they chose to take a break, like every other world heavyweight champion, the Schmeling-Farr fight would've gone on, and the UK and Germany would've recognized the winner as champ.

The Louis camp needed to solidify their position (because many felt Joe didn't deserve a title shot before the guy who'd knocked him out). So they jumped at offering a fight to Farr.

If the Schmeling-Farr fight hadn't been scheduled, and the British and German boxing authorities had not agreed to recognize the winner of Schmeling-Farr as champ, Joe's team likely would've given Louis time off.

It was also sensible on Farr's part because Schmeling had knocked out Louis and was considered the better of the two at the time. So why not take a title fight with someone who was considered an easier opponent of the two? (Not that either were easy, just the fighter considered the easier of the two at that time.)

 

My little joke, Mac. Clearly even littler than I'd realised! Taxi for Ezzard!

 

No the joke was on me , but it clearly went over my head!