Despite his championship, Louis was haunted by the earlier defeat to Schmeling. Shortly after winning the title, he was quoted as saying, "I don't want to be called champ until I whip Max Schmeling." Louis's manager Mike Jacobs attempted to arrange a rematch in 1937, but negotiations broke down when Schmeling demanded 30% of the gate. When Schmeling instead attempted to arrange for a fight against British Empire champion [url]Tommy Farr[/url], known as the "Tonypandy Terror",—ostensibly for a world championship to rival the claims of American boxing authorities—Jacobs outmaneuvered him, offering Farr a guaranteed $60,000 to fight Louis instead. The offer was too lucrative for Farr to turn down. On August 30, 1937, after a postponement of four days due to rain, Louis and Farr finally touched gloves at New York's [url]Yankee Stadium[/url] before a crowd of approximately 32,000. Louis fought one of the hardest battles of his life. The bout was closely contested and went the entire 15 rounds, with Louis being unable to knock Farr down. Referee Arthur Donovan was even seen shaking Farr's hand after the bout, in apparent congratulation. Nevertheless, after the score was announced, Louis had won a controversial unanimous decision. [url]Time[/url] described the scene thus: "After collecting the judges' votes, referee Arthur Donovan announced that Louis had won the fight on points. The crowd of 50,000...amazed that Farr had not been knocked out or even knocked down, booed the decision." It seems the crowd believed that referee Arthur Donovan, Sr. had raised Farr's glove in victory. Seven years later, in his published account of the fight, Donovan spoke of the "mistake" that may have led to this confusion. He wrote: As Tommy walked back to his corner after shaking Louis' hand, I followed him and seized his glove. "Tommy, a wonderful perform—" I began... Then I dropped his hand like a red-hot coal! He had started to raise his arm. He thought I had given him the fight and the world championship! I literally ran away, shaking my head and shouting. "No! No! No!" realising how I had raised his hopes for a few seconds only to dash them to the ground... That's the last time my emotions will get the better of me in a prize fight! There was much booing at the announced result, but, as I say it, it was all emotional. I gave Tommy two rounds and one even—and both his winning rounds were close. Speaking over the radio after the fight, Louis admitted that he had been hurt twice. >>> Donovan was not only a fool of a ref on this night, he also can't fairly score a fight. Farr won 5-6 rounds, the other two judges had it right. You can see Louis getting stunned on film, I think round 9 or 11 from a Tommy Farr jab. Referee: [url]Arthur Donovan[/url] 13-1 Judge: [url]Charley Lynch[/url] 8-5 Judge: [url]Billy 'Kid' McPartland[/url] 9-6 Donovan would go on to be the 3rd man in the ring in many of Joe Louis title fights.
For a period there in the late 30s, Farr had to be one of the toughest near men of all time. He gave Nova, Braddock, Louis, and Baer all they could handle. All close hard fought fights, he got the nod once against Baer, some contend he should have beat Braddock and Louis as well. He also beat Burman, Gains, Foord, Nuesel, and a declined Loughran.
The Farr fight was Joe Lous' 34th pro fight in three years. It came two months after he won the title from Braddock, becoming only the second black heavyweight champ. There was an incredible amount of pressure on him to win the Braddock fight. There was a lot of pressure on him to face Farr immediately in order to block a Schmeling-Farr fight ... which would've been recognized by the BBBofC and most of Europe as a world title fight. Most champs got a year off, even two years off in the case of Braddock, before making a first defense. Louis was in dire need of a break before the Farr fight. He'd beaten the last four heavyweight champions (Braddock, Baer, Carnera and Sharkey) in those first 33 fights and lost to a fifth (Schmeling). And Louis got a break after the Farr fight. He was out for six months (which, to him, must've felt like forever.)
Mike Jacobs was Louis' manager? Well what do you know! Max didn't want Louis, he wanted a title shot! Schmeling was signed to fight Braddock ,when Braddock reneged on that defence and lost to Louis all the contenders wanted Louis because he was the champ. Farr had no interest in a Schmeling fight and vice versa. The promoter who suggested they fight was C B Cochran and it would never have been billed as a world title fight. When Braddock was champ Schmeling offered him$350,000 to defend against him in Germany,no way was Braddock going to Germany. Louis badly bruised his right hand against Farr in the third round, and felt that if it had been sound, he would have won inside the distance. Louis stunned Farr in the 5th with a left hook but afraid to go all out with his right he lost his chance . Louis had his right hand in a cast for 2 weeks after the fight though the commission doctor had recommended a month diagnosing aggravated bone bruising.Farr came back well in the 6th.Near the end of the 13th Louis had Farr in spot of trouble but it was too late and in the last two rounds he was content to box him. Farr never claimed that he beat Louis , but he did insist he deserved the nod against Braddock.
Louis fighting Farr so soon after the Braddock win was Louis' managers Roxborough and Black's idea, not public pressure, or Jacobs. The BBBOC never stated they would recognize the Farr v Schmeling fight as a title fight why would they? Louis was the champion by virtue of koing Braddock!
They did. It's in the book "Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling and a World on the Brink" by David Margolick. Schmeling was considered the top contender by the entire world. Schmeling had knocked out Louis. Schmeling was supposed to fight Braddock. Braddock had been off two years. Boxing authorities in Europe (as a whole) didn't appreciate that Schmeling was overlooked. Louis didn't deserve a shot more than Max. Schmeling's team offered Braddock's team everything they wanted. When Braddock announced he was going to fight Louis instead of Schmeling, Schmeling's team met with Farr's managers and agreed to fight. And the British Boxing Board of Control and the Germany boxing authorities agreed to recognize the Schmeling-Farr winner as the world champion - because so little was thought of Braddock, Louis had lost to Schmeling ... and Schmeling was considered better than Louis/and Farr was no worse than Braddock. (It was classic boxing politics with officials who were angered they didn't get their way.) The Schmeling-Farr fight was widely publicized across Europe as being for the world heavyweight championship. The British boxing people, who were angry with New York boxing officials, were totally behind it. To get the Brits on board, Schmeling's team agreed to fight in England. It was scheduled for September 1937 in London. When Louis beat Braddock in June, Louis' team immediately contacted Farr's team and offered them a title shot with Louis in August, a few weeks before Farr was going to fight Schmeling. They wanted to block the fight (and prevent Schmeling from claiming a portion of the title). Farr's team agreed, and Schmeling got the rug pulled out from under him again. As a result, German boxing officials and Goebbels (the Nazi's PR guy), who had been widely trumpeting a Schmeling-Farr fight for the title, felt they'd been screwed over by the U.S. (particularly by the Jews in New York) and England and refused to cover the Louis-Farr title fight at all. Not only had Max been denied a shot at Braddock, but now Louis was stealing opponents Max had begun training to fight himself, and Max couldn't get a crack. That's the only reason Louis and Farr fought at all, and why it happened so soon after Louis won the title.
Could you imagine if that happened in modern heavyweight champion, post 2000 with the internet and ease of finding video. A KO loss to Schmeling, getting floored by Braddock who was really a limited talent, than having a tough night where he admits being hurt twice to Tommy Farr? Louis as a new champion must have looked suspect. The odd thing is his best filmed fight too me was Max Baer, and that happened before any of the above.
I let you guys hassle out the backroom politics concerning Schmeling, Farr, and Louis, but on the Louis-Farr fight itself, I don't know of very many serious observers who thought Farr won. The Braddock fight was very controversial, but in fairness, so was the Loughran fight, even with the British press and fans.
That's not true. The book I mentioned earlier makes no mention of CB Cochrane. I have no idea who that was. The promoter of the Schmeling-Farr title fight was to be Sydney Hulls. [url]https://www.magnoliabox.com/products/sydney-hulls-british-boxing-promoter-2547263[/url] The book is good. I found a number of newspaper links discussing the Schmeling-Farr title fight, as well, but I didn't want to subscribe to those newspaper sites. Some also talk of Louis' people discussing a title fight between Louis and Doyle in England right before the Schmeling-Farr fight to try to steal interest from it, but instead they went after Farr to prevent it entirely. Here's a free link to an article regarding the National Sporting Club putting together the Farr-Schmeling world title fight and the BBBofC recognizing the winner until Louis' guys quickly offered a fight to Farr ... and then "snuck" Farr out of the country. [url]http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/freepress19490704-1.2.86?ST=1&AT=search&k=Max Schmeling Tommy Farr 1937 London&QT=max,schmeling,tommy,farr,1937,london&oref=article[/url] Here's another free link. Sydney Hulls filed a complaint against Farr with the British Boxing Board of Control when Farr pulled out of the Schmeling fight, and the Board suspended Farr's boxing license over the matter. [url]http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/singfreepressb19381025-1.2.107?ST=1&AT=search&k=Max Schmeling Tommy Farr 1937 London&QT=max,schmeling,tommy,farr,1937,london&oref=article[/url] There are plenty of articles out there on Louis' team stealing Farr away from what was to be the Schmeling-Farr "title" fight. The book I mentioned is also very good.
Farr was ranked number 2 when Louis defended against him. A week after Louis beat Braddock he went to see Mike Jacobs with whom he had just signed a new 5 year contract which involved 4 fights a year.Jacobs wanted Louis to defend against either Farr or Len Harvey in London this fizzled out because promoter General Critchley had a contract for Farr to fight Schmeling,in London.Schmeling was agreeable to fighting Farr because he thought it would boost his drawing power and he would be in a position to demand more $$$to fight Louis.While tis was happening Louis was offered ttile defence gainst JohnHenry lewis in Pittsburgh for a $450,000 guarantee,with$100,000 up front as soon as he signed and $1000 training exes.Jacobs vetoed the idea becuase1,he wasn't the promoter,and 2,he said 2 blacks wont draw this was alo the reason Jacobs would not promote Louis against three other black Challenegrs that Louis mentioned as possibilities to him,Tiger Jack Fox,Eddie Blunt, and Leroy Haynes.. Jacobs sent his cousin Sol Strauss to the UK,to negotiate for a Farr fight, Strauss came back with the contract signed. Farr was to get $60,000 plus 4 round trip tickets ,plus 25% of the movie and radio rights. This was double what Farr had been offered to fight Schmeling.Farr made a public statement saying," Louis is the real heavyweight champion regardless of what anyone says and that's why I want to fight him!" " I have to explain something here,a lot of people thought that Jacobs was pushing me into fighting again too soon after winning the championship.Usually a title holder sit tight for a while and can make good money on endorsements and such.Now MIke Jacobs ha dnothing to do with me fighting Farr so soon-two months andfourdays after getting the title.It was Roxy and Black who wanted me to defend my championship.I was the first black heavuyweight champion since Jack Johnson;I had to prove myself" Joe Louis
I don't know who CB Cochrane or General Critchley are. Neither had a contract for Schmeling and Farr to fight in London. The promoter Sydney Hulls did. Farr and Schmeling weren't "agreeable" to a fight. They signed to fight. That's why Farr had his license suspended by the British Boxing Board of Control, because he backed out of the Schmeling fight. And the British Boxing Board of Control had agreed to sanction the Schmeling-Farr fight in London as a world title fight. That's why Strauss snuck Farr out England after Farr agreed to dump the Schmeling fight and take on Louis. No one named Cochrane or Critchley went after Farr when he pulled out of the Schmeling fight. Hulls did, because he was the promoter. The BBBofC didn't like the control the New York Commission in the U.S. was wielding. They did the same thing when Louis retired because they wanted Woodcock to be the champ, not Charles or Walcott. They didn't like that Schmeling was ducked. Braddock was a "cheese" champ. Louis had been knocked out by Schmeling. Schmeling was a former world champ and a former European champ. The BBBofC were supporters of Schmeling for years. Farr was on a great run. The BBBofC saw an opportunity to take seize control of a portion of the heavyweight championship by matching two of their top European heavyweights. They went for it. And Louis and his team signed to fight Farr to block the match. And Farr basically remained in the U.S. and didn't go home to fight for years because he'd burned the BBBofC and they were pissed about it. I'm heading out the door right now, or I'd post more links. It's covered in the book I mentioned. The Schmeling-Farr fight for the title is listed in many of the prefight newspaper articles for Louis-Farr. They are everywhere. Just do a search for Schmeling Farr Title Fight 1937. Many Louis-Farr prefight articles come up discussing it. I'm not denying the offer Louis' team made to Farr was better than the offer he was to get to fight Schmeling. They had to make him a better offer for him to take it, even though the offer they made to him all but guaranteed the Louis-Farr fight wouldn't make much money. The point is, Schmeling-Farr was going to be for the Heavyweight title recognized by Europe. And Louis' camp blocked the fight by giving Farr a great offer. And Farr paid for it by not being able to fight at home for a few years, until he later apologized and paid a fine. That's what happened. That's the only reason why Louis fought Farr two months after he won the title. To block the fight with Schmeling - who most of the world saw as the best heavyweight at the time, whether he had a belt or not.
