heres what john garfield had to say about layne "Throw out the record book on Layne, he was a rugged brawler with a quick, very heavy right. As he got shopworn and discouraged, more and more, he got outworked and beaten down. But, when he first raged out of Utah -- full of **** and vinegar -- he'd have been a handful for anybody. He could crack with that right." "Layne looms as the outstanding prospect west of the Mississippi. He is a hard hitter... Layne has what it takes to be developed into the next world heavyweight king. He can hit and has an abundance of courage." - Nat Fleischer wrote in 1951 THE RIGHT LAYNE By NAT LOUBET REX LAYNE, heavyweight challenger, had just added another victim to his collection. Bob Satterfield, Chicagoan, had been raining punches off Rex's cocoanut-like noggin all night. The cherubic-faced Mormon from Lewiston, Utah, fondeled the sore spots. Satterifeld had been laid to rest in 2:56 of the eighth canto when Mark Conn, the arbiter, halted the contest with Bob helples from a short right to the jaw. The bout had been an even-steven affair up to the knockout, although Layne had received all his punches in one locality- the cephalic, or, as the inmates of Stillman's Gym would have it, the kisser. It was suggested right after the contest that Rex had youth, strength, could take and give it, had showed improvement in his boxing form since his last two Garden appearances against Jersey Joe Walcott and Cesar Brion, respectively, but that he was still green and needed much seasoning in the technique of boxing. Marvin Jensen, the mink-raising guardian of Layne's ring fortunes, rushed to the defense. "He can box a lot better than he has shown since coming East. Did you see that boy punch? Ole Rex here sure has what it takes. He's full of fight. "Yeah," someone said, "but how long will he be full of fight if he doesn't learn how to protect himself better?" Rex interrupted: "A couple more fights like this and I'll be playing marbles," he quipped. Regardless of his record, an enviable on of 32 fights with only one loss, that to Dave Whitlock whom he defeated in two other outings, it is clear that Rex will have his greatest trouble with fast men who can move around. He won't lose anything by picking up a little more polish in the finer points of boxing. REX started his boxing career while a sergeant with the 187th Regiment of the 11th Airborne Division, located in the Asiatic theatre. He had enlisted in September, 1946, and was mustered out in March, 1948. In the interim, he won regimental and divisional titles. He came close to carrying home the bacon in the All-Japan tournaments in 1947 and 1948, and but a lad by the name of Howard Williams kept him from achieving that end. It wasn't until 1949 that Layne made the simon-pure "big time." In that year he won the National A.A.U. championship and a few months later turned professional. His amateur record stands at 26 fights, with only four losses. After Layne's unimpressive win over Cesar Brion we were visited by the mild-mannered, bashful, boyish Rex and his enthusiastic manager, Jensen. Jensen recounted the thrill in seeing the best of the breed come into its own; how he had thrilled in raising the best mink and now he was seeing "ole Rex" become a serious contender for heavyweight honors. It was less than two years ago that THE RING picked Layne as a comer, and he has kept faith by making the grade. A group had gathered and someone said, "Rex has a whale of a right, but why doesn't he use his left more?" Jensen jumped into the breach. "Ole Rex here has a dandy of a left hand but he injured it in an early fight and only recently has he started to develop it again." Rex cut in with: "That's right. My left is beginning to shape up again. I feel it in my gym workouts, and I'll be using it more as I go along." In his fight with Satterfield, Rex showed improvement with that left, and better boxing form, but he is still way off in ring science and unless he learns how to protect himself, how to avoid powerful wallops such as he got in the Satterfield bout, he'll fail to reach his objective. He's too wide open for punishment. JENSEN has been the butt of a great deal of criticism from New York scribes for the manner in which he has brought Layne along. His critics claim that his boy was too green for the likes of a Walcott; should never have been in with an awkward spoiler like Brion, and that Satterfield was too strong a puncher for the Utah youngster. "He's being fed to the lions," has been the cry. But Layne has defeated all three, and by so doing, he is now in a spot to demand recognition as a top challenger. After all, success is what counts, and Layne has come through with victories. His T.N.T. sock and courage have done that for him. Critics assert that Jensen has not had the experience in the pro league. Yes, he's developed a bevy of amateurs, but the manager of a big-time professional is different, has been the butt of the criticism. Well, Jensen had to take more chances than other managers or else not get any matches at all for Layne. He was up against it and has won out. The choices that he accepted have all worked out well for Layne, despite the fact that the opposition was exceedingly tough. Some claim that Layne must receive expert tutoring in boxing technique, tutorin that an old-timer must give. Well, Jensen has one of the best old-time managers in his corner in Joe Woodeman, former manager of Sam Langford, who should be able to advis properly. We recall a conversation with Jensen prior to Layne's fight with Walcott in which he stated that he wasn't advancing the easy way. "I'm sure Walcott can be beaten by Rex. I've studied the movies of his previous fights and I know what I'm doing. He continued: "There's too much picking of opponents today. If a man wants to be champ he must prove that right by fighting the best." Results talk, and Layne is up there, but we would like to see him taught more of the finer points. Continuing to take two to land one is likely to end as Layne himself stated: "A couple more fights like this and I'll be playing marbles." We were shooting the bull a few days prior to the Satterfield affair. Someone made a crack about how Layne looked too young to be of age. Joe Woodman said: "He'll be 23 in June." He turned to Layne, who was present. "Right?" Rex said: "I was born June 7, 1928." "What time?" someone joshed. Someone else cut in: "Did you ever do anything else but fight for a living?" "Sure," laughed Rex. "My father owns a farm in Lewiston and I worked on it until I went into the army." "Say, Rex," interrupted a bystander, "you're not married, are yuh?" --------- This goes into a lot of talk about Layne's family and whatever else, so I'll just cut to the end------- We asked Joe Woodman, who has been close to the youngster, what kind of boy he is. "A grand lad," said Joe. "He lives a clean life, trains hard and is a good family man-and don't forget... a darn good fighter." The last time we saw Layne was the day after his fight with Satterfield, when he was in THE RING office with Jensen. "What's you ambition?" Rex was asked. "What a question to ask a fighter," he countered. I want to be a champ and some day have a restaurant of my own like Jack Dempsey." Both Dempsey and Gene Tunney had seen Layne in his fight with Satterfield and were high on him. "Polish up his defense and you have a prospective champ," was their chorus. * special thanx to MF and Joe for there article/emails on layne. Bob Satterfield vs Rex Layne is a fight all fans should watch. If you like hard hitting slugouts with brutal knockdowns, you will like this fight. it turned into a war.
What interests me about Rex Layne is the level of sucess he had against slick boxers despite his lack of polish as a slugger. He beat Walcott and gave Charles a tough series then ironicaly had a hard time against other sluggers due to his lack of defence. Of course he turned out to be a bit of a flash in the pan but there was definitely something there that could have been fleshed out by the right trainer.
Layne had an excellent jab and a quick and accurate right. He gave people trouble because he got off first. He had no defense, though. Very few contenders can match wins over Walcott, Charles, Satterfield, and Thompson, even if he did burn out rather fast.
Wasnt brion and kahut dunlap also rated in the top 10 when layne beat them? brion was a tall elegant boxer with good basic fundamentals. Layne seemed to have trouble vs tall fighters. 6'3 brion gave him very close fight, 6'3 dale hall and 6'3 andy walker fought draws with him. although a novice layne did beat 6'6 hank thurman.
I would notice that Hall and Walker were fighting in their home towns. Yes, Brion was tall, so was Bean, and Heinz Neuhaus whom Layne took to a draw in Neuhaus' home town. That said, I don't know. Perhaps Layne did better against shorter men, although Marciano was clearly an exception. Brion, I think, was ranked #7 the year Layne fought him. Dunlap made #4 in 1952 a couple of years after Layne fought him. Walcott, Charles, Satterfield, and Thompson are just about as tough a foursome as any mere contender defeated, though, in my judgement.
110% total agreement. Layne beat more rated men in his first 3 years fighting than most contenders in history. he was thrown to the wolves at a young age and succeeeded until he ran into an Italian brickhouse.
Don't know if you know Suzie ,Keene Simmons dropped Brion a couple of months before he fought Marciano.
Layne was thought by many ,including Jack Dempsey to be a coming champion,the only reservations were about his defence,Marciano ruined him ,he was damaged goods after that fight.
I recall reading at least one newspaper account which said Layne had punished Neuhaus to the body all night and deserved the decision in the eyes of most observers. As for the four names you talk about at the bottom, I agree it's quite impressive, but I will point out that Thompson was pretty clearly over the hill when Layne beat him.
From what I've read, I've generally gotten the impression Brion was more of an awkward spoiler than an elegant boxer. I have a little bit of footage of him against Charlie Norkus, and he looks pretty smooth and muscular, but looks somewhat more along the lines of a Godoy-style awkward South American crowder than an elegant boxer in my judgment.
"Thompson was pretty clearly over the hill when Layne beat him." These things are always tough to judge and while not disagreeing totally, there is another way to look at it. Thompson came out of 1949 rated the #3 heavyweight in the world. He lost a majority decision to John Holman in early 1950 and then lost a tight split decision to Frank Buford. Holman had knocked out Elmer Ray the previous year and Buford was good enough to defeat Clarence Henry rather easily a few months later. Layne then defeated Thompson in a unanimous decision. Henry later in the year also defeated Thompson in a unanimous decision and Thompson more or less retired. He would come back later and suffer another defeat. I don't know the exact ratings the month Layne fought Thompson, but Turkey certainly might have still been in the top ten. How far gone was he? It is really rather hard to say as he had only lost very close fights to two pretty tough fighters before losing more decisively to Layne. He never lost to any but pretty good or very good fighters.
I have seen Layne against Walcott, Satterfield, Marciano, and two fights with Charles. He showed an excellent jab and a quick and accurate right. I thought he was surprisingly quick and tended to get off first even against top men. He certainly had a fighting heart. His defense was a real weakness, though. He was easy to hit. As his career went on, his chin seemed to weaken, a trend not unique to Layne among wide open fighters. The same happened to Tex Cobb and Willi Besmanoff, among others that I can think of.
I have film of brion vs charles and louis and your right MF. he is more of a spoiler. but he does have solid basic fundamentals Chin down hands up, and he can box and jab. but he did not posess any very good qualities, he did not possess athletisim or A level talent.
