Show released by DY western 5 newspaper union THE HE extremely sa sad state of the heavyweight boxing situation was brought into the limelight recently with lou novas defeat the hands of lee and bob at pastors failure to gain better than a draw with tami mauriello despite unimpressive records nova and pastor were looked upon as outstanding contenders for the he title when they were tripped up no so abruptly by a pair of underdogs under dogs they proved all over again that to days heavyweight with the exception of joe louis is no more than a mediocre fighter with a sharp financial eye from john L sullivan to joe louis a total of 15 men have held the heavyweight champion ship none ot of them fought so often as louis and none of them i had so little trouble with their competition why not because louis is a greater fighter but because field cant compare with that of former years sullivan the boston strong boy was a champion for 10 years he whipped all comers fighting barehanded and with gloves in 1892 john L lost the title to james J corbett perhaps the greatest boxer and smartest fighter in ring history when sullivan lost he lost to a man how would nova and pastor rate in such company deadly puncher bob fitzsimmons came along to win the title in 1897 an excellent boxer and a deadly puncher ruby robert had the legs of a lightweight and the body of a heavyweight ile he was 37 years old when he lost the title to james J jeffries the latter was one of the best jeffries was a good boxer and a hard left handed hitter bitter his lasting qualities outweighed his bis attack jeffries was followed by tommy burns who held the title from 1906 to 1908 burns who rank high in the records was followed by jack johnson the best defensive boxer of the lot johnson overly cautious was able to hold the title from 1908 to 1915 mainly through defensive strategy jess willard a mine run heavyweight whose size saw him through held the title for the next three years losing to jack dempsey on july 4 1919 in the eyes of many dempsey was the greatest heavyweight in ring history certainly he was one of the most spectacular A i crowd pleaser jack was a savage hard hitting champion always ready to slug it out with an opponent dempsey whipped such fighters as billy bill brennan georges carpentier tom gibbons and luis firpo gene tunney probably the smartest heavyweight of all time was a top notch boxer and packed a better wallop than many observers believed his retirement in 1928 1923 brou brought an end to the most magnificent ent era of boxing after tunney the heavyweight class went into the steepest tailspin of all time der nax max comes along max fought jack sharkey for the title after tunney retired won the title with sharkey lying on the canvas screaming foul der max never was regarded as a great champ in I 1 a return engagement he lost to sharkey on a decision primo carnera camera won the title horn front sharkey in 1933 carnera camera was a physical freak a joke champion now back in italy primo managed to make a fortune for his board ot of managers instead of for himself max baer always the playboy whipped carnera camera in 1934 max had more possibilities than any of the latter day fighters but au all were wasted he was a clown at heart A hard puncher he had the best build in the ring but max gasn wasn t interested in hard work jim braddock proved his courage when he won the title from maxie but courage a fighting heart and ana ring wisdom compensated only in part for slowness and lack of ful assets champion joe louis loui ranks with the greatest fighters ile is the best two handed bunc puncher her of them all and the most active 11 is record is impressive in spite ot of n the tact fact that a good share of his or OP ponente have been ham and eggers joe and responsible tor for that deplorable condition other contenders would be better off if like pastor and nova they eliminated themselves at least lea temporarily |