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NEW YORK - (AP) - Joe
Louis' proud reign as heavy-
weight boxing champion of the
world is ended - by the only
man who could end it, Joe
Louis himself.
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Flashing for 15 seconds all
the savagery that brought him
52 knockouts in 61 fights,
Louis stretched out Jersey Joe
Walcott on the hot canvas of
Yankee Stadium in the eleventh
round last night.
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His revenge secured, his pride
soothed, he said he was quitting.
This created confusion as great as
when Gene Tunney retired un-
defeated in 1928.
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Walcott himself, Gus Lesnevich
and Ezzard Charles crowded up as
claimants.
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Sol Strauss, acting head of the
Twentieth Century Sporting Club,
said he would put on a series of
fights to determine the successor.
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Against Louis, Walcott side-
stepped and danced through 10
rounds just as successfully as he did
last December when Louis managed
to win a disputed, split 15-round
decision.
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Then Jersey Joe made the mistake
in the eleventh of trying to mix it
at the ropes. He had been told not
to do it. The champion's crunching
blows flashed as of old, right and
left, against Walcott's head and
body.
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*_
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WALCOTT WENT down
flat,
struggled up to his knees, almost
rose at nine, fell again, and was up
soon after the count of ten. But it
was over, with only four seconds
more to go in the round. There
was a great surge to the ringside,
and an exultant roar from the crowd.
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"For my mother - this is for her
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tonight was my last fight," said
Louis. Later he said he would enter
politics.
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"I'll be active in this years
presi-
dential campaign," he declared,
adding that he would announce next
week whom he would support.
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Louis went out at 34 years of age
as one of the greatest champions.
He had held the title longer than
anyone else - 11 years and three days.
He defended it more often - 25 times.
He earned more money in the ring -
$3,365,000. That does not even count
movie, radio, and television rights.
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Half affectionately, half
fearfully
people called him the "Brown
Bomber," the "Dark Destroyer."
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Last night's fight was twice
post-
poned because of rain. Louis weigh-
ed in at 213 1/2 pounds on Wednes-
day and probably added three or
four pounds since then. Officially it
was the heaviest he ever weighed.
Walcott weighed 194 3/4. The crowd
of 42,667 paid $841,739, of which
Louis received approximately $250,-
000 and Walcott $125,000.
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There were boos for the slow,
cau-
tious way things went. Referee
Frank Fullam kept urging Walcott
to get in and fight, and afterwards
Jersey Joe said "his hounding both-
ered me. It caused me to change
my plans."
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Actually Walcott kept his left
flicking so steadily at Louis' head
that it raised a welt under the
champion's left eye. In the third
round Walcott even floored Louis for
a count of one. If this had been a
ten-round fight, instead of the
scheduled 15, and the decision had
gone strictly by the official cards.
Walcott would have won the cham-
pionship.
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For at the end of ten rounds,
Ful-
lam scored five for Louis, two for
Walcott and three even. Judge Jack
O'Sullivan scored five for Walcott,
four for Louis and one even. Judge
Harold Barnes gave six to Walcott,
three to Louis, with one even. That
would have been a two to one vote
in favor of Walcott. The Associated
Press card had each winning five
rounds.
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But there was no appeal from
Louis's fists. So mighty have they
been, so willingly has Louis fought
any and all who came along that
now there is no one on the horizon
who can step up bodly and lay claim
to the throne.
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