AIR DATE:
EPISODE: Episode 1
On this episode of Ring Talk with Lou Eisen, Lou dives into the thrilling February 15th, 1937 fight in Paris, France between Canadian Lou Brouillard and Frenchman Marcel Thil for the IBU world middleweight title. Through a detailed analysis of fight footage, Lou examines the strategies employed by both fighters and discusses the significance of the fight in the boxing history. He also shares his unique insights into the fight’s outcome, which saw Thil rise victorious. Don’t miss this exciting exploration of one of the boxing world’s greatest moments!
#boxinghistory #IBUworldtitle #loueisen #ringtalk #february15th1937 #loubrouillard #marcelthil #parisfrance #boxers
Transcribed
Foreign [ Music ] – and this is uh Sunday afternoon’s edition of ring, talk and today we’re going to talk about the fight from February 15, 1937 at the Palais Royale between Canadian uh Lou briard and the hairy Frenchman Marcel Phil.
If you’ve ever seen, pictures of Phil he’s balding but he’s got more hair on his shoulders than Sly Stone had on his head during his Heyday.
This guy was, you, know myself that looked like a gorilla just about I’ve, never seen anyone that hairy, and nor do I want to it’s, not that I go looking for people like that, but that’s how we look um.
This was an interesting fight uh, because briard, who was born in Saint Eugene Quebec, had already held the uh New York State, athletic commission’s version of the middleweight title and the national, the NBA national boxing associations, World middleweight, tolerant.
He lost him to Vince Dundee, but but uh Phil was Notorious when he fought at home.
This was he was.
I never particularly liked him and I went over his record recently.
You got to give him credit.
He was a good fighter.
He started it 16.
As a pro and as he got older, he developed a lot of power in both hands, but this was the guy.
You could tag him with a jab to the chin or right hand.
He would grab his groin and go down and roll all over the canvas, and then the referee in France would rule in his favor by disqualification.
Even and that’s what happened in this fight, even though you know it never happened, a Phil was born in song, DCA uh.
It was the commune and outmar in France and uh May 29th 1904 and he had a great career.
He had a long career.
He had 136 fights, 160 wins 49 Kos, so he did have power.
20 losses 10 draws and he fought and beat a lot of good guys.
Uh.
As I said, he started boxing at a young age but as he got older and he developed power, you know it occurred to him.
I’M doing my best with my jab at my right hand, to Peck out all these points wins over guys and that you know that’s a 15-round fight.
That’S a lot of effort that goes into it.
If I could just knock them out and when he started the knock guys out, he thought this is much better way to fight.
You know.
Fight gets over sooner.
I save energy and uh get to fight another day.
You know in 1928 he won the French middleweight title and captured the European title the following year and then um after losing his European uh middleweight title.
He had a controversial fight in 1930 uh, he won.
He loses the European middleweek title.
Let’S go front laundry chronologically and then 15 more fights he wins, and then he defeats gorilla Jones by a controversial 11th round disqualification to capture the national boxing Association, middleweight title and um yeah Blazers here says the guard did its thing: yard went as far to as Far as his ability he could carry him of doing his thing was getting knocked out.
He certainly did his thing.
I don’t put yard down, he went out, you know on his shield.
His Corner stopped it.
He was willing to con continue but yeah it better be.
If it’s the real deal, I was watching that fight last night.
Better BF never makes the same mistake twice in any fight.
He just doesn’t.
He throws short, as I was saying to Eric before we were talking off air.
He he um throws short murderous punches he’s.
Technically sound, he doesn’t make mistakes, he doesn’t complain.
The cut over his eye was a head butt in a complaint to his Corner.
Didn’T complain to the referee.
Just uh, yeah and yard did look gassed by it at the end of it was a tremendous Pace, but you have to understand something you know on his birthday, as they said in the broadcast.
Better be did two full workouts.
You know this is like 10 12 hours.
This is a guy, that’s doing ten thousand sit-ups ten thousand push-ups ten thousand chin UPS running 20 miles a day I mean bitter BF could go 30 or 40 rounds if he had to at that level.
So getting back to uh myself Phil, he he fought gorilla Jones and he was doing well against Jones, but Jones was very bitter after that Jones hit him Jones was warned once for low blow and then he hit him again in the chin and it was called The low blow – and it was disqualified and Jones is really the first fighter at that time he came out and said you know his fights are fixed.
You hit him in the chin.
If you hurt him, if a shot to the head or the body he’s going to grab his groin and say I got hit low and the referee is going to side with him and that’s very frustrating and uh Jones had a great manager.
So he will.
She later went on to manage The Immortal Art hafey from Halifax, who knocked out uh world uh Venom white Champion Reuben oliveiras when oliveras moves up to featherweight, so sweet Welch was a great manager, um um! Yes, I agree with you: Blazers uh beef.
All bitter brief is the most intriguing fight that can be made besides Anthony Joshua versus Wilder.
I don’t think Wilder is going to get by Ortiz uh um Ana Ortiz.
Excuse Me, Andy Ruiz.
I think once Andrew Ruiz clock somebody’s done um anyways getting back to this fight.
Phil was a journeyman for a long time, but then, as I said, he gained power in his hands uh, although he he held the NBA title, which was the recognized World middleweight title.
It was taken away from after a year because he hadn’t defended it, so he still held the lightly regarded international boxing Union.
Title story of lubricard is quite fascinating.
Uh.
If you look at any and all standards of pugilistic excellence, he’s got to be one of the top 10 greatest Canadian Fighters that ever lived and it’s boxrex has him actually is the third greatest Canadian fighter that ever lived, but it’s hard to do top 10 lists Anymore, because there’s so many great Fighters, you can’t just really limit it to 10.
, but the reason why he was considered that is, he held the Undisputed World welt away title and he held the Undisputed World middleweight title and you got to give him credit for that.
So and eventually it went into the Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota on a day that I was there uh, but he wasn’t the first Canadian to do that.
The first Canadian neighbor to hold two World titles in any weight division was the immortal, George Dixon, also a Hall of Famer, who held both uh, the the bandweight and featherweight titles lost him regained them and then invented the speed bag.
Excuse me, the heavy bag and Shadow Boxing and uh Dixon may have been the greatest fighter pound for pound that ever lived.
Uh Brevard fought most of his fights during the Great Depression and if you look at the list of guys, he beat Ben jebby uh, whose real name is jebitowski for the uh, the middleweight title he beat Bob Olin before Owen became to light heavyweight champ.
He beat the former middleweight champ, Mickey Walker.
Well Blazers.
I don’t know if beauty is number one.
I don’t know if you’re joking or not um, I I Boutte is a great fighter.
He was a great fighter without a doubt and a real gentleman, and I know that my mentor Angelo Dundee was very fond of him.
Uh regard also beat um Jimmy McLaren before Champion.
He was McLaren was taller than him, but McLaren was not bigger than him, and this is the interesting thing about briarte.
You got ta look at briard.
This is a guy who was five five and a half, but he had thick legs huge neck and they said he was built like a horse.
He was just very strong.
Very heavy-handed and being heavy-handed is a big asset which, because it means you don’t have to tag a guy flush right.
You can hit him a glancing blow and still do tremendous damage, and this is important because he fought during the Great Depression and during the Depression.
A lowly scale back prices for boxing tickets, which would never happen today.
Um, you know money was still hard to come by, so people would wait six months a year or two years three years to save up enough money to go to a fight card and if you’re going to go to a fight card back then during the Depression.
You’Re going to want to see, stick and move Fighters you’re paying your money.
This is the dirty 30s.
You wanted to see a brawl.
Every fight had to be a brawl and Lou briard brought it every single fight from the first round to the last round.
He fought his heart out for the full 15 rounds.
He went out there to kill you every single time that he fought so people sitting in the cheap seats got their money’s worth and he wasn’t a stylist.
You know he.
He was more like a Rocky Marciano fighter.
He was a straight ahead, walk-in slugger, but he had tremendous strength in endurance uh.
He was born, May 23, 1911 to Joseph and rosalba for yard and Saint Eugene Quebec, which is, I mean, there’s a reason to call Quebec.
The Bell Province, the beautiful Province, it’s gorgeous, and so is Saint Eugene and briard was born three years before Canada’s entry into World War, One in 1914.
um Blazers.
Yes, Canada has a rich boxing history.
We have, I think, 14 people in the international Boxing Hall of Fame, including promoters in Canada, has had a world champion in every weight, Division and recently and in every every decade.
So and if you check out my sub stack Once Upon a Time in the prize, ring you’ll see a lot of those Fighters that I’ve written about them.
Now, here’s the interesting thing so briard’s family moved to worcestor, Worster or adjusted Worcester Massachusetts boy.
Do I sound like a Canadian, I am a Canadian in the year 1917 and he was just six years of age.
This is very significant.
Why is it significant? Because it’s 1917 and Canada had entered World War One in 1914 and because they were from Quebec uh? They moved his father moved.
His father was 38 at a time they had to move to the states.
Why? Because Sir Robert Borden, the Tory prime minister, conservative prime minister of Canada, I brought in conscription, which meant all males, I think it was.
I have the age written down here, but from the age of 20 I believe to 45 had to enlist, but this was hugely unpopular in Quebec and in the House of Commons are Parliament.
You know you, you have the Congress, we have the House of Commons and it was in the States.
You have Congress uh, we’re based on the British model of government, and so what happens is all the all the French members of parliament in the House of Commons and every person in Quebec? The entire province is outraged, this isn’t our war and they were right.
They said this is an anglophone War you’re defending Britain, even though France was involved in the war.
The war shouldn’t have happened, but every country in Europe had had treaties from every other country where, if you’re attacked, then I have to come to your defense.
Even though I have nothing, I have no problem with fear attackers and it’s this war that the war to end all wars and the French Canadians in Canada, and they were correct.
This is an anglo-war has nothing to do with us and so because of uh um.
Joseph briard’s age at 38 he would have been called up to the military immediately and then he would have been uh sent to The Killing Fields in Europe and he was sent down.
Excuse me, he went down, he wasn’t sent down, but he went down to the United States to Worcester Massachusetts with his family and he knew that in the States, because he was the husband and and um the wife rosalba and had a young son that he and He was the only means of support that he wouldn’t get drafted and it was a smart move in his party, so they go down to to the states to uh Massachusetts and his father has a job.
His mother has a job and they’re able to you know the war ends within a year and it didn’t affect their family.
So, and one of the reasons it was such a big thing in Canada, of course, was Canada was the largest second largest country in the world in land mass, but we were the smallest country, one of the smallest in terms of population.
You know we only had four or five million people in the entire country, so at that time we lost, you know we had 350 000 men and we lost quite a few of them uh and on the battlefields of Europe.
So we had to have conscription.
It was not, as I said, it was unpopular and it was just like it was.
We Canadians were just cannon fodder according to the British military, hey Tom and glad you’re, watching and um, so because of that uh the conscription came in, so they go down to the States and – and you know, Briar did his career backwards.
A lot of Canadians start their boxing on Canada and then go down to the States they get polished and they get more opportunities there and that still happens today, but we aren’t actually getting you know because he was so young.
He was six when they moved.
He picked up his boxing in the United States.
Uh started boxing when he was 12 13 dropped out of high school when he was 15 or 16.
and at that time that wasn’t uncommon.
This is before the depression, but it wasn’t uncommon to do that because it you know you wanted to help and add to your family’s conference.
You wanted to help bring in money and, having a you, know, a full high school education and then a college degree.
That was a luxury and he didn’t think it was fair because his parents would put a roof over its.
I had clothes on his back food in his belly.
He wanted to contribute so he got a job in a mill, but he loved boxing and so every day after the mill.
Regardless of how long I’m punishing the day was, he went to the gym and he worked and worked and worked and worked on the clock and he was lucky because he got spotted by Maurice levian and, more importantly, he was also managed by Johnny Buckley.
Now Johnny Buckley should be a name, that’s familiar to you.
If you’re a boxing fan or historian, because Johnny Buckley managed a lot of great guys, he managed Jack Sharkey to the world title and um.
He also managed uh, Paul Pender, Jack, shocking to the world heavyweight title and Paul Panda to the um uh middleweight World title over Sugar, Ray Robinson, The Immortal, Sugar Ray Robinson and uh.
He was there when, when um uh Sharkey beat Max schmelling for the title, they fought the first time the title was vacant.
She finally won uh when shark was disqualified for hitting low and then in the rematch.
Actually Sharkey had the better of it.
But the decision was given to Schmale uh, so he had a successful amateur career lubricard and on March 1st 1928 he had its first professional fight June 28th.
Uh 1920 excuse me was his first professional fight March.
1St 1928 was his last amateur fight, fought a guy named Billy Craft and regard cracked and played with him at 256 to the first round of a schedule for around about in Connecticut Elks Park, Willimantic Connecticut uh briard only weighed 140 pounds.
He was barely a welterweight for this fight, but even at that point it was effort to people that um briard had a lot of power, and I just want to show you this again if I can find the picture of him, which I have somewhere here of A great yes, that’s him! Take a good look at them.
Try a Little Closer, very well muscled in his body in his neck.
You know muscle legs.
This guy came to fight.
This guy could do damage.
He was only five five and a half so uh.
He only had a 71 inch reach but, as I said, he was incredibly strong now.
The interesting thing about him was um.
Well, you’ll be incorrect.
Blazers Canada has low fans, but Rich boxing history.
I digress um.
Now I’m trying to get through this uh.
I could name you world champions.
Pandas boxing history goes back to the 1860s um, so you have guys, like George Godfrey the Black Fighter from Prince Edward Island, who helped train George White’s buyers, who ended up training, Sam Langford, all them.
Canadian Langford was maybe the greatest fighter that ever lived, although he was never given a collar shot because of the skin color.
He was going to fight SATs kind of catch him after beating him in the preliminary boat, but then catch-all was murdered.
You have Tommy Burns, who was the World Heavyweight Champion? You have Johnny Kalan, who is the world uh bannerite champion, held up for a long time.
Jackie Clara was the flyweight champion um, you have Lou briard who’s, the welcomed middleweight champion.
You have the great baby-faced assassin Jimmy McLaren, who was the two-time Undisputed World Welterweight Champion.
These are people that held up when there was only one title.
That was it.
You have the title, then you were the world champion.
Don’T forget.
You also had Jack Delaney Oliver Jack Delaney, who was the Undisputed light heavyweight champion uh, so you had great champions in every weight division throughout boxing history plus we’ve had uh Steve molitar we’ve had Matthew Hilton, uh, Davey, Hilton Jr, so we’ve had world champions who’s.
A Canadian citizen so there’s guys and I could go back into the 1870s and 1880s.
You know.
George Dixon was the first black man to ever hold the world title.
You have George leblanche.
Indeed, the great original Jack Dempsey.
You have George Clooney’s.
So there’s a lot of these great Fighters.
You just have to yeah artero Gotti was a world champion.
Um uh so was uh Lennox Lewis, who held it for almost 12 years, but I understand Blaze is just interested in it um and Us in Canada.
We’Re always trying to live up to that American ideal because we’re overshadowed here by everything American, but Canadians have shown through and you know and won World titles.
So that’s you know without the no Undisputed World titles and that’s what makes up rewards accomplishments, uh incredible, because there was only one world champion at that time.
Now, briard there’s an interesting thing about Briar.
You have to understand something: he was a converted southpaw now, Marvin Hagler was a converted softball, maybe the greatest comfort of Southpaw of all time and the way they found out it was a convert itself was before the Ray Leonard fight uh.
Angela Dundee asked the kid to get Hacker’s autographed and he said what hand did he sign with his right hand, which meant that in training Ray was circling away from hackler’s left, which is what hagler’s people wanted him to do right because it was power package.
The reason you turn a guy into a southpaw, a right-handed fighter is because, when you do that it means in this stance his right hand, his power hand it’s closer to the head of his opponent, so he’s going to get more opportunities to turn the jab into It that didn’t happen he converted to Southpaw, and it was really bizarre for a completely different reason and one of his first pro fights, um Manny Pacquiao was, without a doubt a great South Park.
I don’t know if he’s the greatest ever southpaw, because you’re, not you know, you’d, have to go back a couple hundred years.
You look at all the Great South laws in his sport, but I love Manny.
Pacquiao he’s definitely in the top three greatest South Pauls of all time and he’s not a converted softball.
He was, he was born in southbound and you know pounds per pound wanted to talk several Fighters everything.
So what happened with priyard was in the nerdy fight when he was fighting Orthodox.
He got caught two right hands first, right hand broke two ribs a couple rounds later.
Another one broke a third year and during the fight he’s covering up the fight ends, and the thing is, this is the depression.
So, eight years ago, before I sold my house after I got divorced, I fell on a flight of stairs and I broke through.
It took me six months took six months for them to heal eight months.
For me to get used to.
You know just get used to walking again without clearing that aside, so the yard was fought during the Depression.
He had parents and he had a wife and a young kid.
He couldn’t take time off time off meant he didn’t pay.
Rent didn’t get close, so he had to fight.
He had no choice but to fight and back then guys if you’d see a guy wow.
This was a 15 round brutal battle and then he’s like four days late.
That was just the way it was.
He only made money when he fought so the best way for him to keep fighting and protect his entry was for him to turn Southbound.
Now.
Here’S.
What’S really bizarre about this over time as a South law, he became more proficient as a left-hander than he did as an orthodox player.
He would use his right hand, basically the power with his dad to set up his left hand, which was tremendous.
However, he would use his right hand in the power of His right hand when he got him close and he started to throw uppercuts really enclosed right up the middle.
He started ripping his opponents, otherwise he had a devastating left hand most guys.
It turns off.
I don’t have devastating left hands, it’s the right-handed with regard it wasn’t Orthodox spider to turn that outage uh on his head, so his first fight his first world title fight by the way came into the 70th fight.
Now that was an unusual backhand.
You know guys.
Would have 50 60 75 same thing with Ray Robinson got something like 80 or 95 before he got to work, but that was more racism than anything else, but with Brian there were so many great Fighters at that time.
That could turn your lights out, that, for him, they’ll have to wait that long to have 70 fights.
It was just hard for the courts and you have to number two.
We are field stadiums.
You filled Arenas.
A lot of guys today demand that you know Demetrius ungodied, for instance, would say you know, I’m not getting the money that they’re bloodify to say that they’re not getting the money they deserve or they’re, not getting whatever they deserve, and I should get more money more Exposure but you get it by putting answers in the seats we are put asses in the seats because we have power, he had knockout power and they did damage with both hands all the time and also he was excited in the first round to the last round.
There was no lull, we didn’t take time off, you know today when Fighters will clench and then the referee will break them in the fight it’ll take three or four steps backwards.
You know move his head around adjust his trunks.
They didn’t do that back.
Then fans didn’t pay for that.
Didn’T have time for that.
When the referee broke, he went and had it right away now.
Blazer sits, I got Ray Robinson, but I’m not mad at Manny.
Manny is the epitome of greatness yeah.
A lot of people think Robinson is the greatest fighter pound per pound.
He may very well-being until Dundee thought it was really pep.
His pep did more things well than any other player he ever saw.
Although Sandy Sadler beat him if he had a fortified, I don’t know I I still.
The problem is, when you say the greatest fighter: pound per pound people who are younger than me.
I’M 62 are going to look at Fighters now today they don’t count or they haven’t heard of a guy.
Like George Dixon, who you know, who had upwards of 800 fights and 195 of them – and you know – would be fighting 10 15 20 times a month Dixon because it was black.
I had to fight while guys in his opponent’s corner corner management, fan to try to hit him in their legs with metal pipes and knives.
So they had to keep the fight in the center of the Ring, knowing that, because he was black and his opponent was white, he could get killed right in the fight and had to agree to lose the first seven right round, whether it’s opponent, blood again so Under those circumstances, it’d be hard for me to pick anyone other than George Dixon as the greatest fighter of all time, I think of the modern Fighters.
Manny would definitely be in the top 10 of all time without a doubt.
Okay, let’s get back to our story.
So uh he got married, he married a woman named mini Florence, uh Bastian and they had a child and uh.
So he he you know he had to fight.
He had to keep fighting and uh.
We are kept training all the time.
This was his job and he thought a really good fighter from Chicago really well schooled Black Friday Young Jack Thompson for the national boxing Association, Undisputed World Market October 23rd 1931, and he captured the title in Boston by a 15 round.
He wanted his decision.
The referee was Johnny bradzo and three yard at the time that he won the world welfare titled.
You know it’s in boxing boxes and Armature from 8 to 12 on.
He was 20 years old.
He was just a kid when he had the swarming non-stop style and he just smothered Thompson.
Thompson went Prowler, everyone, you thought was probably with longer arms and we didn’t give Thompson any room to get leverage on his jobs.
He just stayed on him.
Johnny Buckley said get on from the beginning and just keep pounding into the body and bring it up to the head.
He wouldn’t allow Thompson to move away from him at any time.
It didn’t get constant enough room to let his hands go and it was such a complete victory that judges three of the judges, gave him 13 of the rounds of the 15 rounds.
One judge scored uh second round, even in the 14th round of Thompson and the difference in the fight, of course, with regards policies we are, we are dropped through three times actually dropped them four times, but the fourth knockdown was considered more of a Throwdown for anything Else because they’re arrested, but he sent him to the campus twice around 10 uh first times for account to set the time and Brian was one of those guys that you know when you fought him and you would clinch him.
You know he’s still throwing punches.
He’S.
Still moving you back, he he’s coming forward, he’s still hitting you all the time if he can’t hit you in the body of the chin, he’s hitting your arms he’s going to hit your hips he’s going to hit your shoulder just like Arthur, but it’ll, be up.
He’S going to give you a full body, Beauty, and so he also dropped constant in the seventh round uh, with the left hook to the heart and those punches hurt takes everything out of you and, as I said, the fourth knockdown was really a wrestling thing.
So we threw him to the match and it wasn’t really counted uh and it’s an interesting fight, three yards in the animating; first, the fights in in Boston, first fight since 1920, uh very legal that was legal in the state of Massachusetts and uh.
The first title fight in there for a very long time and uh two months later, imagine winning the title.
Two months later he knocks out Bucky, Lawless December, 2nd 1931 to the Boston Garden 10 round boat and it wasn’t a weltery pet about because both men over the world to Lake Linden.
Now you know when I looked at last night’s fight between good ideas and yards through to BFF six months ago, against uh Joe Smith yard fought less than two months ago too soon at that weight, even though he won dominated his opponent, it’s just too soon to Put their body through that kind of work, so he beats Bucky Lawless now, they’re good! Look this eight days after he beats Bucky Lawless.
He goes to the public hall in Cleveland and he wins by the 12th occasional Republic.
Now pronium is in this.
He beats him in the seventh round.
It’S a ten round boat.
If you get a chance, look up Paul Pony on BoxRec.
Look at this picture.
This is one half mofo.
This is a guy that came to kill you, and this fight was a non-tattle fight because probably weighed 154 pounds.
We already came in a half pound over the left weight limit five days after after beating crony by disqualification.
Five days he’s in Montreal for our hometown fans December 15, 1931 at The Forum in Montreal.
When I talked on Maurice Richard we’re talking way before that the days of the great Howie Morant of the Montreal Canadiens – and it was a partisan, French and Indian crowd – and it was a 10 round draw – he fought against a great formidable baby, Joe game.
Maybe Joe Gans was in no way related to the original joke hands, but that was the name he used and he was a magnificent fighter and the referee was George Rave and they said all through the boat uh briard swarmed him pounded him, but every time the Yard was sworn regard would swarm him and pound them to the body.
Gans would lean back and just hammeredly our job, but the punches made no difference that we are he just kept coming in and coming in and eventually it was going to drop and they both did a lot of damage to each other, especially in the eighth ninth Rounds in the yard kept coming forward through hands, withering attack, but dance couldn’t stop and we, I couldn’t stop fans and we are gon na drop and you have such a tough fight like that and then a month later, because it’s the depression and he needs the Money, one month later, uh he goes to Chicago fights in the Chicago Stadium.
I think Chicago born, but uh.
A man who lived in California, Jackie Hill, Jacob Finkelstein, Jackie Fields is a slick, stick and move fighter and he seemed very hard fight and he thought, if I square up against him, like everyone else, he’s gon na beat the crap out.
I can’t do that.
You know I got ta be like a matador.
Looking bull, I got ta, make them lunch and we get out of his way and beat him and that’s what he did.
We already lost his title.
He lost a weltering title, he kept sticking and moving, and we already would reach – and you know, uh Fields would would uh dock him get out of the way and I’m leading up to the myself feels like, and so he loses.
He loses the wealthy like that.
We can’t make the weight anymore um five fights later August, 4th 1932 fights Battle of Canadian future Hall of Famer Jimmy McLaren.
Now McLaren was a bigger man, he’s five seven and a half.
The ride was only five five and a half, but he was physically stronger than climbing and he scored a split decision victory over him at Yankee Stadium, the referee and one judge gave it to briard and the other George for McLaren, and it said we are just Pounded bad in the climates within 10 rounds of criminal decided he was just physically too strong a guy.
He was a middleweight in a wealthyroid’s body and the client just couldn’t take that kind of punishment, uh from him, Lefty Lou, that’s what they’re called the yard was just too strong and after that, this big one of the McLaren it was the biggest draw in boxing.
He loses his next fight, three of us next five fights and then Lutz Shines on him again because in 1933 July 6 1933, he went to the unanimous 10-round decision over the former Undisputed world record nicely Wild foreign Rascals and Rogues and managers in boxing history.
And this was in front of 16 000 screening times in Bach in Boston.
Locker was Irish, we are just Canadian, but barrage was living there, so the fans are behind me and well, because it’s still a formidable Force, but each guy weighed in over 170 pounds.
So the fight was contested at light heavyweight and the big thing about this victory.
Was it got regard the title shot at Ben Debbie at the polar grounds in New York on Wednesday August 9? 1933, and this is for the New York State athletic commission.
It was recognized with the boxing Commission on the planet.
It was their version of the world middleweight title and about the scheduled for 15 rounds, regarded by the very smart, aggressive fight.
He smothered jebby.
He kept throwing shots to the body and then he kept coming off over top with his left hook: uh, Hey scrapbook, I’m doing fine uh and I’m glad you’re enjoying that.
So he keeps coming on.
I’M fine.
If I don’t have another sneezing fit like.
I did.
Just before we went on the air 15 in a row, so I don’t hope to repeat that: never did it before in my life.
Never do it again.
Um! So Jeffy was in big trouble.
Uh throughout the fight the yard kept hammering a sixth round.
He wobbled him and he just pounded the hell out of him and then in the seventh round and two you know he knocked him out of the 221 Mark.
He came.
He hit him with the right, uppercut and then left hook and Debbie was out before he hit.
The canvas and rehard becomes a two-time world champion, which was remarkable back then, and he was only 22.
so two years before he threw out the weight champ.
That was the world middleweight champ and all of Canada is going crazy because it wasn’t since George Dixon in the 1890s that this had happened before we had Johnny culin a fan, wave Tommy Burns a heavyweight, you know and and many other great photos along the way.
But we had never had someone you know like we are whose wealthier middleweight you’re getting up in the weights.
Now we won two World Championships: we’ve had Jack Delaney who’s, the life heavy weight champ.
So if defender on the age of 82 he’s a champion world champion for the second time, and if you held the world title from the New York State athletic commission, it meant everything.
In fact, that’s what hurt Ali is when the New York State athletic commission illegally stole his title uh in 1967, but that’s another story, but unfortunately he only made one successful defense of that title.
Uh one month after capture one month he wins the title.
Today’S guy wins the title and he’ll take a year off six months off eight months off.
He took one month off.
He wanted to make money off his pedal.
He thought the top rated uh German Midway at all.
Clouds are scoring an eighth round, TKO Victory and they said that Hauser was getting such a terrific beating.
That Brian was pounding him so heavily that the end of the eighth round Hauser just went no nine, nine nine.
I’M done I quit.
I don’t want anymore uh.
Yes, we should reach out scrapbook or – and you can also go to Once Upon a Time in the prize wing with blue eyes and and uh talk about or see the Articles, I’ve written about a lot of these great Fighters uh.
So we are Beats the German.
It means the world middleweight champion and when you have the title, especially during the Depression, you want to make money off.
That’S where you make your most money, the only fighter who made a lot of money before he won the title.
There were two uh Jimmy McLaren because he was the biggest draw in the sport and he would do the back flip after one about and Joe Lewis, because he was just all action inside him and greatest fighter didn’t block the face of his Earth.
Um, we had lost a 15 round unanimous distinction to the great Vince Dundee in a fight referee by Johnny Martin, and he surrendered both the NBA national boxing Association and in New York State athletic commission titled to him in the process, and they said that Dundee won.
The fight New York Times had he won the fight because we are bought his typical Savage fight, rushing and driving him back, and then they just sidestepped him in one with like jazz.
He outpointed him.
He didn’t beat him up.
He didn’t hurt him, but he helped warning him.
Heavy shots one to three yards, but the quantity of shots went to Dundee and the verdict was unanimous and um uh.
Unfortunately, you know he lost his very next fight after that to Tony shuko.
Tony shuko is one of the unsung heroes in professional boxing great fight, and then he reeled out 16 victories uh.
You know in a row in his next 21 bouts and then he beat future life heavyweight champion Jewish fighter.
Bob Allen who Eddie futch told me was the bravest fighter he ever saw in his life bubble.
One was just a tremendously tough guy and he beat him twice by decision within three months bubble and lost a very few men.
So in November of 1935 he traveled to parents, France, The Challenge and we’re getting to it.
Now the lightly regarded Marcel Phil for the IBU, because myself, Phil hadn’t, thought very many um American fighters, and it was for an international boxing Union world that awake pedal, which wasn’t really expected.
It was a ballet in sports, they had three fights and all of which ended in controversy.
Uh.
The first meeting Phil was awarded a very dubious t-h-i-l pill, uh very dubious, unanimous decision Victory, which was booed by the local French fans and in fact it was so rude that the referee, Robert shiman and objectives Henry patry and Robert Weisberg all required police protection when They left the arena, even though the French fans are behind their own fighter.
They knew this was over thought.
Richard had beaten still and pounding him soundly in every round, but the judges bent over backwards for their own fighter uh.
The next fight occurred December 20th, 1936.
At the palate Sports – and this was uh briard’s a year later, his second crack at the IBU middleweight title and he gave Bill a.
He was going in to knock him out.
He gave him a real beating, he just pounded him covered the post and for the first three and a half knockdowns he broke his nose.
He had him bleeding over one eye bleeding out of the mouth.
He was just pounding him like he was pounding a heavy bag and full body attack, pounded and broke.
One of his ribs just beat the crap out of Phil and and Phil was going to be knocked out and he knew it and around four uh.
You could see in the tape her yard lands a left hook that fills that hits him and fills.
I mean bang and his eyes roll and what does Phil do grabs his crotch and goes to the ground and pounds the campus and the referee disqualifies him for a low blow and we are looking around.
I hit him in the chin.
I mean if I hit him that hard in the chin that his testicles hurt.
Then it’s a it’s a tremendous punch.
It’S not a low blow by anyone, though, and it wasn’t.
But this had all the earmarks of a fit fight and this was a fixed fight and I’m calling it that without a doubt, because there was no low blow not at all, and this was a fight where it was determined by.
You know the officials, French boxing official and now for the first time that their fighter was going to win.
That’S the way they thought of it.
You know this guy was coming from North America and uh, although it was originally from Quebec, which considered itself at the time to really be a part of Europe and Canada.
He he.
You know he was disclosed by an unrightly so and and unjustly so – and this isn’t the first time a light, heavyweight title bout between battle and seeking the singular Senegalese.
What we’ve talked about before from Senegal? We had a fixed fight with George carpentry, with the light heavyweight world title in the 20s and the deal with garfancia was he said to the secret: we’re not going to hurt each other we’re going to go 20 rounds, we’ll throw punches, we won’t hurt each other.
You get to keep what you’re getting paid plus I’ll, give you what I’m getting and they said uh, that’s great, that’s fantastic and then in the fourth round or third round excuse me: Karai ponche starts to really go after Seiki and seeking in a clinicians.
What are you doing? This is supposed to be a controlled exhibition, and he says you know: F off new n-word and siki gets angry, gets knocked down, gets up, Beats the hell out of carpanchay, knocks him out, and that was a a fixed fight combat.
This was a different thing.
You know, briard was a gentleman in and out of the ring he was disappointed.
He went over and shook the guy’s hand, he didn’t complain but, and he didn’t scream or anything he just said.
I didn’t hit him well, I know he knows it and what’s more, the fans knew you know, so people can think what they want, so we’re coming up to their third fight.
The third fight February 15, 1937 was also for the Undisputed international box in the union.
Bible and because boxing was controlled by the mob, if you couldn’t get a fight in States for one of the titles, the middleweight title or you know, State athletic, commission title uh, you could go to Europe and fight for the international boxing Union title which was controlled By the French mob now any fighter that fought for the mob back then or anytime, it wasn’t their choice.
People sometimes get angry at me, they’ll say how did you say? Chuck Davey, for instance, was a bomb fire.
It wasn’t his Joyce.
The mob came in, got your guy and said: that’s it you’re done.
We manager now get lost or die and, in fact, on my sub stack uh Once Upon a Time in the prize ring I’m gon na post this week in article on the great Arthur King Toronto, lightweight ranked above Mike Williams by RIM.
Magazines is the best in the world.
He was managed by the Canadian David Yak.
His brother was the famous baby act.
The fighter baby Act was the toughest guy.
Anyone ever met.
Uh took Arthur King down to New York, bang bang or open Blinky Claremont locked in to put them in his mouth, and this says he’s my fighter now get lost, go home and the ACT goes to package bags in the New York hotel and says screw your Bags get out and Yak was never scared, but said that was the only time in his life.
Everybody was scared.
This is the mom they didn’t play around you screwed with them.
They killed you, they didn’t make it and so any fighter that fought.
20S.
30.
40S.
50S, 60s and even Beyond, you had to pay what they wanted.
That’S just the way it went and and one way of trying to escape that was going to to Europe, and so Riyadh goes to Europe, and they have this.
This third fight and they’re.
Talking about how the first two fights went, it was scheduled for 15 rounds and it went like the other two fights we are.
The fight starts.
We are starts very strong, he’s fighting from the crowd.
Three I was very smart.
Johnny Buckley was smart uh.
They took the advice of Charlie Goldman if you’re a short fighter: five, five and a half.
What you want to do is fight from a Crouch out where you make yourself less of a Target: you’re a small Target anyways, but from an exaggerated approach.
The other guy has uh less of a Target date for, and so he was fighting from.
A crowds he’s coming in he’s Landing his rights to the bodies, along with his jab that he’s throwing that left hook like a slingshot, so he’s getting the jab out there to block his vision, and you know like, like Thomas Hearns right hand that knocked out Roberto Duran so he’s hidden with that left hook in every round and every time he lands, [ __ ] in the jaw he’s staggering him and filled his brows on he’s.
Not letting go referees like get your hand off.
You know Screw you, I’m not taking like get your hand up, nope, I’m not falling down, and he keeps doing this and he’s pounding Phil and you know his Corner’s getting excited.
The fans are getting excited.
Three yards gon na knock him out.
There’S no way because we are the artist is going to his head, he’s not going for the body he’s sitting in the shoulders and the elbows and the head.
You know he’s almost ignoring the body and he’s using these whipping punches.
You know the right uppercut, which is what he would throw when he was in close, which was powerful.
You know he hit him with the right, uppercut and bang over at the left, and it was only a matter of time and after the sixth round they’re thinking, Phil can’t come out for anymore he’s got nothing left he’s got nothing in his legs, so we can’t Move he’s got his standard he’s a strong guy himself, but he’s trying to stand there and match for yard punch for a punch.
He cannot do it.
He doesn’t have the strength or the skill to do it, and so, after the fifth round looks like he’s finished he’s in the corner, he’s bleeding.
You know he bleeding from the mouth from the nose he’s sitting there and pouring goes out and tells him what to do.
He wants to move, but the minute the Bell starts.
You know he comes out and bangs pretty yards right on him again head on the chest, pushes him into the corner and just keeps pounding him to the shoulders to the arms, and then it hits him with a left hook and staggers him.
Another left hook and Phil goes down.
He goes down on one knee and then he turns around falls down completely grabs is groin rolling around and the referee originally Awards the fight of regard.
Because he’s he was standing right there.
He saw the pine [ __ ] the chin, and then he converts with the judges and then he changes the decision and he said it was a low blow.
Embryard just said, watch the tape.
I didn’t hit him a body shot all night.
This was a laptop for the chin, the other left up and it was a sizzling shot knocked him out and they called it a uh, a disqualification.
They took it away from the art and we had to laugh because this this would fit.
You know all three fights were fixed where I wasn’t gon na win, he knocks the guy out, he knocked him out, he still couldn’t get up and they still won’t give it to him.
So it’s like Larry Merchant, said when the other guy’s backyard.
Sometimes he got to score a knockout just to get a decision, so he he it was just.
It was disgusting and Phil kept the title.
He goes to New York and he fights Fred apostoli uh for the world, middleweight title and he’s winning the fight in New York, which is unbelievable, he’s winning the fight, but he has to quit after the 10th round, because he’s getting he’s got a huge cut over His left eye and they can’t close it, so they stopped the fight and then Phil retired, but during the fight apostoli hit some you know to the body and he’s claiming you know he’s found and the referee.
That said, don’t even try that you bring that up again I’ll disqualify, you that doesn’t work over here.
You got ta fight and he was winning the fight.
But if he hadn’t got caught, you know he hadn’t got the big cut.
Then you know he would have ended up actually beating himself uh by the way, a side note here: uh all the best middle east of the time.
I might have the way it’s Gus lesnovich Anton crystals, now Don Dunphy, the great announcer.
I wanted to ask him: what do you do when you have Christopher Rita’s fighting Gus last music? You know, and he said well, it’s Anton Crystal freed is the best legend of it’s like it’s called an antonym dust because I couldn’t call them Crystal free.
As a legend of [, __ ], but good to fight would have been over by the times, I got the names out.
So so PR does this.
He fights on.
He continues to fight after losing this fight and um.
It’S it’s sad because he you know he really did win it, but uh keep fighting on and when he loses that fight.
There’S 12 000 people there at the Palais de Royale and they just throw a complete riot.
They go berserking because they know that the other guy won.
This isn’t fair.
They don’t want to be known for that uh and it’s final 19 fights he he after he loses to him.
He ended up with seven wins, two draws and ten losses.
His heart wasn’t really in it, but look at the middleweights he face Teddy yara’s Gus lesnovich, the great Lloyd Marshall part of the black murderers Rowan, the greatest fighters ever to have lived some people watching this won’t know him, but Lloyd.
Marshall is an all-time break and also Georgie Abram George e Freda Maverick one who and told them he’s called the greatest middleweight he ever saw and uh.
He had a long career and he was only knocked out once by Tiger Jack Fox at the Boston Garden near the end of his career.
On February 18 1938.
.
We got stopped in the seventh round uh his last fight.
Uh was his second fight and second loss to Holocaust Survivor, Henry jamowski uh 1940 January 12th, at mechanics Hall in Worcester Massachusetts, and then he called it a career after that he was 28 when he retired think about that guys.
Today you know bitter BF was 38.
A week ago – and he won last night – he was 28, he was done had over 100 fights, and so he worked as a physical fitness instructor in the army during World War II, and his final Ledger was 107 wins.
50 66 by knockout 29 losses.
Two draws two no decisions and he died from Alzheimer’s disease.
Unfortunately, in Halifax, Plymouth, Massachusetts September 14, 1984.
years later on 2006, he was an exactly in a day, international team, and I was there that day I was sitting with Angel Dundee and I was in tears because I got to see a Canadian that I really adored And worshiped going to the international Boxing Hall of Fame, and it’s well deserved, he’s also member of the world box of Halloween.
Thanks to my late great friends, d block, which is located in Nevada, Marcel Phil, uh fought on three quit.
Excuse me, after the fight that he lost and he um he he kept fighting and or excuse me, he didn’t keep fighting.
I keep um contradicting myself, so he loses to Apostolic and he quits what’s interesting about him is when he was training.
He lived in the Soviet Union and he trained Fighters there, so in 1935 and 1936, if we’d done that and lived in the states, he probably would have been banned, uh, he retired at the age of 33, and he was active.
He was a corner man.
He was a member in the honorary president of the DF Boxing Club and he retired, to a village in Cannes on the French Riviera.
You can’t get a better last few years of Life to Live than that.
Unfortunately, he died.
August.
14.
1968 still was only 64.
he’d had two car accidents the previous three years, and he was seriously injured.
He never recovered from that um and he’s buried at the Grand just cemetery and he was inducted the year before.
Uh lubricard was into the international Boxing Hall of Fame in 2005 and there’s a sports Stadium named after him in the city of rings and also a street in Saint desier uh.
You can actually see this bike.
They don’t have the whole fight.
I don’t know why they don’t have the whole fight.
When I did Cinderella.
Man Angela and I watched the whole fight from beginning to end Angela said.
Well, I mean: what can you do they put a gun to to uh regards him? You couldn’t have robbed him.
Any better than they did in France.
But what could you do at that time? You’Re, the minority you’re, the you and the other Americans in your corner, you’re, a Canadian two Americans in your corner.
This guy’s got the French mob behind him, you’re not gon na win and unfortunately he didn’t, but one of the all-time great fights briard is one of the all-time great Fighters, certainly one of the greatest Canadian fighters of all time and this week on my uh Once Upon a Time in the prize ring uh, which you can access that will get you the exact address in a second here, it’s https, Colin or semicolon slash, slash, Lou eisen.
substack.
com.
You can read about another Great Canadian Fighter, the great Arthur King and uh well worth reading about uh.
So go to that you can get a yearly subscription or you can get a monthly subscription, and there are other articles that I post that you can just click on and see.
I hope you enjoyed this today.
I wanted to give you a full background of what we are to myself Phil leading up to that fight.
Sometimes people will talk about the fight, but you got to know both men leading up to it and then at the point in time where they Clash um.
It was really a highly light for both men, because we are never challenged for the title again and Phil went to New York and lost to apostoli, and it was really you know the end of the line for both men.
So both these guys deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.
I never really gave Phil the respect that he deserved, but he truly was a great fighter.
Although I didn’t like the fact that he claimed that he was fouled every time.
Someone knocked him down, but you know I guess in that regard, you have to give him credit for doing whatever he thought that he could do to win the title.
I’M Louise and this has been ring talk.
I hope you enjoyed it next week.
We’Ll come back at you with another great fight, enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Have a good night!
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