Young Firpo vs. John Henry Lewis
Young Firpo 174 lbs drew with John Henry Lewis 175 lbs by PTS in round 10 of 10
- Date: 1934-09-20
- Location: Multnomah Stadium, Portland, Oregon, USA
- Referee: Tom Louttit
FIRPO STAGES GREAT BATTLE AGAINST LEWIS by Billy Stepp, Sports Editor News-Telegram (Portland, OR)
With defeat staring him in the face, Young Firpo, the lion-hearted miner from the sagebrush of Burke, Ida., staged a sensational rally to fight himself to a draw in 10 torrid rounds with John Henry Lewis, the colored boxing master from Phoenix, Ariz., in the headline brawl at the stadium last night before more than 6000 fans who almost went into hysterics as the two light-heavyweights fought round by round.
Referee Tom Louttit's decision was met with a terrific roar of music that put the Bronx on the Rand-McNally. Nine out of ten looked upon the Bull as the winner after his zero-hour attack on the colored boy.
The writer's scorebook showed the first, third, fourth and fifth in favor of Lewis who autographed the miner with everything in his category of pet socks, but none made the wild man quit walking in. The sixth, seventh, eight and ninth were given Firpo, while the second and tenth were even-steven.
John Henry started off to make it a one-side affair by plastering Firpo with straight lefts and rights in the first round, while Firp didn't land a punch.
Firp landed his first punch of the fight in the second heat, a wild right crashed against Lewis' jaw, and he staggered back, but quickly fought off the Bull's attack.
In the third Lewis again opened up with his long left that blew Firpo's schnoz a burning red and the claret dripped.
Firpo let one fly from nowhere in the fourth and John's nose got in the way and the red ink dripped. Lewis quickly punched Firpo around the ring with both hands.
In the fifth, Lewis' long range guns kept booming on Firpo's face and a right dropped into the bread basket to say, Morning, Samuel, while Firpo went around aimlessly trying to connect on the huge brown-skinned battler.
The sixth Firpo clipped over a few teasers but Lewis held his ground and evened the round.
Firpo bounced up and down, and a wild swing found a resting spot on Lewis' jaw, and his knees buckled. That was like a streak from a blue sky to Firp and he opened with a savage attack of haymakers that bewildered the Arizona boy. It was the miner's big inning.
And again in the seventh Firp kept his relentless wild-swinging barrage that had Lewis looking for shelter. The boy whom the N.B.A. picked as a probable world's light-heavyweight successor to Rosenbloom was losing his early lead.
Firpo kept swinging like a bar room door on a busy day. His left and rights missed and some connected. One right almost tore Lewis' head off, and if ever a fighter folded, John Henry did, and like an old-fashioned canvas bag.
Firpo, with victory looming on his face after four rounds of terrific battling, was weak and in fact so was Lewis. The two tore into the final three minutes with nothing barred. John H. dropped three far below the belt, while Firpo almost untied Lewis' shoes with an uppercut. It looked for a second that the miner was going to blow the duke as he hung on, but with 10 seconds left on the ticker came Firp and he almost tore Lewis' dome off with two haymakers that were thrown from the 50 yard line.
The bell ended the 30 minute party and, of course, Referee Louttit's decision caused a near riot. It was O.K., but if a winner was to be picked yours truly would have to give the silverware to the Bull of Burke, who certainly turned what looked like a defeat into a moral victory.
Two other writers wrote:
The large crowd of 7,000 booed Referee Tom Louttit's decision for five minutes after arms of both gladiators were raised.
Although officially declared a draw, every sports writer and the majority of the spectators thought Firpo the winner. The once wild-swinging unorthodox Firpo, nee Guido Bardelli, is now a shifting, sharpshooting demon who had the Negro on the verge of a K.O. several times in the bout.