I was there the night of the big fight.
In spirit. Physically, I was in my bcd...under the covers with the radio. (It was past my bedtime.)
Like many, if not most American boys growing up in the 40's, I was a big Joe Lewis fan...Joe was the "undefeated heavyweight boxing champion of the world!"
His closest rival was a boxer named Billy Conn. I believe Billy had defeated Lewis in a previous match, before Lewis had won the championship….that's why Lewis could be billed as "the Undefeated Champion of the World." He was undefeated as champion.
Lewis won by a KO in the first round, I believe.
For about a year, I was at every local boxing event I could convince my Dad to take me to.
Until......
the
night I watched a young man die....in the ring.
A doctor from the audience rushed up ...to try to help the fallen fighter....but there was obviously nothing he could do.
The boy was dead.
Heart attack, probably.
That poor boy's last boxing match was also mine.
I never attended, nor watched on TV another boxing match.
...a sport whose time passed a long, long time ago.
-Ed
o
