Sucker Punch

It doesn't pay to hit Joe Louis so hard it hurts him. By keeping things on a friendly basis, such smart boxers as Bob Pastor and Billy Conn induced the Brown Bomber to toy with them for as many as eleven and 13 rounds before the inevitable kill. But Tami (rhymes with mammy) Mauriello, the tubby Bronx challenger, decided to play rough. At the opening bell of last week's title fight he walked out from his corner, took one look at the overconfident Louis, and pitched a right with the urgency of a man unloading a hand grenade. It connected, and the world's heavyweight champion went reeling across the ring.

If Tami had been quicker on the trigger, he might have followed up his advantage. Instead, he reaped _the whirlwind. While the small (38,494) Yankee Stadium crowd was still oohing in amazement, Louis bounced off the ropes and went to work. Tami went down under a barrage of lefts and rights, got up at the count of nine, landed one more solid sock, took half a dozen in return. Then he slid slowly down the ropes and assumed the inelegant position of 20 Louis challengers before him.

When his head stopped buzzing, he explained it all very clearly, on the ABC national hookup. Said he: "I thought I could knock him out but I got too goddam careless." Said the announcer: "Thanks very much, Tami."

The time of the knockout, 2 min. 9 sec. of the first round, was a near record for Louis. In 1938 it took Joe just 2 min. 4 sec. to polish off Max Schmeling, who had made the mistake of knocking out Louis in their previous meeting.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.