The 1930s had been over for awhile now. It was time for Max to go home to Sacramento, California?
On July 2, 1940, Max Baer faced Tony Galento in Jersey City, NJ. Galento was a stocky little guy who weighed in at 250 lbs. and resembled a beer barrel, hence the nickname. Tony did everything he shouldn?t do in training, and was still a very dangerous person. He trained on spaghetti and beer. He wouldn?t bath for two weeks before a fight, hoping that the stench would give him an edge on the inside! Since he owned a bar in Orange, New Jersey, the suds were always within reach. He was a chain smoker and did his road work after the bar closed for the night. When asked why he ran at night he replied, ??Cause I fight at night!? His favorite line was, ?I?ll moider da bum.? Tony was The Ring magazine?s number one ranked contender in 1939. He had a murderous left hook that once floored Joe Louis. The public loved Galento and often called him by his other ring name, the New Jersey Nightstick.
Max Baer became heavyweight champion of the world in 1934. He had a murderous right hand that could KO an opponent at any moment. Yet he was often called the Clown Prince of the Ring because of his comic personality.
All of which made this fight a great match.
Tony was favored to win at 9-5. Both Max and Tony had been around a long time. Still, Baer would reach back into the past and surprise all those sportswriters who had told him to retire. Max had a feeling that 1940 was to be his year. Baer had replaced Galento as the number one ranked contender by The Ring in 1940.
The fight started as most fans thought it would. Both men were trying to land bombs. The difference was that Baer kept up a steady pressure on Galento. Tony did not have time to breath. More important was the fact that Galento was hiding an injury that night. Earlier that afternoon Tony had a fight with his brother Russell. He had hit Tony in the mouth with a beer stein. Galento had received a tear so large on the inside of his bottom lip that eight stitches had to be put in by an oral surgeon. Now Baer was pounding away at those stitches with his overhand right. Bang! Bang! Bang! The stitches began to break inside of his repaired lip. He quickly found himself with a mouth full of blood. Not wanting the referee to see all this blood steaming down his chin and stop the fight, Tony started to swallow it. It made him sick to his stomach. It was also hard to breath with a mouth full of blood.
He tried every dirty trick he knew on Baer. Head butts, rabbit punches, standing on Max?s foot and hitting way below the belt. Even his two week?s worth of body odor couldn?t keep Max away.
The ex-champ wanted that promised rematch with Louis. The clock was ticking on his career.
By the end of round 7 Galento was spent. He didn?t get up off his stool when the bell rang for the next round. It saved him from a knock out. Baer was awarded a TKO8.
After his victory over Galento, Baer told the New York Times, ?Sure I want another chance at the title. You fellows say I?m a bum, but I can hit and any man I hit is apt to go out. Great a fighter as Louis is, there is always a chance that my right will put me right back into the championship.?
Louis and Baer saw each other in Baer?s dressing room after the Galento fight. Baer told Louis, ?I want another chance.? The Times reported that Louis answered, ?You can have it in September.? Ancil Hoffman (Baer?s longtime manager) huddled with Mike Jacobs; a handshake was given for a fight in Chicago, sometime in September. Again Max told Joe Nichols of the Times, ?I?m still a pretty hard puncher and if I can tag Louis with my right hand, I?ll be the champ again. I showed you fellows last night that I could fight when I wanted to, and I?ll want to fight when I get into the ring with Louis.?
It never happened. Uncle Mike kept changing the conditions for a Baer-Louis rematch. Jacobs didn?t want to take another chance with Max. He was too unpredictable. The Galento fight was his last real chance for a title shot.
Baer fought one more time that year. A TKO1 win over a young Pat Comiskey, at Roosevelt Stadium, on September 26, 1940. Referee Jack Dempsey stopped the action early on. Comiskey was being groomed as the new Great White Hope against Louis. Baer was embarrassed when the promoters surprised him after the fight, with a championship belt that read, ?The White Heavyweight Champion of the World.? Max didn?t want any part of this hype.
(Eighteen years later, Max got the same Pat Cominsky a part in the 1959 Hollywood film, ?The Harder They Fall? starring Bogart, Steiger and Baer. Pat played Guss Dundee, the brain damaged heavyweight champion, who dies in the ring. Pat needed the money. Max came through again.)
The following year, on April 4, 1941, Lou Nova stopped Max at Madison Square Garden. It was a TKO8 loss for Baer. It was another roadblock thrown up by Mike Jacobs to keep Louis and Baer apart. It worked. Max had been ahead on points when referee Arthur Donovan stopped the action on cuts. It was Max?s last career bout.
The 1930s had been over for awhile now. It was time for Max to go home to Sacramento, California.
