On August 25, 1930, Max Baer and Frankie Campbell stepped into a boxing ring in Recreation Park in San Francisco for a heavyweight match.
Only one of them walked out of that same ring.
There have been several boxing deaths over the years. It's a sometimes brutal sport, and accidents are almost unavoidable despite effort to make the most savage of competitions a little more, well, civilized.
But this one seems particularly difficult to comprehend. Campbell, who was injured at some point in the second round, carried on until the fifth. That's when Baer knocked him senseless and into the ropes, and then continued to pound away at Campbell - over and over again to the point where most observers believe he took at least 20 straight punches without response. Finally, referee Toby Irwin stopped the fight, but it was far too late. Campbell essentially was dead when he was carried out of the ring, although he clung to life for several more hours in a hospital.
It certainly was an outrage of an event; Catherine Johnson certainly thinks so. She's spent an unimaginable amount of time and effort putting research into a book on that fight and its subjects. It's called "Then the World Moved On," and you can read her rage on most of the pages. The veteran boxing fan is determined to set the record straight here.
Of the main characters presented in the story, Campbell is the main "good guy." He grew up in a family with an abusive father, but overcame it to become a good and humble husband and father. Frankie's real last name was Camilli; he changed it upon entering boxing in order to sell tickets to the Irish community. By the way, his brother Dolph played major league baseball for several years in the 1930s and 1940s.
But once you get past Frankie and the family, heroes are tough to find in this story. Even before the fight, Baer was a guy who never saw a character flaw he couldn't embrace. Boxing was the only way that he could come close to earning enough money to keep up with his spending, although his bank account never seemed to win that argument with the bank. Baer also wasn't too bothered by rules in boxing, establishing a reputation for bad behavior such as fouls in the ring.
From there, we can move on to the referee, and Irwin was universally known as a bad official who seemed to have other priorities than a fair fight - in other words, lining his pockets by helping to fix bouts. The trainers, handlers and promoters weren't exactly honor students either, and the ruling authorities weren't known for their scruples. Gambling influences were everywhere in that era.
Therefore, it seems like it was only a matter of time before it would all go tragically wrong in some case when a certain set of circumstances emerged. The "smart guys" had put their money on Baer to win in five rounds, and the future heavyweight champion and the referee made sure that the outcome came out as ordered. The health of Campbell wasn't a major concern apparently.
After the fight, investigations took place in several areas. However, those smart guys had most of the bases covered. Boxing commissioners were quick to protect the principals, and Baer had a different version to tell about what happened almost any time he spoke about the subject in the ensuing years Little was done in the way of reforms suggested by the equivalent of a grand jury.
Johnson compiles a bunch of Baer's lies from a variety of sources, and it is tough to know how much remorse the heavyweight felt for his actions. But the referee might even have a greater responsibility in the matter. You can argue that a boxer keeps going until told not to do so, and that someone has to uphold order in the ring. Irwin certainly did not do that. But Baer never showed any restraint, and handlers never jumped in the ring or threw in the towel. And so on.
This is a rather compelling story, even for one almost 100 years ago, and probably worth revisiting now. But there are a few problems along the way.
The first centers on the writing. There is just an epidemic of unnecessary commas that have been placed in the story. Remember that a comma is designed to make the reader stop and think for a moment, but the extra commas tend to break the train of thought. That forces visitors to the book to figure out what is being said. Also, some words and phrases along the way could use some editing. Self-published books (and I assume this is one) sometimes could use another editor, and this probably applies here.
Johnson also has the habit of applying quirky metaphors in the boxing sections that read as if they were in a 1930 newspaper. Campbell's handlers simply aren't nervous; they are "near cardiac arrest as their moneymaker seemed about to drop his last gold coin." A foe lands on the canvas "as if Wrigley Field's baseball stands had fallen on him." In describing another knockout, Johnson writes, "Little birdies still orbited his head as Frankie's hand was raised in victory." That can be a charming technique when used once in a while about old-time news, but it should be done sparingly.
And sometimes, in spite of 1,400 sources, it's easy to wonder if minor assumptions aren't being made. Take this portion about Campbell's wife arriving at the hospital: "Her heels echoes in the quiet corridor as she raced breathlessly down the halls of the hospital. When she saw the full extent of what Max Baer had done to husband (sic), she whimpered in horror as she slowly approached hid bed." Since there's no footnote, where did that information come from?
There are those out there who follow boxing who think Baer received a raw deal in this whole matter, but Johnson does a very good job of getting the facts out into the open. For that, "Then the World Moved On" deserves to be noticed in boxing circles. While the flaws make it less than an easy read that may scare away some readers, it is nice to get the full story in these 328 pages.
Three stars
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