BY THE NUMBERS: PAULINO UZCUDUN by Don Stradley • Illustration by KronkAAArt As Impressionist painters once took inspiration from the light and landscapes of Normandy, so it was with sportswriters of the 1920s and the unique face of Paulino Uzcudun. Providing the experts on press row with the challenge of describing him, Uzcudun was alternately portrayed as the fighter with the “Cro-Magnon cranium,” a “grotesque human with thicket eyebrows” and, as one writer put it in 1929, a
rounds with Joe Louis » When asked to pick the best punch he’d ever thrown,
bouts with Max Schmeling » Their first fight in 1929 was a raw, no-holds-barred sort of contest, with Uzcudun smashing into
Louis usually answered with one word: “Paulino.” The blow in question was a right in the fourth round that destroyed Uzcudun’s mouth and sent him down for the first time in his career. Unfamiliar with the feeling of canvas on his back, Uzcudun got to his feet, though referee Arthur Donovan took note of his sorry condition and stopped the bout. The decisive punch, reported a New Jersey sportswriter, “could be heard 10 rows back,” while another observer wrote that the impact sounded “like the crack of a bullwhip on sheet metal.” According to legend, Louis’ new wife, Marva, was so disturbed by the sight of Uzcudun’s battered face that Louis suggested she stay away from his future fights. “It made Marva sick,” Louis said. It was the woodchopper’s last bout. Uzcudun (1899-1985) left boxing, fought for the Nationalist side during the Spanish Civil War and lived a quiet life away from the headlines. In Ronald K. Fried’s excellent book Corner Men, Bimstein recalled Uzcudun as “the finest character among the fighters I ever met, square as they make ’em, game and tough, and in his prime a match for any of ’em.” Bimstein often bent the truth for the sake of a good story, but this time he spoke from the heart.
victories » After starting his professional career in Europe, Uzcudun invaded American rings, particularly in New York. Sometimes called “The Spanish Lion of the Pyrenees,” Uzcudun had a rough and rugged style in the ring, and even the biggest cynics on press row were impressed by his ability to absorb punishment. Fighting out of a crouch, his favorite tactic was to charge an opponent shoulder- first, gambling that some part of his body would connect and do some damage. Among his notable victims in that 1927-1932 period were K.O. Christner, Tom Heeney and Otto Von Porat (twice), the 1924 Olympic gold medalist who never quite panned out as a pro. Unfortunately, Uzcudun’s awkwardness wasn’t enough against the likes of Mickey Walker, Tommy Loughran, King
Schmeling in his usual barnyard animal style, while the crafty German bided his time and ripped Uzcudun’s face apart with jabs. Having injured his right hand early in the bout on the Basque’s hard skull, Schmeling was content to work behind his left until it appeared blood was pouring from every available orifice on Uzcudun’s head. Though Schmeling staggered him in the 14th, Uzcudun survived to finish the 15-rounder on his feet. The scorecards reflected what everyone at Yankee Stadium knew, that Schmeling had won by a wide margin. The fight had been a widely hyped New York event, with the winner expected to contend for the heavyweight title recently vacated by Gene Tunney. The German and the Basque fought again five years later in Barcelona’s Montjuic Stadium. With three rings side by side, the preliminary bouts were all fought simultaneously in what was billed as a boxing carnival. Uzcudun held Schmeling to a draw, though most in the press thought Schmeling had shaded him by a round. Their third encounter took place in 1935, this time in Berlin, Schmeling’s turf. Schmeling won the 12-round decision, taking the lead in their series 2-0-1. in attendance in Barcelona » Uzcudun fought for some of the largest crowds ever recorded, including his 1930 bout with Primo Carnera in Barcelona. The split decision verdict for Carnera created some turbulence in the audience of 90,000, though it was hardly the bloody melee that Uzcudun’s trainer, Whitey Bimstein, later recounted for the Associated Press. Among Bimstein’s more ludicrous claims was that 300 people took refuge under the ring with him while the riot raged on.
title shot » Claiming he’d been drugged prior to some recent bouts and no longer wanted to fight in the USA, Uzcudun fought exclusively in Europe in 1933 and ran off six consecutive wins. This put him in line to face the new champion and old rival: Carnera. Their bout was fought in Rome, where Carnera was treated as a national hero. On October 22, 1933, at a beautiful outdoor amphitheater with Italy’s prime minister, Benito Mussolini, in attendance, Carnera won a 15-round decision and retained the championship. However, Carnera’s grand night backfired. The Italian crowd, which was said to be 70,000, changed allegiance by the later rounds and began cheering for the Basque. It’s not known what Mussolini thought. pounds of exaggeration » The second Carnera-Uzcudun contest occupied a spot in boxing lore as the highest combined weight for a title fight – 259½ for Carnera, 229¼ for Uzcudun, totaling 488¾ pounds. This record held until 2000, when Lennox Lewis and Michael Grant surpassed it by nine pounds. However, the weights given for Carnera and Uzcudun are probably false. An Associated Press report of the time, from “newspapermen who stood by the scales,” claimed Carnera weighed 265, while Uzcudun came in at 202, which is more likely. How Uzcudun was ever reported as 229¼ is a mystery, though the promoter may have simply wanted him to seem bigger against the mountainous Carnera.
boxer whose nose was so flat “that a punch on it makes him snort for breath like a prize hog.” When he wasn’t amusing reporters with his craggy visage, this former butcher and competitive woodchopper from Basque Country, Spain, held his own with some of the best heavyweights of the post-Dempsey period, a time when dozens of contenders were taking big swings trying to get noticed. Uzcudun took their best shots and rarely wobbled. That is, until he fought a young contender named Joe Louis in 1935, when Uzcudun was past his prime. It is a shame that Uzcudun is best remembered as a footnote in Louis’ career. He was much more than that. Here’s his story by the numbers.
Levinsky and others. Billed at times as the champion of Europe, Spain and Colombia, he finished his career with a record of 49-17-3, with 33 knockouts.
wins over future Hall of Famers » Any fighter with wins over Harry Wills and Max Baer deserves some acclaim, even if, as in Uzcudun’s case, Wills was well beyond his best and Baer was an unpredictable headcase who lost fights he should’ve won. Uzcudun stopped Wills in four at Ebbets Field in 1927, signaling the end of Wills’ run as a contender. Uzcudun took his winnings from the fight and bought himself some gold teeth and a couple of high-powered roadsters. Uzcudun fought Baer in Reno in 1931 as the main event of an outdoor Fourth of July show promoted and refereed by Jack Dempsey. Baer’s clowning cost him; by the time the 20-round contest was over, Uzcudun had outhustled him for the decision, no mean feat in a boiling-hot ring described by the Associated Press as “a sun-scorched battle pit.” Even Uzcudun marveled at the extreme Nevada heat. Taking a deep breath, he said it “was like sucking in hot flame.”
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