17th May - Woodcock vs Tami Mauriello (New York City)

In the build up to his next fight, the first in America by any British heavyweight champion since Tommy Farr went 15 rounds with Joe Louis in 1937, Bruce was subject to intensifying press interest, featuring regularly in various papers, and his smallest activities became a platform for news and speculation. The trip was reported to be an enforcedly austere one with his luggage limited to 52 pounds weight.

The trip itself provoked speculation about how well Bruce would cope with the flight. The only other flying experience he’d had was to Dublin in 1945, when he'd supposedly had airsickness, but Norman Hurst said that the flight had stimulated his appetite to eat a huge meal on arrival! As usual, the press reports must be treated with some scepticism since they were often written as much in the interests of generating a story rather than reporting one.

The Flight to New York

On Thursday 12th April, the day before he was due to fly to America to prepare for the fight on 13th May, he was presented with a radiogram from his fellow-workers at the L.N.E.R. works in Doncaster, with various photos of him with workmates.  The railway workers had also had a collection and raised over £1,000 to purchase a bed for Doncaster Royal Infirmary in Bruce’s name in recognition of his achievements.   


On the Friday morning, Bruce left home at 1, Mona Road and drove to Doncaster station to catch the 8.40 to King’s Cross, for the 20-hour flight to New York.  It included a breakfast of steak and eggs.  He arrived at La Guardia airport with Tom Hurst to be met by a crowd of some 200 fans.  He apparently made a big impact on New York newspapermen with his dry, laconic Yorkshire humour and quiet, shy manner, and received bigger press notices than any other visiting fighter for many years.  And his popularity in the US grew tremendously after his arrival. 

 

Pathe news report of Bruce boarding flight [2 mins in]

In the Big Apple

The New York press particularly made much of Bruce’s major concern unrelated to the boxing. He needed to bring a present back for Nora. He was reported as saying ‘She wants a bathing costume of satin like Carol Landis wears, and I’ve got to get it at all costs.’ Sure enough, the press got their photo of Bruce with the bathing suit he bought, fuelling more speculation about a possible date for the marriage. He was also on the lookout for the latest type of iron, an electric steam type to help Nora with her dressmaking business.

In New York, anticipatory newspaper headlines included ‘British champ on K.O. route to world title’, with a report reading: ‘Woodcock has that certain something which all our heavies except Louis seem to lack - a knock-out wallop. If he smoothes his right fist across Mauriello’s jaw next month at the Garden, Tami will hear the birdies sing; for when this man Woodcock hits ‘em they stay HIT.’

But while Bruce’s future prospects of a meeting with Joe Louis for the world title were now openly being considered and discussed, majority opinion among American aficionados was that Bruce was unlikely to beat the tough Mauriello unless by a knock-out. The odds were running at two to one against.

Bruce was maintaining his customary cool approach with manager Tom Hurst reporting that ‘He never says much about his fights, and you can’t get him to talk about his chances against Mauriello, but he’s in magnificent fettle - hard as iron and tremendously fit - and furthermore he isn’t the slightest bit worried about the scrap.’

While he enjoyed his brief stay in the city, with a lunch of lobster cocktail, hamburger steak and French fries (a welcome luxury after the restrictions of food rationing at home), he lamented the lack of good tea and found it too noisy, interfering with his sleep. He was often surrounded and even mobbed by crowds of well-wishers. So, to the surprise of some sports reporters, his manager Tom Hurst had arranged for training to take place in private outside of the city, at a new base camp for some peace and seclusion to be able to concentrate on preparations.

Bear Mountain Training Camp

The training camp was based at the Bear Mountain Inn Hotel, overlooking the Hudson River, 45 miles outside New York. The log cabin venue was used by the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants baseball teams as a training centre with the surrounding pine woods offering a different environment for the heavy road work Bruce regularly did at home. There was a local cinema a five mile walk down the road for some distraction. The availability of ‘real food’, as Tom Hurst described it, certainly helped, with bacon, ham, eggs, steak and fresh fruit forming the basis for nutrition. Bruce taught the kitchen staff how to make a proper Yorkshire cup of tea just the way he liked it, after a well-wisher sent him six lbs. of the best kind. The press reported that he normally drank about six pints a day!

He’d taken a British sparring partner along with him for the trip, Arnold Hayes, who Bruce had beaten in three rounds in April 1943. The sparring took place in a custom-built ring to the exact measurements of the Madison Square Gardens ring. After one severe pummelling though, Hayes quit the camp, and Tom Hurst arranged for American sparring partner Steve Loman, who at 6ft. 2 in. and 14½ st. against Bruce’s 13 st. 10½ lb., more closely resembled his coming opponent. Mike Jacobs (the promoter) was concerned that Bruce refrained from using a headguard or mouthpiece shield while training. Bruce argued that they interfered with his judgement of his punching distances.

Bruce’s public impact continued to grow through press attention. At times, hundreds of people came to watch him train. He visited the nearby West Point Military Academy to see its gym and found the famous Brooklyn Dodgers playing a friendly game. He was invited to have a go against the Dodgers’ best pitcher: he missed the first delivery, but hit the second with a mighty crack, which brought cheers from onlookers. The verdict from the Dodgers’ manager was that Bruce had the makings of a player. Bruce took the opportunity to get some souvenirs from the West Point Academy, including fountain pens, musical powder boxes, brushes and combs. The West Point Cadets signalled their support by sending Bruce the extra equipment he was lacking at Bear Mountain.

Bruce also won a 50-dollar bet when he said he would climb the famous Bear Mountain hill, a local ski jump, in 45 minutes - the usual time was well over an hour - and actually did it in 27 minutes. The verdict: he’s a ‘real guy!’ Other regular activities included swimming and boating in the nearby lake, walking and fishing, as well as wood chopping and rock splitting with a sledgehammer (more press opportunities). The venue was ideal apart from one thing: it was the site of a number of historic defeats of British troops in the American War of Independence, as frequent local signs proclaimed, much to Bruce’s irritation.

Bear Mountain

Training - Click to Enlarge

The Wind-Up

The other source of irritation was Tami Mauriello. His camp had performed a publicity stunt, recorded for Pathé news, with Mauriello and his manager, Lefty Rimini, sarcastically dressed as English aristocracy in top hat, tail coats, striped trousers and spats. They were drinking tea from china cups with fingers raised and eating crumpets served by a butler while ‘conversing’ in mock English accents. The caption read ‘Would milord like more tea and crumpets?’ Video on Pathé News  YouTube Version

According to the Sunday Chronicle reporter, after seeing the photos Bruce grimly remarked ‘I’ll try to see that Tami has a real tea-party on Friday night, and I’ll bring along a nice Yorkshire crumpet rolled up in a six-ounce glove.’ It was the only time the reporter had seen Bruce out of temper and no wonder: as a working class man from Doncaster, the last thing Bruce and his family had enjoyed in the past was any sense of luxury - survival had been the name of the game, along with the ambition to follow his chosen career to do his best to lift them out of the poor background they inhabited. The irony is that, training in his cramped upstairs gym in the heart of the Bronx, while Bruce trained in the millionaire’s holiday resort in Bear Mountain, Mauriello had much more in common with Bruce than he knew.

The Fight Build-Up

Mauriello, nicknamed ‘the Bronx Barkeep’, seemed fairly blasé about the fight. The son of an Italian immigrant family and born Stefan, he took up boxing in 1939 at the age of sixteen, evading the American licensing laws by using his elder brother Tami’s birth certificate to qualify as a professional. He had a remarkably fast rise, with two attempts at the light-weight world championship against Lee Savold in 1941. Up until meeting Bruce, he’d had 75 professional fights, winning all but eight. Reporter George Harrison watched him training and gave the following assessment:

‘He is not impressive in the gymnasium. There is a sluggish, heavy look about him. He seems easy to hit, and he drags his right foot, which is slightly deformed. ButMauriello’s record shows that, no matter how indifferent he may appear in preparation, he is dynamite in his fights. He has won the last dozen by knockouts. I asked him about his hopes against Bruce: “I figure I’ll put him out in a couple of rounds" he said.’

But having glanced at Bruce’s record he revised his opinion a bit: ‘Say, that guy certainly must be able to hit. I thought he was just another of your English left-hand pushers.’

Harrison concluded his assessment:

‘Mauriello is going full-out to get in proper shape for the Woodcock scrap. He is apt to be careless in eating and training as a general rule, but visions of fighting for the Joe Louis title and making millions of dollars have brought a change of attitude this time, although he still thinks “Woodcock is going to be easy.” He is the type of fighter who never stops coming forward unless knocked down. There is no knock-out against him throughout his whole career, so Bruce is facing a mighty tough task in his American debut.’

Mauriello’s fighting style was tough and rugged: he was a slugger who, once he got in the ring, displayed a tenacity and refusal to stop that contrasted with his happy-go-lucky attitude to training. By the time of the fight with Bruce, he was rated third in the world heavyweight rankings.   Wikipedia Page   Boxrec Listing

Incidentally, Mauriello went on to land a part in the film "On the Waterfront"

The Fight

The ticket takings from a near-capacity crowd of 13,749, a downpour having deterred some, were calculated at over £25,000 of which Bruce expected to net around £8,250.

Along with the Marquis of Queensberry, Joe Louis was in the audience for the fight - it was his 32nd birthday. Reporter George Harrison had already recorded that Louis, eager to make as much money as he could before he had to retire, was keen to fight Bruce in London, should he win against Mauriello: ‘If Woodcock - or Woodchuck, as they persist in miscalling him here, a woodchuck being a perky, fearless American bird - knocks out Mauriello, he will be matched for the world championship for a certainty.’ Harrison had also continued to speculate: 

‘I find myself wondering whether Bruce really visualises the immense importance to his future of a knock-out victory over Mauriello. Out at his training hideaway in the glorious wooded hills of Bear Mountain, I watched him work out today. He’s the same easy-going Yorkshireman he always was. Here’s a boy with a half a million pounds awaiting him - and I’m not kidding - if he can show America right away that he is a heavyweight with a knockout punch, and for all he worries he might as well be training by running along the Doncaster roads without a photographer in sight. And darned if I don’t admire him for it.’

Harrison concluded with this assessment:

‘The critics are divided in their opinions about him. Some say he will never stave off Mauriello with his poor guard. Others aver that his wicked punching will take him nearer to knocking out the Italian American than anyone has been so far. I am inclined to agree with those who state that Bruce leaves himself dangerously open to blows to the face. Mauriello is a tremendous hit and unless our lad closes up his guard a great deal, his own enormous punch may still be under his armpits when the fight is over.’

Harrison also thought Bruce needed ‘some more venom, some additional devil’: ‘I’d like to see him cultivate a bit of “murder” in his make-up.’

At the weigh-in, Bruce was lighter than his usual weight at 13st. 4¾lbs., perhaps because of the high protein and low carb diet available to him. This meant he was fitter, faster and stronger than ever, while Mauriello was 14st. 2¼lbs.

In the event, it wasn’t lack of venom that did for Bruce: it was bad luck. Having dominated Mauriello for at least two of the first four rounds, reaching the point where Mauriello was likely to start becoming tired, a collision with Mauriello’s head in the fifth round meant Bruce sustained a deep head wound just above his left ear, which the doctor treating him afterward said would have left him dazed so he ‘fell into’ the final punch right-hand punch that put him down and out for the first time in his professional career. The cut required four stitches.

George Harrison, who had been following Bruce’s American training closely, and Frederick Cook, special correspondent for the Evening Post, both gave vivid accounts of the fight ....

Frederick Cook Fight Report

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George Harrison Fight Report

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Another Report of the Fight

A contemporary news report, written by renowned boxing writer Nat Fleischer (who also founded "The Ring" magazine) exists and the links below will take you to each of the two pages. There is apparently a fourth page (and maybe more) so we are currently searching for reference to these. It would appear that this article is from "The Ring" August 1946.

Post-Fight Tom Webster Cartoon

Aftermath - America

The verdict afterwards was expressed by Jack Dempsey, former heavyweight champion of the world: Bruce fought a great fight but just didn’t have enough experience. He needed more of the tough opposition that Mauriello and American boxing embodied by comparison with the British scene. And for some, Bruce should have had a few preparatory fights in America before meeting an opponent of the calibre and experience of Mauriello. But hundreds of American fans crowded outside the exit from Madison Square Gardens in a side street off 8th Avenue chanting ‘We want Woodcock!’, testifying to the warmth and admiration they felt for Bruce, even in defeat. 

Bruce’s first professional loss was a huge shock to his fans, though as we’ve seen it wasn’t for want of thorough preparation. But given Mauriello’s record to date of 76 professional fights to date [won 68, 50 by knockout] against Bruce’s 25, coupled with his heavier weight and the more intensive and extensive boxing culture of the US, there were factors involved that were beyond the control of Bruce, his manager or his trainers. 

In America, there was unanimous admiration for a great fighter who could have a greater future, not least from Mauriello who was impressed by Bruce’s boxing and punching ability and admitted to receiving from him ‘the hardest blow I have ever had.’ It gave Mauriello a bad cut over his left eye which, had the referee accepted that Bruce had beaten the count, would have made him vulnerable in the next rounds. And fast-talking, gum-chewing promoter Mike Jacobs said Bruce would be welcome back anytime - prior to the fight and sounding a bit like a character from a Damon Runyon story, he had been ready to take Bruce on for a fight with Joe Louis in London ‘if England can put up enough dough.’ Afterwards, he was eager to match Bruce with America’s fourth-rated heavyweight, Joe Baksi in the future. And he’d had hundreds of phone calls wanting him to arrange an outdoor contest for Bruce in the coming summer.

Mauriello's next fight saw him take on the tough challenge of Joe Louis - who beat him in round 1 despite Maurello staggering him with practically the first punch of the fight.

Aftermath - Home

Back in England, hundreds of late night illuminated windows testified to the interest, but atmospheric distortion meant that many fans in Doncaster were unable to clearly hear the short-wave broadcast when it went out at 3.00 a.m. When the news came through, the disappointment was enormous. Planned celebrations and parties were abandoned. Everyone agreed however that Bruce did the best he could, and there was a huge crowd to welcome him when he finally got back home.

The party arrived late in the afternoon at Hern airport near Bournemouth after a delay at customs, to be met by Bruce’s brothers Billy and Malcolm. A traffic jam was caused as someone recognised Bruce leaving his hotel. The trip back was equally frustrating - the car broke down near Grantham, so Bruce got on a train while Billy and Malcolm nursed the car back with its big end gone. They arrived just before Bruce was dropped off by a taxi at 1.30 a.m. He was greeted by hundreds of supporters who, despite heavy rain, had been dancing and singing to the accompaniment of a piano accordion outside his home. There were red, white and blue banners hung across Mona Road, a big sign above the door of 1, Mona Road read ‘Welcome Home Champ!’ and he was greeted by a rousing ‘For he’s a jolly good fellow!’ It took him several minutes to get through to the doorway of the house to hugs from his mother Gladys, and handshakes from his father Sam and brothers Billy, Sam and Malcolm. There was also a wagging tail from Mick the dog, and a welcome Yorkshire brew of tea.

He was ready to turn in but not until he’d seen Nora and taken her the presents he’d got her - American style sandals from Fifth Avenue in maroon Morocco leather with 1 ½ in. block soles and 5 in. heels, a leather handbag to match, and, of course, the Carol Landis swimsuit, in both white and black just to be on the safe side !

The way that Bruce himself handled his defeat was impressive. His approach to the five other fights this year was impeccable. Having decided that the defeat will have done him some good in terms of experience and know-how, and after a few days’ rest, he began training in earnest again for the next fight, against the current light-heavyweight champion Freddie Mills.