15th November - Woodcock vs Georges Martin (Manchester)
Bruce’s next fight at Belle Vue Manchester was widely expected to go Bruce’s way. Georges Martin was the French heavyweight champion who, like Bruce three months earlier, had beaten Albert Renet to gain the title.
Bruce weighed in at 13 st. 9lbs., Martin at 13 st. 5lbs.
The fight was all over in 7 minutes for the audience of 7,000, Bruce taking advantage of Martin’s large vulnerable jaw to lay him out with a punch so powerful Martin had to be carried out of the ring.
The BBC commentary on the fight was very complimentary of Bruce’s performance, celebrating his ‘paralysing lefts’ and his total dominance of the fight throughout, ‘another fine exhibition by the young champion with a great future.’ The Pathé News commentator was less positive, being very critical of another uneven match after the Baksi-Mills affair: called it ‘another slaughter of the innocents’; ‘Martin was clearly not in Woodcock’s class’, ‘just another stepping stone on Woodcock’s way to the stars’. ‘BBC commentators made the fight sound a good one; Pathé Sports cameras show that Woodcock still has a long way to go before he’s in the Joe Louis class, and his way there ought not to be cluttered by any more fights with straw champions.’
This was the Belfast News Letter’s account on 16th November:
“Bruce Woodcock, British and European heavyweight champion, knocked out Georges Martin, heavyweight champion of France, in the third round of their fight at Manchester last night. The end came as surprise, but the way Woodcock finished off the Frenchman had the hallmark of class. smashing right under the heart caused Martin to drop his guard, and, in a split second, Woodcock sent home a terrific right hook, and the Frenchman fell as if he had been pole-axed. He remained an inert mass on the canvas, and had to lifted bodily when the count reached 10. He not seem to understand what had happened as he slowly came to his senses, and he made as if to turn and continue the fight.
The men were of evenly matched physique, but from the outset it was obvious that Martin was not the same class as the British champion. He was given a good ovation at the end for his plucky display against a far superior opponent. Woodcock boxed superbly, took every point in the first two rounds, pumping long lefts into the Frenchman’s face, which, by the end of the second round, was showing signs of wear. Martin, once or twice, tried to connect with a vicious right hook, but the blows fell short, and Woodcock’s left kept jabbing away at the Frenchman’s now badly-puffed face. Martin has a prominent jaw which he wisely kept tucked away behind his left shoulder. These tactics prevented Woodcock from ending the fight much earlier.
In the second round, Woodcock scored with two snappy right hooks, which dropped Martin, but he bounced back before the timekeeper had counted to two. The bell saved him as another right hook spun him completely round. Three times succession Woodcock thudded his left Into Martin’s face at the start of the third round, and delivered the two punches which ended the contest. Martin, with his left eye swollen and inflamed, said through an interpreter: ‘I got my eye cut in the first round, and think it affected me. Woodcock punches very hard with both hands’.”
17th December - Woodcock vs Nils Andersson
For his last fight in this marathon year, Bruce was up against Nils ‘Nisse’ Andersson, who he had already fought while in Sweden during his exhibition tour in August. Andersson was a giant of a man at 6ft. 6 in. and 15 st., so Bruce was giving away a stone and a half in weight, four inches in height and faced a reach almost seven inches longer than his own.
Despite his size, or perhaps because of it, the fight proved to be a repeat of the Martin fight with a technical knock-out in round 3. It was another unequal matching. BoxRec has Andersson’s career in two parts: amateur from 1942-46, professional from 1946-50. When he met Bruce he had fought only seven times as a professional, and it was clear very quickly that, despite his courage, he was no match for Bruce.
Unfortunately, there is no footage of the fight available. The Dundee Courier gave this account of the bloody battle on 18th of December, which was broadcast at 9.15 in the evening on the Light Programme, while listeners on the Third Programme had the Aeolian String Quartet playing Haydn and Brahms:
“Bruce Woodcock, British heavy-weight champion, gave away one and a half stones in weight and several inches in height to Nisse Andersson, the Swedish heavyweight, at Harringay last night and had some uncomfortable moments before the contest was stopped in his favour at the end of the third round owing to a bad cut over Andersson's left eye. Both men presented a gory spectacle in what proved to be the last round of the fight. The blood streamed from Andersson's eye and covered Woodcock's face, shoulders, and chest, until he appeared to be in a much worse condition than his opponent. In this, his seventh professional contest, Andersson gave a skilful and plucky display. His left hand work was, if anything, better than that of Woodcock, and he showed that he could take a hard punching. He began by scoring repeatedly with a long left lead, but took a terrific right cross to the jaw and another which opened nasty gash over his left eye. This, more than anything else, brought about his early defeat. In the second round Woodcock dropped his giant opponent for a count of nine with right clip to the jaw. It appeared to be all over when Andersson a second later fell to his knees without receiving a punch. The referee helped him and told him to box on. This Andersson did to such good purpose that for moment it appeared as if Woodcock was in trouble. He sent Woodcock back on to his heels in the third round with two good rights. The crowd roared encouragement to the Swede, but Woodcock appeared to be in perfect command of the situation, and Andersson was clearly in a sorry plight at end of the round. At the request of his manager the referee [Teddy Waltham] examined the cut and then stopped the bout.”
The
Hull Daily Mail added:
“While many who saw Bruce Woodcock defeat the giant Swede, Nisse Andersson, in three rounds at Harringay last night may have been disappointed with the British champion's performance, it has to be remembered that, in addition to giving away stone-and-a-half in weight and four inches in height, Woodcock had to contend with a reach almost seven inches longer than his own. Andersson, formerly one of Sweden's most successful amateur boxers, has performed well in his eight professional contests, and he can look back with justifiable pride upon a fight which, while it lasted, did not all go Woodcock's way. He landed many more punches on the British champion than did either of the two French heavyweights, Renet and Martin, and twice in the second round he appeared to have Woodcock in trouble.”
Postscript
Speculation about a future fight for the world championship was fuelled by Joe Louis who defeated Mauriello in the first round of their September bout, three months after Bruce fought Mauriello. Louis stated that he would take Bruce on if that’s what the promoters wanted.
Louis’s easy defeat of Mauriello proved again that Bruce had in part been unlucky in his fight. Damon Runyon covered the Louis-Mauriello confrontation as the last of his ongoing reports on heavyweight championship fights that had begun in 1915 when he covered the Jack Johnson fight against Jess Willard in Cuba.
Runyon became well-known for his humorous portraits of the ‘guys and dolls’ of Broadway and the New York underworld in his short stories, but he had a highly respected ongoing career as a boxing commentator. He covered ten of Joe Louis’s fights in total including his first for the title in 1937. His verdict on the Louis-Mauriello ‘brawl’ was damning: against ‘the greatest human fighting machine the modern prize ring has produced’, Mauriello was simply ‘a fat boy facing a rugged giant.’
A Few Treats Related to Martin Fight
Andersson Programme
