Boxing History Sim - The Heavyweight Weight Class

[Critch]

I was looking through the saved email on my old AOL address and I stumbled across an elicense receipt from 2008 for Title Bout Championship Boxing 2.5. The install package was still on OOTP's website and surprisingly the elicense licensing worked (better than the 2008 experience) and I'm now the proud owner of Title Bout 2.5 again. It even starts when I click the shortcut.

It's a Federal Holiday weekend and my wife is out of town until Tuesday so I'm stuck home alone, home-bound because I'm one of the few people in the US who can't drive and I cant be bothered walking anywhere. I've got nothing pressing to do, there's no soccer worth watching on tv (stupid international break), so other than occasionally checking my work email, watching youtube, and hopefully remembering to feed the cats, my diary is empty. So why not spend the time simulating the history of boxing? It's better than wasting the time.

Title Bout Championship Boxing
Title Bout was originally a board game, all cards and ratings and dice, a very 1970's kind of thing. That spawned the original computer based version in the 90s (I think), then 2.0 in 2005. OOTP then bought the title from the original developers and released a more polished and patched 2.5 updated version in 2008 before selling the game onto PISD who released Title Bout 2013 in 2013. Unfortunately that version was an absolute mess, it just didn't work and was never patched. An absolute rip off, it used to annoy me when PISD's logo showed up on the OOTP start menu screen. The money-stealing bastards.

So 2.5 is the last half-decent version. It's a bit clunky and it's a simulator not a real game. But it's not bad. I think just simming, watching along and not managing works for boxing.

The Plan
Originally I was going to try simulating multiple weight-classes but that was all a bit too complicated and bound to get messed up either through bugs or basic user-error, I'm still learning how to run this sim. So the plan became one weight class only from 1920-ish onwards. It was going to be 1920 but I changed plans midstream and the first World Champion will now be in 1919. Rather than a 1920 start we'll call it "Post World War I".

I'm not a boxing fan, the history is interesting but I wouldn't sit down and watch a fight. One of my old friends was a big boxing fan and he used to drone on and on about how real boxing fans like the lighter weight-classes as they're based around boxing skill, defense and speed, and casual fans like the heavyweights because it's just big guys punching each other. Being a casual fan, it's the heavyweights whose names I recognize so I guess that's what I'm going with.

The 1920's with the heayweights is a good time to start though, a few all-time greats are active (Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, Billy Miske), and a few more are on the horizon (Max Schmelling, Jersey Joe Walcott, Joe Louis). A real golden period for the heavyweights.

The first steps were zooming through a few years to get the universe started, a few years of the upcoming big names beating on complete (game-generated) nobodies to pad their records before we get to the actual World Championships. In this universe there are not multiple associations, no multiple World Champions, there will always just be one. And there are no continental or regional champions. It's World Champion or nothing.

The Schedule
Most of the scheduling will be done by me assigning boxers to groups (Challengers>Contenders>Journeymen>Rookies>Elite TCs>TCs) and using the autoscheduler to pair groups off against each other. The only thing I'll be hand-scheduling is the championship fights, everything else is autoscheduler. (nb Elite TCs and TCs are game-generated no-marks who will generally lose. I cant remember what TC stands for, I got it from the Title Bout website years ago. Maybe Trash Cans? Tomato Cans? And it's only generally lose because one of these nobodies knocked out Jack Dempsey in the first round in the setup simming).

When a boxer gets to his Career Start Date in the Title Bout database he becomes active in the game in the "Rookie" group with his career stage set to "Beginning". He'll fight every two months against game-generated TCs for the first two years padding his record and updating his career stage from "Beginning" to "Pre-Prime" and then graduate to "Journeyman" or "Contender" groups where he'll fight 4 times a year against a variety of levels of opponent. With this experience he'll go from Pre-Prime to Prime and be at the top of his game in time to be a challenger. All the aging is game controlled and slightly randomized, all fighters wont age at the same rate. If he is good enough to get to a Title fight he'll drop down to only 1 fight in a 6 months period. Thank goodness for excel to keep this all controlled.

Going with this schedule a regular fighter with a 12 year career will have just over 50 fights on his record. A little low for this period, one of the original fighters in this run (Bartley Madden) finished with 200 fights on his record in real life and his main ability was "taking a punch", but he was "punchy" when he died at 40 so he'd have been better with off this scheduling.

The Set Up
Starting with 1916 I've simmed the Rookies early years, added in new fighters as they hit their career start in the database, and after three years the original guys have 16 fights on their records. It's now January 1919 and the only unbeaten fighter is Billy Miske with 16 wins, 6 by KO, Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney are both at 15-1-0 (Dempsey has 14 KOs in 15 wins), then Bill Brennan and Charley Weinert at 12-4-0, followed by John Lester Johnson (11-4-1). Biggest drop off was Chuck "The Hoosier Playboy" Wiggins (9-6-1), he was right at the top of the rankings but has gone over a year without a win and fallen away. There's also Argentinian Luis Firpo at 11-1-0, he started a year after everybody else but is ranked in the top 4. I haven't decided if a newbie should be eligible.

As of January 1st 1919 we've got 19 fighters in the Journeyman group (I'm not moving anybody to Contenders until after their next fight) and 6 in the Rookies group, and 60 game-generated TCs. It's all a bit thin back in the 1920s, only 25 real life fighters, but as it moves forward there will be more and more fighters rated for the game so it'll fill out.

The plan for 1919 is that the Real fighters will face each other in January and after that the top four in the rankings will face off in June in a pair of World Championship elimination bouts with the two winners fighting a World Championship bout in December. And then we'll be set to run through Dempsey, Tunney, Louis, Marciano, Liston, Ali, Tyson right up to whoever the champion is nowadays, some Ukrainian guy probably. Or until the game crashes and wrecks the save.

[Critch]

1919 First half.

New Talent
In the game each fighter has a page of rating, style settings, punch %ages, it's a complicated set up but they also have a single number "Overall" rating. The Overall rating range from 0 (the TCs) up to 15 (Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson). From the current batch when they reach their prime we'll have Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney at 13 and Billy Miske at 10. Double figures is a championship contender, twelve-ish is generally "all-time great" level. From the rookies this year there is one who'll eventually be a 10-level, Godfrey George "The Leiperville Shadow". 6'4'' and 240lbs, apparently massive for a heavyweight then, he was Jack Dempsey's training partner and also the World Colored Heavyweight Champion. That won't be a title in my improved and unified universe, he'll be a contender in a few years time.

As I've been simming this I've been reading about the fighters on wiki and boxrec.com, a number of them died young in real life. So far Billy Miske (died in 1924 from liver disease, apparently knew he was terminally ill but kept on fighting to leave money for his family), Bill Brennan (died in 1924, retired and bought a bar in New York, was shot to death by gangsters for not buying their beer), Chuck Wiggins (retired to alcohol and petty crime in Indiana and died at 42 after falling down a flight of stairs. Allegedly may have been murdered by the police because he kept on knocking them out when they tried to arrest him.), and Bartley Madden (fell down the stairs at the DC Dept of Treasury building.)

January 1919
After three years of beating up on 0-rated TCs (or being beaten up by, Bud Gorman is 2-14, not sure what happened there), it's time for the real fighters to face off against each other. A kind of elimination round before the real eliminations in June. There are no real surprises, Billy Miske beat Ireland's Bartley Madden with a unanimous decision, Gene Tunney beat Albert Lloyd also by unanimous decision and Jack Dempsey came back from being knocked down in the first to knock out Ken Lenard in the 3rd. (There are only 19 real fighters in the contenders group so one TC had to be added, Ken Lenard was TC with the best record and Jack Dempsey got him by luck of the draw.)

The final place in the elimination four went down to the winner of #4 Luis Firpo (11-1-0 (4 kos)) v #6 Bill Brennan (12-4-0 (10 kos)). It goes to a majority decision, two going for Brennan and the other calling a draw, so Bill Brennan leapfrogs into the elimination 4. In June it will be #1 Billy Miske v #4 Bill Brennan and #2 Jack Dempsey v #3 Gene Tunney.

June 1919
It's elimination time for the December's World Championship bout.

06-04-1919 #2 Jack Dempsey (16-1-0(15)) v #3 Gene Tunney (16-1-0(11)) Jersey City, NJ
In real life Jack Dempsey didnt fight Gene Tunney until 1927 and 1928 (Tunney won both), this time it's 1919. Gene Tunney is 22 years old and not in his prime yet while Jack Dempsey is 24 and in his prime, that difference makes Dempsey the heavy favorite. The early rounds are pretty evenly split, Dempsey has a slight lead with all three judges by the midway point. In the sixth round Tunney is running out of steam, he gets a warning for holding. He's just getting close and clinching before Dempsey takes control in the seventh and it's even more uneven in the 8th before the ref stops the fight at 2.40 in the 8th with Tunney wobbling and not able to defend himself from Dempsey's jabs. So that's the first spot settled.

06-20-1919 #1 Billy Miske (17-0-0(6)) v #4 Bill Brennan (13-4-0(10)) New York, NY
Is there a less imaginative boxing nickname than Bill "KO" Brennan? It's Chicago's Bill Brennan v St Paul's Billy Miske, if I'd read where they were from first I would have stuck it somewhere more Midwestern but it's The Polo Grounds, New York. Billy Miske should just have to turn up to win and that's how it starts out, he's well ahead on the judges cards after 4 rounds. The fifth is where it turns, with a minute to go Brennan lands a hook to Miske's temple and he's face down on the canvas. He gets up and hangs onto the bell while Brennan tries to finish it. The sixth is much the same, Brennan lands a punch and Miske is down on a knee. Again he holds on til the bell but a pair of 10-8 rounds for Brennan and the scoring has turned. Miske tries to get back into it, he opens a cut on Brennan's eyebrow in the ninth and the doctor is called to check it but the fight goes on. Miske is knocked down again in the 10th (all the fights so far have been 10 rounds), this time he's slower to get back up but hangs on to the end. The three knockdowns make the difference, Bill Brennan wins a unanimous decicion, the judges scoring it 96-91, 95-92, 95-92 for Brennan.

So December 1919 it'll be Jack Dempsey v Bill Brennan for the inaugural Heavyweight World Championship. Gene Tunney v Billy Miske is also scheduled, the winner will be the first challenger in June 1920 for World Champion Dempsey. Or Brennan. I suppose it could be Brennan.

[Critch]

1919 Second half

Other Things
Obviously it's not just the championship fights that are going on, all the other unnamed folks are punching each other when scheduled.

Some notables:

Rookie George Godfrey has finished his first year in the universe and ends with a 6-0-0 record, 4 by knockout. He'll have one more year padding his record and getting experience and then he'll be in with the big boys.
Another Rookie Fighting Bob Martin is at 6-0-0. He's from West Virginia and he was American Expeditionary Force Heavyweight Champion in France and stayed on after WWI to become Inter-Allied champion. He's got one more year fighting no-names to go too. In real life he flamed out young, had neurological issues and injuries from car accidents and was banned from boxing for his own good. One unmentioned rule for this sim is that whenever a fighter gets to his real life career end he gets shifted to the "Post-Prime" stage of his career so he has to make his mark by 1923.
Game-generated 0-rated boxer Grant Carter is up to number 6 in the rankings with an 8-3-2 record. The Tomato Cans (I looked it up, TC stands for Tomato Cans) weren't meant to do things like this.
Charley Weinart has won 5 in a row and is up to number 5 in the rankings so he'll be in with a chance of being a challenger. Despite being called "The Newark Adonis", he's listed as Austrian as he was born in Budapest while it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. So going by that he's now European Champion since he's the highest ranked European ahead of England's Joe Beckett at 10 and Ireland's Bartley Madden at 14.


December 1919
By a strange coincidence in real life Jack Dempsey did fight Bill Brennan for the World Championship on 12/14/1920 in New York. In real life Dempsey knocked out Brennan in the 12th.

12-17-1919 #1 Jack Dempsey (17-1-0(16)) v #2 Bill Brennan (14-4-0(10)) New York, NY
Dempsey was strong favorite here, the first round was balanced but after that Dempsey took over. He won the 2nd, 3rd and 4th round comfortable, and knocked Brennan down with a hook in the 5th. In the 6th he put Brennan down again and only the bell saved him. In the 7th he was down again and looked shaken but the ref let him carry on. Dempsey won the 8th on points, then finished the fight in the 9th. He knocked Brennan down twice then knocked him out at 2.04. At the end one of the judges had Dempsey winning all 8 rounds, while the other two had him winning all but the first round. So a bit of a mismatch. The winner and the first Heavyweight World Champion is Jack Dempsey.

In the other elimination Gene Tunney beat Billy Miske on a split decision, two judges giving it to Tunney 97-94 while the other went for Miske 96-95. So Dempsey's first defense of his title will be June 2020 against Gene Tunney.

[Critch]

1920

New Talent
There are no real prospective contenders coming of age this year. Best of the bunch is New Zealander Tom Heeney who will be an overall 7 at his peak, then there's Bearcat Wright who will only be passable but has a cool name (apparently there was a wrestler called Bearcat Wright too, he's this guy's son), and there's Frenchman Paul Journee who is a bit hopeless (he'll struggle against the 0-rated TCs) but he might get a mention if I ever mention the European Champion again. And at the other end of a career, fictional fighter Marty Billings has become the first fighter in the universe to go to "Post Prime". He's got a record of 8-4-0 including a win against Gene Tunney.

06-20-1920 #1 Jack Dempsey (18-1-0(15)) v #2 Gene Tunney (17-2-0(11)) Detroit, MI
The first defense of the world championship is a one-sided event, helped by Dempsey being at career stage "Peak" while Tunney is "Pre-peak". Jack Dempsey is well on top, scoring points and building up a lead. In the third Tunney's eye starts swelling and gets worse as the fight goes on. All three judges have Dempsey winning the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th round to build on his lead, Tunney's eye is swelling shut and his cornermen cant do anything about it. The 8th round is quiet but the 9th is back to Dempsey well on top although he does get a warning for a low blow. 10th round Tunney's other eye starts swelling up, two eyes swollen shut has got to be an issue for a boxer, it may be all over at any minute. Into the 11th and here's the commentary:

0:46 Tunney in on unsteady legs after those punches.
0:50 Tunney's eyes are becoming a complete mess as the swelling under them worsens.
01:02 * Ouch, I felt that one Dempsey is being warned by the referee to watch the low blows.
01:06 * the referee is indicating that foul by Dempsey was blatant. And he is stopping the fight and awarding the victory to Tunney by disqualification!!

So there you have it, the winner and the new World Champion on a DQ, Gene Tunney. Two judges had Dempsey 7-3 ahead on rounds and one had it 8-2 at the disqualification. The ref is on the take.

According to the rankings the next challenger should be Al Reich, he's been on a run of seven wins in a row and is up to number 3 on the ranking, but he's going to have to sit it out. I'm awarding a rematch to Jack Dempsey in December.

Other News
We're down to only one unbeaten fighter in the universe, all the new rookies have lost at least one and George Godfrey lost his first fight of the year and finished the year with an 11-1-0 record. The other one I mentioned, Fighting Bob Martin made it to 11-0-0 with 10 knockouts before losing his final Rookie fight by breaking his hand and having to retire. So the one remaining undefeated is another military man discharged after World War I, Captain Bob Roper at 10-0-2. He was apparently in the US Navy in the Philippines until discharged in 1919.

Billy Minske went 17 fights unbeaten until he lost the World Championship eliminator to Bill Brennan then the challenger eliminator to Gene Tunney. He made it to three defeats in a row losing to Bartley Madden before winning a rematch with Madden to get to 18-3-0. He followed that up with another loss, this time to a zero-rated nobody to make it 4 defeats in 5 fights. He's falling down the rankings, he's down at 17th. There seems to be a recency bias in the rankings, he has a better overall record than most of the fighters above him.

There have been too many disqualifications so far including the last championship fight, so I've gone through the referee list and changed all "Strict" referees to "Normal".

12-12-1920 #1 Gene Tunney (18-2-0(11)) v #2 Jack Dempsey (18-2-0(15)) New York, NY
In the first fight Jack Dempsey came roaring out into a lead, this time it's the other way around. I guess being the defending champion gives you a boost. After 5 rounds the judges have Tunney either 5-0 or 4-1 up on rounds. Dempsey turns it around though, takes the 6th round despite another warning, then the 7th and 8th too. Into the 9th and momentum has turned, Dempsey opens a cut on Tunney's eyebrow, blood trickling down the side of his face but not in his eyes. At the start of the 10th there's a clash of heads and Tunney's eye has started to swell, 30 seconds later Dempsey lands a strong cross and Tunney is down. He's back up but shaky at the count of 6 but Dempsey moves in for the kill, 1.40 Dempsey lands a hard combination and it's all over, Tunney cant get up to beat the count. A knockout.

The winner, and the new Heavyweight World Champion Jack Dempsey.

Early days but still nobody has retained the World Championship. That'll probably change next time around though, Dempsey and Tunney have fought each other in 3 of their last 4 fights so it's time to put that on the shelf for a while, he wont be the next challenger. The next challenger will be a bit more crap.

Incidentally Gene Tunney was a good looking man. If he swept you up in his big strong arms and told you that you were safe, you would believe him.

[Critch]

1921

New Talent
Two new boxers this year:
Young Stribling - from Georgia (in the US, not the country version) he's more of a Light Heavyweight than a Heavyweight but he's got a HW set of ratings in the database and we've only got one weightclass so in he comes. He should be a contender. In real life he died at 28 in a motorbike accident in 1933 and his grandfather was the president of Wesleyan College. He's only 17 in 1921.
Cowboy Billy Owens - he's from Oklahoma, he's a Cherokee and as well as Cowboy Owens he was also known as Indian Billy. In real life he was knocked out in almost half his fights and won less than half so this may well be his only mention.

Unmentioned Rules
There are two rules that have gone unmentioned, one because it didn't need mentioning and one because I've only just made it up.

My rule was the next challenger came from the in-game rankings unless there was a rematch needed. That would mean the next challenger would be #3 Captain Bob Roper (10-0-2) or #4 George Godfrey (11-1-0) but both of them have just come up from the "Rookie" group, two years padding their record against 12 jobbers. So my freshly made up rule is all championship challengers must have 14 career fights. So that's the pair of them out of the championship reckoning until they've fought two real boxers.

And that leads to the next unmentioned rule: a champion will defend his title in his home country. It's not been relevant before as all the championship fighters have been US (Dempsey from Colorado, Tunney from New York, Bill Brennan from Kentucky) but it might matter now because the next challenger is #5 Joe Beckett (15-9-0) from Southampton, England. In real life he never fought outside the UK so if he wins he'll be defending in London. He wont though, Dempsey will kill him, but seven wins in a row has got him up the rankings and everybody above him either doesn't meet the 14 fight threshold or is on a "Gene Tunney" enforced break.

06-25-1921 #1 Jack Dempsey (19-2-0(18)) v #5 Joe Beckett (15-9-0(9)) New York, NY
It's a mismatch from early, Beckett is down in the first and holding on to survive, then down in the second and only just beats the count. It calms down for a few rounds, Beckett actually might sneak a couple of rounds but Dempsey is winning most but not finishing the fight. Not until the 8th. Jabs have Beckett wobbling and a big cross puts him down and he's not getting back up. No champion defending in London yet.

The winner, and still Heavyweight World Champion, Jack Dempsey.

For the next challenger it's nearly the unfancied Bob Devere (13-11-2) but turns out I'd sorted by the wrong column and he's really #11. It should really be Gene Tunney, he's clear #2, but he's already fought Dempsey 3 times so he'll have to wait another year or two. So December's challenger will be "Austrian" Charley Weinert (21-5-0(9)).

12-17-1921 #1 Jack Dempsey (20-2-0(19)) v #4 Charley Weinert (21-5-0(9)) New York, NY
The game says Weinert is Austrian because he was born in Budapest but his hometown is listed as Newark, NJ and his nickname is "The Newark Adonis" so we wont be heading abroad for a championship fight if he wins, it'll be in New Jersey. That was a decision that didn't need to be made. Dempsey comes out throwing punches, Weinert is hurt after 40 seconds, he's staggering after 1 minute 40, he's knocked out after 2.25 of the first.

The winner, and still Heavyweight World Champion, Jack Dempsey.

I think the lack of good challengers is partly due to me limiting the initial pool too much, there were some good quality old guys (Joe Jeannette, Sam Langford, Harry Wills) at the end of their career that would be around making it interesting.

[Critch]

1922

Emergency Talent Influx
When I set up this universe I selected based on career start date (anybody with a start date 1912 to 1920 originally). Looking at the pool of real fighters now it's all a bit shallow, I've blocked out too many good older boxers that would have provided better challengers than Beckett and Weinert. So now they're getting a chance, I'm going to add them into the universe at their prime or beyond prime in some cases. Anybody who's been left out but still has a few years left has been added to a small group, a bit of record padding against the jobbers, a little elimination tournament, and the winner gets to be a challenger, but not straight away.

So welcome to:

Harry Wills from Louisiana, "The Black Panther", 32 years old and an overall rating of 11. And really the one that made me think "Why is he not in my list? He's active til 1932".
Canadian Sam Langford "The Boston Tar Baby", 39 years old and 10 overall, he'll be around til 1926 so he's still a challenger. I'm not sure if his nickname is offensive and google didn't help decide, but that was apparently his nickname so I guess it's ok? Better that Joseph "Jewey" Smith, the British Jewish boxer who retired just too early to be in this.
Carl Morris. 38 years old so reaching the end. "The Oklahoma White Hope" despite being from Kentucky and Cherokee, 6'4'' and 240lbs so a big lad in the days when a heavyweight was anybody over 175lbs. An overall rating of 5
Willie "Fat Boy" Meehan, 29 years old from San Francisco and described as "a flyweight who literally ate his way to heavyweight", he fought a young Jack Dempsey 5 times and won twice so couldn't have been too bad. A 5 rating again.
Joe Jeannette, 43 years old from New Jersey, he'd be a 10 rating but he retired in 1922 so he'll be getting set to "post-prime". This will be his last chance to win a title. Apparently fought Sam Langford 14 or 15 times through their careers, the records are sketchy.
Denver Jack Geyer, 39 years old and rated 3 overall. I'm not sure why he's called Denver Jack, his records say he was born and lived in Ohio.
Bombardier Billy Wells, 33 year old Londoner and another ex-military man, this time the British Royal Artillery, an overall rating of 2 but I've added him because I've heard of him.
Fireman Jim Flynn, 42 years old and well past his best but I wanted to get to eight. He fought for the World Title in 1906 and 1912 and was the only boxer to ever knock out Jack Dempsey (in real life, some nobody did it in this universe) so he's in for a couple of years.

Really I've enjoyed reading about the old boxers online on wiki and boxrec.com more than playing the game.

06-10-1922 #1 Jack Dempsey (21-2-0(20)) v #2 George Godfrey (15-1-0(12)) Chicago, IL
Godfrey missed out last year when I changed the universe rules and required at least 14 fights, since then he's gone unbeaten, knocked out "real" fighters Bob Devere and Fighting Bob Martin, and also King of the Fictional Jobbers Grant Carter in the first round. He's 6'3'', 250lbs and was Jack Dempsey's training partner in real life. Maybe he'll be more of a challenge than the last couple? Nope. He's down within the first minute and only just beats the count, Dempsey moves in for the kill and the referee stops the fight at 2.45 of the first, a win with a TKO in the first round.

The winner, and still Heavyweight World Champion, Jack Dempsey.

George Godfrey lasted 20 seconds more than Charley Weinert so at least he's not the quickest loser so far. At the same time in the "returning emergency talent influx eliminator", 43 year old and officially past his prime Joe Jeannette (14-0-0) defeats 32 year old Harry Wills (14-1-0) in a split decision to win the race to be Jack Dempsey's next challenger.

12-09-1922 #1 Jack Dempsey (22-2-0(20)) v #2 Joe Jeannette (15-0-0(13)) New York, NY
It's now or never for Joe Jeannette, he's 43 and his career end date is 1922 so if he loses here he's retired and gone forever. He's from Hoboken so I guess New York is handy for him, I go random for most venues and handpick for the championship fights trying to go indoor in the winter. And no California, boxing matches over 4 rounds were illegal in California until 1924 so I'm leaving it off the list. Historical accuracy, innit. One thing that's not historical accuracy is that Jeannette should be retired by 1922 but here he is, he retired in 1919 but the database has him as active til 1922 so here he is.

The early rounds are back and forward, Dempsey winning most of them. In the 7th Jeannette lands a combination and opens a cut on Dempsey's left eyebrow, through the fight it worsens enough that blood is flowing into Dempsey's eye, at the end of the 9th the ref calls out the doctor to see if he can continue but the doc he says yes. In the 10th things get worse for Dempsey, he's down after Jeannette lands a combination, back up at the count of 6 and hanging on for the bell. Dempsey has to go for it now, wins the 11th and knocks Jeannette down twice in the 12th and he's looking out on his feet, then again late in the 13th but Jeannette manages to make it to the bell. (n.b. title fights are 15 rounds, no worry for Jeannette since he once fought 49 rounds in a fight). Into the 15th and Dempsey is well ahead on points but with a minute to go in the fight Dempsey's cut is wide open and flowing so the ref calls the doctor in again and this time he stops the fight.

The winner, and the new Heavyweight World Champion, Joe Jeannette.

I thought it would have been unusual for a fight to stop for a cut in the olden days so I looked it up on google and it brought up a The Guardian article about it. "Stopping fights on cuts didn't become accepted practice until the Jack Dempsey era." So I guess that's OK then.

The judges had Dempsey well ahead when the fight was stopped (all three at 136-126), I'm vaguely thinking of letting Dempsey get away with a rematch again, I'll let a flip of a coin decide. And Jeannette will drag on one more year, cant have him retiring as world champion.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I've done projects organized similar to this on several different platforms (some computer, some pure tabletop, some hybrids) and generally enjoyed the heck out of them.

[Critch]

I've done projects organized similar to this on several different platforms (some computer, some pure tabletop, some hybrids) and generally enjoyed the heck out of them.

Yeah, it's been working pretty well. I do kind of wish I'd gone for multiple weightclasses though, maybe heavyweight/light heavyweight/welterweight/middleweith from 1960 onwards. Although maybe the cut back universe is why I havent had a crash yet.

1923

Outs and Ins
The first retiree, Bob Devere (19-11-2 with 12 knockout wins). He's 29 years old and I think the only time he got a mention was when he almost became the championship challenger because I sorted by the wrong column. He will be missed.

On the way in are 6 new rookies, the most important being Paolino Uzcudun "The Basque Woodchopper". Apparently Basque Woodchopping is a sport involving standing on wood logs and hitting them with an axe, Paolino Uzcudun was a champion at that before boxing. One day he'll be an overall 9 rating and maybe a challenger. The other new guys are less good.

And stepping up into the big boy's rank is Young Stribling boasting a 12-0-0 record, with the recent influx we're up to 47 real-life boxers. Almost time to add a European and a North American championship too.

There are three times a champion should get a rematch:
1. Losing on a disqualification while comfortably ahead on point
2. A controversial split decision and
3. The referee stops the fight for a cut with only a minute to go.

06-09-1923 #1 Joe Jeannette (16-0-0(13)) v #2 Jack Dempsey (22-3-0(20)) Brooklyn, NY
So it's a rematch. It would have been Gene Tunney's time to shine but he's lost two of his last three fights and fallen out of the top 10 so Dempsey again it is. Again Dempsey is on top winning rounds, helped by Jeannette hurting his hand in the third and not being able to use it for more than jabs. One of Jeannette's eyes is swollen by the 4th and by the 8th he's well behind on rounds and his eye is swollen shut. He hangs on losing rounds heavily and with the doctor checking the swelling in the 10th and 11th but by the 12th the doctor has seen enough and stops the fight, a win for Dempsey with a TKO.

The winner, and the new Heavyweight World Champion, Jack Dempsey.

With his championship lost on his first defense, the 44-year old Joe Jeannette retires with a 16-1-0 record. In real life Jeannette had managed his money well, went onto be a referee and trainer and own a limousine and taxi cab company. So that's what happened here too, but this time round he's a former World Champion too.

12-15-1923 #1 Jack Dempsey (23-3-0(21)) v #5 Captain Bob Roper (19-1-2(6)) Chicago, IL
Captain Bob Roper has been at the top of the rankings for a while, so now's his chance. His main strength is his endurance, he's never been knocked out but he's also not a heavy hitter, most of his wins coming from the judges. He's probably out of his depth against Dempsey but he's from Chicago so I've marked him as a "home town hero", I'm not sure what good that'll do him though.

It's going to take more than being in his hometown to help Roper. This is the commentary from the end of the first round:

02:57 This bout could end up being a bit of a mismatch. There's a difference in the caliber of fighter here.

Dempsey wins every round but Roper's endurance keeps him upright. By the 10th round he hasn't won any rounds and his face is so swollen that the referee stops the fight, it's a win for Dempsey on a TKO.

The winner, and still Heavyweight World Champion, Jack Dempsey.

[Critch]

1924

Outs and Ins
There are a few big names dropping out the game universe as we head into 1924:
Billie Miskie - In real life Billie Miskie died on the 1st of January 1924 from kidney disease, he apparently knew he was dying when he fought Bill Brennan in November 1923 but went ahead with the fight to provide for his family after his death. Despite being so ill he couldn't train he won, knocking out Brennan. In this universe he finished with a 29-4-0 record and 14 KOs, got close to a championship fight getting to 17-0-0 but then lost 4 out of 5 and fell down the rankings. Since then he's won 11 in a row but never got high enough up the rankings to get another chance
Bill Brennan - Bill Brennan retired after his loss to Miskie, bought a bar in New York for retirement and was shot dead in June 1924 by gangsters after refusing to let them supply the beer. In this universe he fought in the first World Championship fight against Jack Dempsey, lost, then fell down the rankings. He finished with a 24-10-1 record and 19 knockouts.
Joe Beckett - Another who lost to Jack Dempsey then fell down the rankings, Dempsey knocked him out in 1921. In real life he retired in 1923, got married, and lived until 1965. So best outcome of the three really.

And at the other end of their career, the pick of the new rookies are Max Schmeling (10 overall rating, future World Champion in real life, and a future German paratrooper during the war. There will be no World War in this universe so that wont be happen), Jack Sharkey (9 overall rating, in real life he fought Dempsey, took a low blow and complained to the ref and while he was distracted talking to the ref, Dempsey knocked him out), and Jack Roper (not a great boxer but brother of Captain Bob Roper and a future actor playing henchman roles in Hollywood)

It's a sign of the golden era for heavyweight boxing that in this span of a few years we've had Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney (both 13 overall), Billie Miskie and Harry Wills (11 overall), Max Schmelling, Joe Jeannette, Sam Langford, George Godfrey (all 10 overall). Looking at the modern day rankings, there are only three 10 or more heavyweight boxers from 1970 until present day (Mike Tyson - 12, Riddick Bowe - 11,Lennox Lewis - 10).

It was either a golden era or the people doing the rankings for Title Bout are strong on nostalgia.

06-14-1924 #1 Jack Dempsey (24-3-0(23)) v #2 Harry Wills (20-1-0(17)) Philadelphia, PA
It doesnt matter what happens, Jack Dempsey isnt getting a rematch if he loses, he's used up his get out of jail cards. And as it turns out that doesnt become a concern. Dempsey comes out fast winning the first round by a margin, round two is quiet and balanced other than Dempsey getting two warnings, one for holding and punching and one for punching below the belt. Incidentally Dempsey has an "often" rating for fouls and his fights are littered with warnings, editing the referees so none of them are strict probably did him a favor. 3rd and 4th are two more close, uneventful rounds. Same script for the 5th, after 5 rounds the judges have Dempsey narrowly ahead. The 6th is the round that changes the history of this universe for ever, maybe a slight exageration. Wills comes out for the 6th taking control, half way through the round he lands a combination and Dempsey is down. He's back up quickly but struggling, Wills moves in for the kill, traps Dempsey in the corner raining blows in, the ref steps in and stops the fight. A TKO at 2:24 in the 6th.

The winner, and the new Heavyweight World Champion, Harry Wills.

It was planned to be 41 year old Sam Langford for the next challenger but he lost to George Godfrey in April. Godfrey (22-2-1) lost in the first round of his last championship fight so he's out too, next would be Fred Fulton (29-8-1) ("The Rochester Plasterer", great nickname) he went to London and beat Bombadier Billy Wells to get into the reckoning, but it's time for Gene Tunney to get another chance. He's waited long enough.

11-13-1924 #1 Harry Wills (21-1-0(18)) v #6 Gene Tunney (30-5-0(21)) New Orleans, LA
Champions get to defend in their hometown, so the championship fight heads south. You can only set a fighter to be "defending champion" or "hometown favorite" so Wills wont get a double benefit, I'm not really sure what the benefit is. Maybe judges a little more favorable? It's a close first round but then Tunney takes over racking up a lead on the judges cards, Wells comes back into it in the middle rounds to make it closer, the last few rounds are pretty even, the fight ends with no knockdowns and it goes to a judges' decision. One judge scores it 145-140, the other two 145-141, it's a unanimous decision.

The winner, and the new Heavyweight World Champion, Gene Tunney.

[Critch]

1925

Outs and Ins
Only a pair of retirements for 1925:
41 year old Carl Morris retires with a 20-4-0 record. If he wasn't 41 he'd probably be in line for a championship challenge
34 year old Al Reich (27-12-1). A record padded with a lot of fights against journeymen, when he fought anybody good he lost. Gene Tunney, Luis Firpo, Bombadier Billy Wells, Fred Fulton, lost to them all. Even the kings of the jobbers Grant Carter and Ken Lenard beat him.

They will both be missed, but not much.

There are no real prospects on the way in, Frankie Campbell probably the pick of them. He's the brother of future MLB all-star Dolph Camilli (Frankie Campbell wasn't his real name). In real life he was a prospect with a good record until he died in the ring in 1930, he told his corner "something feels like it broke in my head" between rounds but kept on fighting. Hopefully he has a happier time of it in this universe.

The in-game rankings still list Jack Dempsey as #1 in the rankings (I thought the champ was automatically #1 but apparently not) but he's on an enforced break so it's down to Sam Langford (22-3-1) or Luis Firpo (28-7-1) to be Tunney's first challenger. Langford has lost two of his last three fights (George Godfrey twice, stung by the random fight scheduler), so it's Luis Firpo's turn, Firpo has nine wins in a row so he's earned a turn as challenger. He's the first challenger from South America, just like he was in real life. A championship fight in Buenos Aires?

06-20-1925 #3 Gene Tunney (31-5-0(22)) v #6 Luis Firpo (28-7-1(16)) New York, NY
Gene Tunney's first defense since 1920, this one goes better. First two rounds are defensive and close, then Tunney opens up in the third and Firpo is down face first after 27 seconds, he's shakily back up after a 9 count but back down at 1:26. Back up again and back down again at 2:04. The referee lets the fight restart, I've turned off the "three knockdowns and you're done" rule, but it only lasts one more Tunney attack before the ref steps in and stops it. A TKO after 2:19 of the third.

The winner, and still the Heavyweight World Champion, Gene Tunney.

Going by the game's ranking next challenger up should be Jack Dempsey, he beat Harry Wills in October 1925 and it top of the rankings, but it cant just be Tunney and Dempsey passing the championship back and forward so he's being snubbed. Next up is Fred Fulton (34-8-1(27)), 34 years old, nicknamed "The Rochester Plasterer". Twenty-one wins in a row, he hasn't lost a fight in over five years, he's earned his chance.

12-12-1925 #2 Gene Tunney (32-5-0(23)) v #4 Fred Fulton (34-8-1(27)) Chicago, IL
According to the rankings it should have been #3 George Godfrey, but he's had a shot so he'll wait and give Fulton his chance. It's a one-sided fight, Tunney racking up round after round to build a commanding lead, going into the late rounds Fulton is so far behind he'd need a knockout to win. In the 12th the doctor checks swelling around Fulton's eye but allows the fight to continue, but in the 13th Tunney finishes the fight, a knockout at 1:17.

The winner, and still the Heavyweight World Champion, Gene Tunney.

[Critch]

1926
It's the beginning of the end, 31 year old Jack Dempsey has aged from "Prime" to "Post-Prime". He's still one of the best around, but in real life he retired in 1927 so his days are numbered. He'll get a championship chance soon, a chance to retire on the top.

Outs and Ins
Fireman Jim Flynn (46 years old, 16-11-1), Denver Jack Geyer (42 years old, 15-12-1), Australian Albert Lloyd (33 years old, 20-21-3), Fighting Bob Martin (28 years old, 25-7-0, seems like he retired in real life for neurological issues that made him dizzy when he fought, became a West Virginia State Trooper), Bombadier Billy Wells (36 years old, 17-10-1). All gone but not forgotten.

(n.b "Australian" is Albert Lloyd's nationality, not his nickname. His nickname was "Kid Lloyd".)

Pick of the new arrivals are:
Otto von Porat - Norwegian 1924 Olympic Heavyweight gold medalist, his father ran a Berlitz language school so he spoke English (with an English accent), Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, French and German fluently and eventually settled and fought out of Chicago. He'll eventually be a overall 6 rating.
James J Braddock - hometown North Bergen, NJ, he'll eventually be called "The Cinderella Man" because he retired with hand injuries then made a comeback and fought for the World Championship. Not sure what that's got to do with Cinderella. Maybe he had ugly sisters. An overall 7, he'd be better as a Light Heavyweight but that's not an option here.
Tommy Farr - The pick of the bunch, Welsh heavyweight "The Tonypandy Terror". Actually he's only 13 in 1926 and still fighting in Welsh boxing clubs, I guess I'll put back his start date til 1930-ish. See you later Tommy. After retiring he ran a pub near where I lived in Brighton England. He was dead before I lived near the pub so he was never behind the bar when I went there, unless he was in an urn. He'll eventually, way down the line, be a 9 overall rating.

George Godfrey is going to be bypassed again, he's got a 30-2-1 record with 25 knockouts and going by the rankings it should be him or Dempsey as challenger, but I'm skipping those two and going to #6 Sam Langford. Langford is 42 years old, his days are numbered and he deserves a turn.

06-26-1926 #1 Gene Tunney (33-5-0(23)) v #6 Sam Langford (24-3-1(23)) Boston, MA
Sam Langford may be Canadian (Weymouth, Nova Scotia) but he fights out of Boston so he's set as hometown favorite. Still not sure how much of a bonus that is. He was in line for a championship for a few years but lost twice in 1924 both to George Godfrey to drop down the rankings. But it's my universe and I make the decisions so now is his chance. In the first Langford comes out flying and knocks down Tunney with a cross, second round it's Langford's turn to be knocked down. After that it settles down into a pattern of no knockdowns, no big punches, but Langford racking up rounds. After 10 rounds it goes to the judges (I forgot to set it to 15 rounds for a championship fight, oops).

The winner by unanimous decision, and the new Heavyweight World Champion, Sam Langford.

Langford won by a mile, all three judges making it 9-1 on rounds. Maybe "hometown favorite" is a bit of a strong bonus, although going by the fight commentary he did seem to win the rounds. Maybe it's more of an all-round boost than a judges adjustment.

12-18-1926 #1 Sam Langford (25-3-1(23)) v #2 Jack Dempsey (31-4-0(30)) New York, NY
It's a match-off of two old men, both at the post-prime stage, trying for a chance to go out on top and retire as champ. Sam Langford is 43 and this will be his last fight, in real life he retired in 1926 and he's a bit too old to try to squeeze out another year. Jack Dempsey is only 31 but retires at the end of 1927 so a win here and two successful defenses next year and he'll retire champ. Dempsey is a strong favorite, Langford popped to "post-prime" after his last fight and the aging process has been quite unkind to him, he's suddenly way past his best (7 overall down from 10). Dempsey comes out flying, easily wins the first round, but Langford settles and scrapes wins in the 2nd and 3rd. The fourth round is the end, 2.20 and Dempsey knocks Langford down with a cross, he stumbles trying to get back up and he cant beat the count.

The victor and new heavyweight champion by knockout at 02:36 of the 4th round...Jack Dempsey.

That's the fourth time Dempsey has claimed the championship, tying Evander Holyfield's real world record. I was planning on 1927's challengers being new guys Young Stribling (25-1-1) followed by Max Schmelling (15-0-0) but they both lost at the end of 1926, Schmelling knocked out by George Godfrey and Stribling DQed against Jack Sharkey. So there goes that plan.

[Critch]

1927
Either my dynasty has suddenly got really popular, or we've had an influx of web crawler bots. The number of views has almost doubled in the last few days.

Outs and Ins
With Sam Langford's loss he retires and leaves the universe. He's 43 so time to go. In real life he lost his eyesight and died in a nursing home in 1956. He was voted Nova Scotia's 5th greatest ever sportsmen behind two hockey players, a curler and a swimmer. High praise indeed.

Also out are 36 year old Andre Anderson (28-20-0), 33 year old Fat Boy Willie Meehan (21-9-2) and 32 year old Captain Bob Roper (27-5-3, lost a title fight to Jack Dempsey in 1923). In real life Andre Anderson "retired" in 1926 because he was shot dead by the mob for refusing to throw a fight,hopefully he has a better retirement in this universe. Also gone is French boxer Paul Journee (5-27-0), the real boxers in the database are generally quite good but Paul Journee wasn't and now he's gone. Au revoir, Monsieur Journee.

Coming in are a bunch of journeymen with overall ratings between 1 and 5, they probably wont get mentioned til they retire, and Ernie Schaaf. Schaaf is a future 7 overall rating who's destined to die in the ring in 1933. I'm not sure if I should just let fighters like that carry on or retire them when they die in real life.

The universe is up to 55 real life heavyweights.

06-25-1927 #1 Jack Dempsey (33-4-0(31)) v #2 George Godfrey (32-2-1(27)) Detroit, MI
Godfrey has been bypassed a few times over the years, regularly ranked as the best challenger but he got his chance at a title fight in 1922 and lost to Dempsey in the first round so he's been passed over. He hasnt lost a fight since that 1922 title fight (19-0-1 since then, a draw with Young Stribling in 1923 and 17 knockouts in his 19 wins). Five years without a loss and some good wins (Max Schmelling, Paulino Uzcudun, Fireman Jim Flynn, two against Sam Langford), he deserves his shot. Last time he faced Dempsey in a Championship fight he was knocked out in the first round. He does better this time, gets through the first round, even wins the first round. But then he gets knocked out in the second round.

02:20 - Thats it! The fight is over and Godfrey has still not moved as the medicial staff rushes in to check on him. Dempsey takes the victory here in 2 with a thunderous knockout.

The winner and still WBA heavyweight champion by knockout at 02:21 of round 2...Jack Dempsey!

With Jack Dempsey retiring this year he's one successful defense away from retiring as champ.

12-17-1927 #1 Jack Dempsey (34-4-0(32)) v #6 Young Stribling (27-2-1(18)) New York, NY
A bit of a reach for a challenger but everybody ranked higher had had their chance recently. And 27-2-1, not a bad record at all, and both his loses are disqualifications so never really been properly beaten. It's a back and forward affair, Dempsey gets ahead on rounds, Dempsey knocks down Stribling in the 6th, Stribling survives the knockdown and wins a few rounds to get back into it, Dempsey gets an official caution for using his shoulder (his regular caution), going into the late rounds it's still anybody's to win. Stribling wins the 14th, Dempsey knocks Stribling down in the 15th but he's saved by the bell and its going to the judges.

The winner and still WBA heavyweight champion by unanimous decision is Jack Dempsey!

It's close though, one judge goes Dempsey 144-139, one 144-140 and one 142-141. It's the pair of knockdowns that swung it to Dempsey, a pair of 10-8 rounds.

[Critch]

1928
Back from the dead. The thread, not me.

Outs and Ins
The big out is reigning champion Jack Dempsey, he's 32 but he retired in 1927 in real life so out he goes to live a life of Hollywood, philanthropy, lots of wives and dead in 1983. Pretty much the closest to happy ever after there's been so far.

Also out is Bill Tate, he finishes with a 22-24-6 record which explains why I've never mentioned him before.

In are a bunch of 5 or 6 overall ratings maybe challengers. Picks of the bunch are Tony Shucco (a proper challenger as a light heavyweight, unfortunately not a group we have) and Primo Carnera (a real life world champion in the mid-30s and a future film star).

June 1928
The normal schedule is a championship fight in June and December, but with Dempsey retiring the title is vacant. So instead of a title fight it's time for a couple of eliminators to get back on schedule with a championship fight in December.

06-07-1928 #2 Harry Wells (32-3-0(29)) v #5 Gene Tunney (38-7-0(27)) Tulsa, OK
I set the venue as random for the eliminators. They're definitely random. Harry Wills is 40 years old and the only fighter in the eliminators at "post-prime" stage and it shows. Tunney beats him around, puts him down 3 times and cuts him up badly and eventually knocks him out in the 9th round.

06-12-1928 #1 George Godfrey (34-3-1(28)) v #7 Young Stribling (27-3-1(18)) Las Vegas, NV
Las Vegas in 1928 had a population of less than 5000, so a controversial choice for the eliminator. I have venues set to "historic" but its not helped. The fight is pretty close for as long as it lasts, the opening rounds traded, but in the 4th round Godfrey knocks out Stribling right at the bell. He's clean out, not trying to get back up, but "saved by the bell" only applies for the last round so it's fight over anyway.

I skipped a few ranked boxers who were still "pre-prime" (Max Schmelling, Jack Sharkey), their day is still to come. So it's #1 George Godfrey v #3 Gene Tunney for the vacant title. Tunney has gone up a couple of spots from #5 to #3 after beating Wells.

12-15-1928 #1 George Godfrey (35-3-1(29)) v #3 Gene Tunney (39-7-0(29)) New York, NY
It's back and forward, no knockdowns, and it goes the full 15 rounds and onto the judges. Tunney was well in the lead but Godfrey came back late to make it close.

One judge gave it to Tunney easily (147-141), the other two gave it just to Tunney (143-142 and 144-141), but they all agreed it was Tunney who was the winner.

Your winner and new WBA heavyweight champion by unanimous decision Gene Tunney!!!

And with the championship belt back in his hands Tunney followed Jack Dempsey's lead and retired. Another round of eliminators for 1929 and two of the early greats gone. Now we're just killing time til Joe Louis turns up in 1934.

[Critch]

1929

Outs and Ins
Only one retiree this year, but it's a big one. Gene Tunney (40-7-0(28)), 31 years old and reigning champion retires to a real-life mirroring life of marrying a socialite and producing successful children.

New arrivals are future challenger Max Baer (despite the name he's not German), and a couple with good nicknames: Dynamite Jackson and Bearcat Obie Walker. They really knew how to give nicknames in the older days. Last year's new arrival Primo Carnera was called "The Ambling Alp" because he was 6'6'' and from Northern Italy.

With arrivals outstripping departures, the universe is growing. We're up to 67 "real life" heavyweights.

June 1929 - again the title is vacant so it's another pair of elimination bouts to decide who fights for the championship in December 1929. Lets see where "Historical Random" decides where these should be.

04-14-1929 #1 George Godfrey (35-4-1(29)) v #5 Pierre Charles (25-6-1(16)) Reno, NV
I forgot to move the month forward so it's April 1929, not June. And Reno, NV. With Gene Tunney's retirement George Godfrey is back up to #1 so he's up against Belgian Pierre Charles. Godfrey is on top from the start, wins the first four rounds on the judges cards then knocks Charles down with a body shot in the 5th, he doesn't beat the count. So George Godfrey will be back in December's title fight. He's 0-3 in title fights so far but those were against Tunney and Dempsey so maybe now is his time.

04-14-1929 #2 Harry Wills (34-4-0(31)) v #4 Max Schmeling (21-2-0(20)) Brooklyn, NY
If I'd thought about it in advance I'd have made it Schmeling v Charles for an inaugural European Champion in the eliminators. But I didn't. 24 year old German Max Schmeling (real life world champion from 1930 to 1932) is still in his "pre-prime" phase so not quite at his best, 39 year old Wills is in "post-prime" and past his best, a youngster on the rise against an old contender on the way out. It's still a close fight though, a fight of two halves, Schmeling well on top in the first 5 rounds, Wills on top in the last five. There's one knockdown though, Schmeling putting Wells down in the 3rd round, and that's enough to swing the judges. Schmeling wins with a unanimous decision.

So it's George Godfrey taking his 0-3 title fight record into his fourth attempt against rising star Max Schmeling. Schmeling popped from "pre-prime" to "prime" after the Wills fight so both are at their peak

12-14-1929 #1 George Godfrey (36-4-1(30)) v #4 Max Schmeling (22-2-0(20)) Philadelphia, PA
It looks like it wont last long when Schmeling puts Godfrey down in the first and Godfrey is lucky to survive the round, but it settles down from then on. Schmeling racks up early rounds, after the 9th round the judges all have him winning 7 or 8 of them so he's staying outside and fighting defensively while Godfrey goes all out for a ko. Going all out wins Godfrey a few late rounds but it's all too little too late.

Your winner and new WBA heavyweight champion by unanimous decision Max Schmeling!!!

It's not very close, the judges have Schmeling ahead 146-140, 143-141 and 145-139. Schmeling is the first non-American world champion since this universe started and since he's only 24, he's not going to retire so 1930 will see the first defending champion in a few years.

[Young Drachma]

Rad that you were still able to download the game after all this time. on the OOTP reddit a lot, these kids will post about these desktop games we've played forever asking if there's DLC or if they require a persistent internet connection and when I say "no, you can play it on the plane without internet," they're always so shocked you can make games that way. Still rad that you're getting gameplay for it after all this time.

[Chas in Cinti]

Agreed, and it's a fun read too!

[Critch]

Yeah, I was surprised when the download was available and was even more surprised when the licensing actually worked. And then surprised again when the game actually started. So lots of surprises.

And then a further surprise, it's not failed with a crash to desktop so far.

Cheers for the positive review.

Next up, if I can work out how to post a spreadsheet on here, I'll post my list of all the 1920s championship fights and then move onto the 1930s.

[Critch]

Well it's not very pretty but it'll do:


<table border="1"><thead><tr><th>date</th><th>venue</th><th>reigning champion</th><th>red corner</th><th>blue corner</th><th>result</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1919-12-17</td><td>New York, NY</td><td>vacant</td><td>Jack Dempsey</td><td>Bill Brennan</td><td>Dempsey win, TKO 9th</td></tr><tr><td>1920-06-20</td><td>Detroit, MI</td><td>Jack Dempsey</td><td>Jack Dempsey</td><td>Gene Tunney</td><td>Tunney win, DQ 11th</td></tr><tr><td>1920-12-12</td><td>New York, NY</td><td>Gene Tunney</td><td>Gene Tunney</td><td>Jack Dempsey</td><td>Dempsey win, KO 10th</td></tr><tr><td>1921-06-25</td><td>New York, NY</td><td>Jack Dempsey</td><td>Jack Dempsey</td><td>Joe Beckett (GBR)</td><td>Dempsey win, KO 8th</td></tr><tr><td>1921-12-17</td><td>New York, NY</td><td>Jack Dempsey</td><td>Jack Dempsey</td><td>Charley Weinert (AUT)</td><td>Dempsey win, KO 1st</td></tr><tr><td>1922-06-10</td><td>Chicago, IL</td><td>Jack Dempsey</td><td>Jack Dempsey</td><td>George Godfrey</td><td>Dempsey win, TKO 1st</td></tr><tr><td>1922-12-09</td><td>New York, NY</td><td>Jack Dempsey</td><td>Jack Dempsey</td><td>Joe Jeannette</td><td>Jeannette win, TKO 15th</td></tr><tr><td>1923-06-16</td><td>New York, NY</td><td>Joe Jeannette</td><td>Joe Jeannette</td><td>Jack Dempsey</td><td>Dempsey win, TKO 12th</td></tr><tr><td>1923-12-22</td><td>Chicago, IL</td><td>Jack Dempsey</td><td>Jack Dempsey</td><td>Bob Roper</td><td>Dempsey win, TKO 10th</td></tr><tr><td>1924-06-14</td><td>Philadelphia, PA</td><td>Jack Dempsey</td><td>Jack Dempsey</td><td>Harry Wills</td><td>Wills win, TKO 6th</td></tr><tr><td>1924-11-13</td><td>New Orleans, LA</td><td>Harry Wills</td><td>Harry Wills</td><td>Gene Tunney</td><td>Tunney win, UD </td></tr><tr><td>1925-06-20</td><td>New York, NY</td><td>Gene Tunney</td><td>Gene Tunney</td><td>Luis Firpo (ARG)</td><td>Tunney win, TKO 3rd</td></tr><tr><td>1925-12-12</td><td>Chicago, IL</td><td>Gene Tunney</td><td>Gene Tunney</td><td>Fred Fulton</td><td>Tunney win, KO 13th</td></tr><tr><td>1926-06-26</td><td>Boston, MA</td><td>Gene Tunney</td><td>Gene Tunney</td><td>Sam Langford</td><td>Langford win, UD</td></tr><tr><td>1926-12-18</td><td>New York, NY</td><td>Sam Langford</td><td>Sam Langford</td><td>Jack Dempsey</td><td>Dempsey win, KO 4th</td></tr><tr><td>1927-06-25</td><td>Detroit, MI</td><td>Jack Dempsey</td><td>Jack Dempsey</td><td>George Godfrey</td><td>Dempsey win, KO 2nd</td></tr><tr><td>1927-12-17</td><td>New York, NY</td><td>Jack Dempsey</td><td>Jack Dempsey</td><td>Young Stribling</td><td>Dempsey win, UD</td></tr><tr><td>1928-12-15</td><td>New York, NY</td><td>vacant</td><td>Gene Tunney</td><td>George Godfrey</td><td>Tunney win, UD </td></tr><tr><td>1929-12-14</td><td>Philadelphia, PA</td><td>vacant</td><td>George Godfrey</td><td>Max Schmeling (GER)</td><td>Schmeling win, UD</td></tr></tbody></table>

[Critch]

1930

Outs and Ins
A couple of the big names from early days of the universe retired as it ticks over into the 1930s. Charley Weinert(43-14-2) fought for the title in 1921 but was knocked out in the first by Jack Dempsey, and 39 year old Bartley Madden (32-23-5) was also mentioned as a contender early on but without a title challenge. He's hung around too long and gone 1-9 in his last 10 fights to make his record look more ordinary, taken away from the fact he once coulda been a contender. In real life he died in March 1930 falling off a balcony at the DC Treasury Building.

Also gone is Martin Burke who I never noticed but he's got a good record (33-10-5) and is still a 5 overall rating as "post-prime". So he must've been good at some point, a win over Luis Firpo in 1921 seems to be the peak.

Pick of the new arrivals is Jersey Joe Walcott, he'll be a 10 rating and probably fighting for championships at some point. Also coming into the Universe are Unknown Winston (strangest name, it's not that his firstname is not known, his name was Unknown Winston) and Young Uzcudan (strangest career). I'm not sure how Young Uzcudan made it into the Title Bout database, a short unremarkable career in real life, he'll retire after one year.

06-14-1930 #1 Max Schmeling (23-2-0(20)) v #4 Jack Sharkey (24-4-0(13)) Cleveland, OH
The rule was a foreign champion could make his defenses in his home country, but in real life Schmeling made all his defenses in the US so he'll do that here too. Unless he makes a lot of defenses, then I might throw in a Berlin for a bit of a change. After a rotation of Tunney, Dempsey, Wills and Godfrey it's time for some new blood, 25 year old Schmeling against 27 year old Sharkey. It's a level fight in the early rounds but Schmeling slowly takes over (looking at the ratings Schmeling has a higher endurance rating so that makes sense). In the late rounds Sharkey's face is swollen, he's shaky and Schmeling is winning every round, Schmeling knocks him down twice in the 15th, the second time Sharkey is saved by the bell and it's going to the judges.

Your winner and still WBA heavyweight champion by unanimous decision Max Schmeling!!! (Lazily I'm just copying that line from the fight log after every championship fight)

It's not particularly close, 143-139, 145-135, 146-134. One judge made it a lot closer than the other two. So it's a defending champion for the first time since 1927.

The next defense was supposed to be December 1930 but it looks like I forgot to tick the month forward so it's actually November 1930. That's novel.

11-23-1930 #1 Max Schmeling (24-2-0(20)) v #3 Young Stribling (37-4-1(26)) New York, NY
It's one-sided right from the start, Schmeling winning round after round. The longer it goes the more Schmeling dominates, Stribling's eye has swollen up by the middle rounds and continues to swell for the rest of the fight. In the 11th Schmeling connects with a combination and Stribling is down but beats the count and makes it to the bell. The 12th and 13th are low action and close, but in the 14th Schmeling goes on the attack. Stribling is on the canvas early but bounces back up at a 4 count. 30 seconds later Stribling is back down, he beats the count again and is back up but just protecting his head. Schmeling moves to the body, Stribling crumbles again and it's all over. He's down for the third time in a round and that's a TKO.

At the end of Round 14, the winner and still WBA heavyweight champion by technical knockout is...

Max Schmeling!

I thought I'd turned the three knockdown = TKO rule off, but I guess not. Not that it made much difference here, Schmeling was winning no matter what happened.

[Critch]

1931
The pace may have slowed, but not done yet. Grinding on until Louis, Marciano, and hopefully beyond.

The three knockdown equals a TKO rule has been turned off so the last title fight should be the last time that happens.

Outs and Ins
Not many out this year, Sully Montgomery (30 years old, 24-22-2) and Panama City's Emilio Solomon (29 years old, 25-13-2). They came, they had a few fights, they went away again. Neither was close to being a contender at any point in their career. Also due to "retire" is Frankie Campbell. In real life he died in the ring in 1930 killed by Max Baer, some reports said Baer didn't stop punching him even after he was unconscious. His brain knocked loose from all the connective tissue in his head. You dont have to be House MD to know that's not good. But in this universe he didn't fight Max Baer in 1930 so he'll get a few more years and then he'll go to live on a lovely farm in the countryside.

Pick of the newcomers are future 9-overall rated Tommy Farr and Roscoe Toles, both 18 years old. Tommy Farr was the one I put back his start date a few years ago as the database had him starting as a 13 year old, but now it's time for a "Welcome Tommy!". Better late than never. Less talented but also worth mentioning are Prince Salah el Din (the first Egyptian boxer in the universe, not really a Prince) and Ray Impelletiere (6'8'' Ray The Skyscraper). Neither will be contenders but that's background story!

(Apparently in the early 1930s there were a lot of "super tall" heavyweights like Primo Carnera and Ray Impelletiere, so many there were calls to ban them from the heavyweights and move them to their own "Dreadnaught" class for the infeasibly tall. When it turned out most of them were just tall guys who couldn't really box the calls died down again. Spoiler but Ray Impelletiere should have tried basketball or something else instead, boxing wasnt for him.)

06-20-1931 #1 Max Schmeling (25-2-0(21)) v #3 Harry Wills (40-5-0(37)) New York, NY
He's 41 years old, his last title fight was 1924 (he lost to Gene Tunney), he's at the "Post-Prime" stage of his career, and he lost to Max Schmeling in 1929 but 7 wins in a row all by knockout and Harry Wills is back as the challenger. To start with it goes as expected, Wills on the backfoot and Schmeling racking up rounds. Going into the 8th round Schmeling has won six of the first seven and is cruising, but it's the heavyweights where one punch can change it all, and that's what happens. Right at the end of the eighth round Schmeling walks into a punch and is out for the count. There's no saved by the bell so it's all over.

At the end of Round 8, the winner and new WBA heavyweight champion by knockout is...Harry Wills!

My first thought was that Max Schmeling deserved a rematch but I decided "nah, f him, he's dull". It would probably be a walk-over too, Harry Wills has popped from "Post-Prime" to "End of Career", he's at the bottom of the downward spiral and hanging on for some final pay days but as the champ.

12-12-1931 #1 Harry Wills (41-5-0(38)) v #2 George Godfrey (42-5-1(34)) New Orleans, LA
This is George Godfrey's 5th title fight, he's lost the previous 4 (once to Schmeling, once to Tunney, twice to Dempsey) but those are his only 4 losses in the past 10 years. So he's a strong challenger. And since he's at his prime while Wills is just about finished, if he doesn't win this time he never will, this will be his last chance probably. Godfrey comes out fast overpowering Harry Wills and taking the first round. Same again in the second and it's all over. Wills is out on his feet, he cant defend himself and the referee stops the fight.

The winner and finally the heavyweight champion by technical knockout at the 02:53 mark in Round 2 is...George Godfrey!

[Critch]

1932

Outs and Ins
A quiet year for arrivals and departures. The new arrivals will be mentioned now and probably never mentioned again: Abe Feldman, Ben Foord, Karel Sys and Henry Taylor. Abe Feldman will be a 6 overall rating and he's the pick of the bunch.

Outgoing were similarly unmentioned although two of them were high in the rankings, #9 Bill "The Kansas Tornado" Hartwell (32-7-0) and #10 Hoot "The Kansas Jawbreaker" Burger (26-6-0). A bad year for Kansas. The database says their careers end in 1931 so out they went despite the high rankings. Not as impressive was Bud Gorman (17-49-2 and riding a 17 fight losing streak), he's out too. Also out is Young Uzcudan (20 years old and 3-8-1), he was rubbish and short lived so not sure why he was in the database, and now he's gone.

06-25-1932 #1 George Godfrey (43-5-1(35)) v #2 Max Schmeling (27-3-0(23)) New York, NY
Max Schmeling got over his title loss with a couple of wins, one against the no longer dead Frankie Campbell, he's back to number one contender so now is his chance to get the title back. Schmeling starts out on top winning rounds, by the middle of the fight he's fighting defensive and outside while Godfrey is going all out for a knockout, he's far enough behind it's his only chance. Schmeling knocked Godfrey down in the 9th but he cant finish it off. Godfrey starts winning rounds clawing back Schmeling's point lead, then cuts Schmeling in the 14th. In the 15th the cut is open, the referee has the doctor check it but he allows the fight to continue and it's on to the judges decision.

The winner and new WBA heavyweight champion by unanimous decision is Max Schmeling!!

Two of the judges think Schmeling is a clear winner (145-139, 147-138) while the other has it as close as close can be (143-142) but still a unanimous decision.

12-12-1932 #1 Max Schmeling (28-3-0(23)) v #4 Larry Gains (33-9-0(16)) Chicago, IL
For the first time we have a title fight without an American. This one is Germany v Canada. Five years ago Larry "The Toronto Terror" Gains had a fairly unimpressive 13-9-0 record, 20 wins in a row and he's up to 33-9-0 and a title contender. Judging by wiki by 1932 Larry Gains had relocated from Canada to England, so that's where his defense will be if he wins. Early on it doesn't look likely, the first round is three minutes of Schmeling attacking, by the second Gains eye is swelling closed, in the third the swelling is worse and Gains is taking so much punishment that his corner throw in the towel to protect him. Out of his depth really.

The winner and still WBA heavyweight champion by technical knockout at the 02:58 mark in Round 3 is...Max Schmeling!

There's an influx of new talent moving up the rankings now, 22 year old Lee Ramage (16-0-0), 21 year old Leroy Haynes (15-0-1), 23 year old Max Baer (18-1-1), 21 year old Obie Walker (17-3-0) and 25 year old Steve Hamas (15-1-0). Hamas is a bit behind the rest as he was football player first, Penn State then Orange Tornadoes in the NFL. There an NFL team I'd never heard of.

Add in Paolino Uzcudun (38-6-0), Jack Sharkey (33-6-0), Con O'Kelly (33-4-3) and Tut Jackson (37-10-1) and there's been a complete turnover of all the contenders in the last couple of years.

[Chas in Cinti]

Still following!

[Critch]

Still following!

Good to hear. Posts like this is why we need a "Like" button on here.



1933

Ins and Outs
The biggest name from the "Outs" is two-time champion Harry Wills. He won the championship in 1924 beating Jack Dempsey, then again in 1931 beating Max Schmeling but never actually had a successful defense, he lost to Gene Tunney in 1924, George Godfrey in 1931. He's 44 and according to Wiki he ran a successful real estate business in Harlem after retirement. Wiki also said he would fast for one month every year, a whole month with nothing but water. Is that even possible?

Pick of the other retirees are 35 year old Chuck Wiggins (28-28-4, retired to a life of alcohol and petty crime in Indianapolis before allegedly being thrown down the stairs and killed by the police in 1940), Fighting Bob Lawson (29 years old, 29-14-0), Canadian Jack Renault (37 years old, 28-29-4) and another Canadian Jack, Jack Gagnon (29 years old, 29-7-0). Jack Gagnon was low down the rankings (36th) despite the good record, two defeats to Harry Wills and one each to Cowboy Owens, Primo Carnera and Bearcat Wright ended his chances. Looks like a good record but lost every time he fought another contender so a bad ranking.

There's nobody great making their debut this year. Phil Brubaker is the best (a future overall 6 rating), Manuel Abrew is one I've heard of (he was Scottish, he was from Edinburgh), and Johnny Paychek (had the best name), but nobody who'll be challenging for the title I bet.

The universe is now up to 75 real fighters. On the good side it means more depth, on the bad there are now too many for me to read up on everybody on wiki/boxrec.

At the end of 1932 I said there was an influx of talent, but for probably one last time the first challenger for 1933 comes from the old guard. According to the rankings George Godfrey should be next in line but he's fought Schmeling quite recently and lost so it's time for Young Stribling. He lost to Schmeling by TKO in a 1930 title fight, but since then he's gone 8-0 so he's earned another chance.

06-24-1933 #1 Max Schmeling (29-3-0(24)) v #3 Young Stribling (45-5-1(30)) Cleveland, OH
In real life Max Schmeling did defend his title against Young Stribling and that was in Cleveland so this one is Cleveland too. Cleveland Municipal Stadium, same venue too. Schmeling starts well on top, Stribling's right eye is swollen by the 2nd, but in the 4th Stribling catches Schmeling with a hook and he's down. It's too late in the round for Stribling to finish him off and that's the last chance of an upset. Schmeling puts Stribling down in the 5th and from then on Schmeling is on top and Stribling's eye is swelling closed. His corner can't do anything about it (they used to cut the swelling to let the blood out, that sounds nasty) and in the 9th the referee stops the fight as Stribling's right eye is too swollen to see out of.

Ladies and Gentlemen! The winner and still WBA heavyweight champion by technical knockout at the 01:10 mark in Round 10 is...

Max Schmeling!

The judges all had Schmeling 8-1 ahead in rounds when the fight was stopped, Stribling's one round being the 4th when he put Schmeling down.

12-16-1933 #1 Max Schmeling (30-3-0(25)) v #3 Paolino Uzcudun (40-6-0(23)) Chicago, IL
The first (and maybe the last) all European affair, German Max Schmeling against Spain's Paolino Uzcudun. Uzcudun is 5'10 and stocky with a mouth full of gold teeth, he's going to retire in a few years time to go back to Spain and fight for the fascists in the Spanish Civil War. He'll be old enough by then that he's not going to be saved by the "there's no war in this Universe" rule that'll save Schmeling in 1939. This fight goes much the same as the last Schmeling one, he's well on top, he opens up a cut above Uzcudun's right eye and from then on it's Schmeling winning rounds and Uzcudun's corner trying to close the cut between rounds. In the 13th round the referee has seen enough, the cut is wide open and he calls the doctor over. The cut is to bad to go on so the fight is stopped.

Ladies and Gentlemen! The winner and still WBA heavyweight champion by technical knockout at the 01:54 mark in Round 13 is...

Max Schmeling!

Max Schmeling is a lot more dominant in this universe than he was in real life. Jack Sharkey and Primo Carnera haven't turned up as challengers in this universe. In real life Carnera was supposedly Mob controlled so maybe he's not doing so well without that helping hand. In one fight his opponent was knocked out in the first round after punching himself in the face. That does sound suspicious.

[Critch]

1934

First off a little bit of housekeeping. For the first time ever, or at least the first time I've noticed, the game automatically retired somebody before his real life career end date. I've got it set up to automatically age fighters through the career stages (Beginning to Pre-Prime to Prime to Post-Prime to End to Retired) with a little bit of randomness added in, and Bearcat Wright has made it to "retired" in 1934 when he should have dragged on to 1936. No matter, he'd only won 2 of his last 18 fights to he'll stay retired but I've tweaked the auto-aging to hopefully make fighters last at "prime" longer and not retire before I retire them.

Ins and Outs
The aforementioned Bearcat Wright (30-21-6, 37 years old) has gone, he was at 28-11 in 1929 but reaching the "End" stage and staying there for a few years really wrecks a record. There are no ex-champs out this year, but there are a couple with title fight histories. Young Stribling fought for the title three times (Jack Dempsey in 1927, Max Schmeling in 1930 and Schmeling again in 1933) but lost all three and he's gone as a 29 year old with a 47-6-1 record. In real life he died in 1933 in a motorbike accident, crashed riding to the hospital to see his wife and new born. Also out is Fred Fulton, he lost to Gene Tunney in 1925 and retires as a 42 year old with a 57-17-2 record. He's another who fought into his "End" phase and knocked some shine off his record, 7 loses in his last 10 fights. Also gone are Tut Jackson (33 years old, 39-11-2), Tom Heeney (35years old, 41-17-2), Walter Cobb (26 years old, 26-5-1) and Cowboy Owens (32 years old, 29-24-3). Ernie Schaaf (23-8-1, 25 years old) died in 1933 in real life so he's retiring here too, he apparently died of meningitis so he's not getting the Frankie Campbell extra couple of years for dying in the ring in a fight that didn't happen in this universe. A few others retired too, but nobody worthy of a mention here.

It's a small group of new rookies but a few good ones. There's European Amateur champion Gunnar Barlund (he's a future 3 rating but apparently has a statue in Helsinki as Finland's greatest heavyweight), there's Buddy Baer (younger brother of Max Baer and future B-movie "star", 5 overall rating), there's Nathan Mann (future 6 rating and winner of strangest nickname "Christmas Menchetti"). And there are a couple of real contenders too, "The Pittsburgh Kid" Billy Conn (a future world Light Heavyweight champion who stepped up to Heavyweight in real life to fight the next guy, future 9 overall) and all-time great Joe Louis (a future 14 overall rating, in real life he was world champion by 1936, I think it'll take him longer here with this universe's rules).

So 12 out, 5 in this year.

06-16-1934 #1 Max Schmeling (31-3-0(26)) v #2 Lee Ramage (20-0-0(4)) Cleveland, OH
Lee Ramage is 25, from San Diego and is a jab and move boxer, not a big puncher, as can be seen by his 20 wins only 4 by knockout. Starting his pro-career with 20 mins has got him an early chance, plus he's ranked #2 and all the other high ranked boxers have already lost to Schmeling so in he comes. Ramage starts well, stays outside and jabs his way to a clear round 1 win, round 2 is close, then Ramage wins round 3. That's as good as it gets for Ramage. In the 4th Schmeling knocks him down with a cross and in the 5th Schmeling pounds away, Ramage is out on his feet and the referee jumps in and stops it.

Ladies and Gentlemen! The winner and still WBA heavyweight champion by technical knockout at the 02:45 mark in Round 5 is...

Max Schmeling!

We're running out of challengers.

12-15-1934 #1 Max Schmeling (32-3-0(27)) v #6 Jim Maloney (32-14-0(23)) Boston, MA
On the "running out of challengers" theme, next up is Boston's Jim Maloney. Maloney is 31 years old, he's been around since 1924 and has lost to some big names, Max Schmeling, Paolino Uzcudun, Bearcat Wright and Con O'Kelly have all knocked him out in the past, but a run of 12 wins in a row including a split decision over Paolino Uzcudun in his most recent fight have got him up the rankings. Maloney will be "home town hero" with the fight being in Boston, we'll see if that makes a difference. It looks like it wont make a difference and the fight wont last long, Schmeling wins the first two rounds then knocks Maloney down in the 3rd. The 4th and 5th are more balanced, both balanced on the scoring, but the 6th is the end of it. Schmeling opens a cut near Maloney's right eye, the doc is called but says he's ok to continue but less than a minute after that it's all over. "Maloney walks into a combination and folds like an accordion." He doesn't get back up.

Ladies and Gentlemen! The winner and still WBA heavyweight champion by knockout at 02:56 of round 6...

Max Schmeling!

On the running out of challengers theme, it's time to check in on Joe Louis. For the first two years he'll be fighting game generated low skill opponents to pad his record and get him from "Beginning" to "Pre_prime" phase. After year one he's 6-0-0 with 6 knockouts, five of the six fights didn't make it past the 4th round. So looking good.

Billy Conn is also 6-0-0 after one year, but 5 by decision. He's another one of those jab and move boxers.

[Critch]

1935

Outs and Ins
Four retirees, all in their prime but it's time to go. Argentinian Vittorio Campolo (31yo, 27-16-1), German Hein Mueller (31yo, 22-11-2), Norwegian Otto von Porat (31yo, 32-8-0) and American Frank Van Hee (23yo, 14-8-0) all wander off into the sunset. It looks like Frank Van Hee retired young to work at his father's sawmill in real life. Normally you see somebody retire that young and you think "died in the ring", but not this time.

Probably the most famous of the rookies arriving is Archie Moore, he's an all-time great, BoxRec says he's the third greatest boxer of all time but that's as a Light Heavyweight. He's not going to be an all-time great in this universe since he'll have to step up a weight-class, but he'll be around the challengers. And so will another couple of rookies, Bob Pastor and Abe Simon, a future 8 and 9 overall rating respectively. There's also Gogea Mitu due to arrive, but he seems to be in the database as a novelty, he's in the Guinness Book of Records as the tallest professional boxer. He was 7'4''. In real life he fought twice in Eastern Europe then died of TB in 1935 so he wont be being imported into this universe.

06-15-1935 #1 Max Schmeling (33-3-0(28)) v #15 Jack Sharkey (40-7-0(23)) New York, NY
It's a reach down the rankings for the next contender, I'm not sure why he's so far down when he has a good recent record (17 wins in his last 18 fights) and is still listed as in his Prime phase but the game's rankings have him at 15th. But it's my universe so I can ignore the in-game rankings if I like. Sharkey fought for the title in 1930, going 15 rounds and losing a decision to Max Schmeling, but he wasn't knocked out so he's back for another chance. He's 33 so his time is running out. It's like Rocky, an aging challenger dragged up from down the rankings. It starts pretty balanced, all level til the 4th when Schmeling knocks Sharkey down. In the 5th and 6th Sharkey gets back into the fight, edging close rounds followed by Schmeling edging the 7th and 8th. A title fight hasn't made it to a judges decision since 1932, and this one won't either. Schmeling puts Sharkey down again in the 9th, and then again in the 10th and the referee stops the fight to protect Sharkey.

Ladies and Gentlemen! The winner and still WBA heavyweight champion by technical knockout at the 01:27 mark in Round 10 is...

Max Schmeling!

On the Joe Louis/Billy Conn watch, they're both now 9-0-0.

12-14-1935 #1 Max Schmeling (34-3-0(29)) v #3 Pierre Charles (49-9-1(36)) Brussels, Belgium
It's the second all-Euro championship fight and this time it's off to Europe for the first time. Pierre Charles is 33 and has been hovering around the top of the rankings for years without ever getting a chance. It's came too late for him, he's past his best (or Post-Prime as the game calls it), but he's on a good run, only 2 defeats in his last 20 fights, so here he is and to give him a chance he's getting the "Home town hero" setting by fighting in Belgium. He's Belgian. It doesn't help though, Schmeling beats him around and his face is swelling by the end of round one. Round two is more of the same, and Round three is the end. Schmeling knocks Charles down with an uppercut, he beats the count hoping to make it to the end of the round but next punch he's down again and out. "Saved by the bell" rules only apply to the final round in this universe, so he's out at the end of round three.

At the end of Round 3, the winner and still WBA heavyweight champion by knockout is...

Max Schmeling!

Only one year to go until Joe Louis hopefully ends this Max Schmeling monotony.

[Critch]

Back from the dead.

1936

Since the dynasty has been away for a while, here's a brief recap.

Max Schmeling is the champion, he originally won it in December 1929, held it until June 1931, then reclaimed it in June 1932. He's had seven successful defenses since then, he's beat all of the main contenders and everybody is thoroughly bored of him being champ.

For the first time in a few years though there are actually some real young challengers that can maybe beat him. 22-year old Jersey Joe Walcott, 23-year old Welshman Tommy Farr, 19-year old Billy Conn, 22-year old Roscoe Toles and (best of them all), 22-year old Joe Louis. It might be 1937 before any of them get a title fight though.


Outs and Ins
It's a quiet year for retirements. Spanish contender Paolino Uzcudun (46-9-0) fought for the title in 1933, lost to Schmeling in 13 rounds and now he's off to fight for the Fascists in the Spanish Civil War. With WWII on the horizon I'm planning on keeping around people who retired early as the war didn't happen in this universe (the Max Schmeling rule), but Uzcudun in 36 so he's ready to go anyway. On a different post-career path is 33 year old Jim Maloney (34-17-0), he's off to Miami University (the one in Ohio?) to teach boxing and study Law. Jim Maloney also had a title fight against Max Schmeling, he lost to a 6th round knockout in December 1934.

Also gone is Greece's George Neron (16-23-0). Nope, never noticed him.

In real life Steve Hamas retired in 1935 too, his career ended by Max Schmeling (concussion, 3 months in hospital, 3 years with his left side paralyzed), but he's also being saved by the "that didn't happen here" rule. He'll still be around and close to being a challenger.

The new arrivals are a strong bunch without a real standout contender: Tommy Tucker, Lou Nova, Elmer Ray, Lloyd Marshall and Al Bray. All with a chance of a title challenge if the RNG rolls their way, but there's not a surefire contender amongst them. Lloyd Marshall would be if we had a Light Heavyweight class, but we don't so he's stepping up and facing off with bigger lads where he'll be good but not great.

06-20-1936 #1 Max Schmeling (35-3-0(30)) v #3 Tony Shucco (32-3-1(16)) Boston, MA
Tony Shucco is another of the Light Heavyweights who have stepped up a weight class for this universe. He's from Boston so he'll get the "Hometown Favorite" designation to give him a chance. It's actually close, Shucco staying outside and jabbing to score points, the judges have it too close to call into the middle rounds. It's not going to go to a judges decision though, Schmeling puts Shucco down in the 3rd and again in the 7th. Into the 9th, Schmeling knocks Shucco down early in the round and this time finishes it off, knocking Shucco out late in the round.

Ladies and Gentlemen! The winner and still WBA heavyweight champion by knockout at 02:45 of round 9...

Max Schmeling!

In Joe Louis watch, he's 14-0-0 with 14 knockouts. He's primed for his first title challenge next year so long as he gets through the next 6 months undefeated. This year's December challenger was lined up to be Jersey Joe Walcott but he lost to Leroy Haynes in May. Cant have somebody getting a championship fight coming off a loss.

12-12-1936 #1 Max Schmeling (36-3-0(31)) v #2 Lee Ramage (28-1-0(8)) Chicago, IL
Jersey Joe Walcott's bad fortune is Lee Ramage's good. He's back for another title shot, that loss to Schmeling in 1934 is still his only ever loss so he deserves a second shot. Early on it looks like the upset is coming, after six rounds one judge has Ramage winner of all 6 while the other two have him winning 5. Going into the seventh Schmeling is well behind on the judges cards and his left eye is swollen. Schmeling isn't giving up though, he starts racking up the rounds, he knocks Ramage down in the 10th, and his corner is just about keeping the swelling under control too. In the 12th Ramage cuts Schmeling's eye with an "accidental" head butt, but the fight has turned and Schmeling is taking most of the rounds, the 15th finishes and it goes to the judges too close to call.

One judge gives it to Ramage 144-142, one to Schmeling 143-142.....

Ladies and Gentlmen, the scorecards are in, and here is your official decision...

The winner and still WBA heavyweight champion by split decision is Max Schmeling!

The third judge gave it to Schmeling 144-142. Does Ramage get a rematch in 1937? Or should it be Joe Louis, he's won two more fights and is now at 16-0-0 with 16 knockouts. Louis is still listed as "Pre-Prime" though, so this isn't even his final form yet.

Decisions decisions.

[Chas in Cinti]

Ramage should get one more shot in the spring... story-wise I like it. Then he would be knocked down to a gatekeeper for the younger guys...

[Critch]

Ramage should get one more shot in the spring... story-wise I like it. Then he would be knocked down to a gatekeeper for the younger guys...

Yeah, that's the way I'm going as well. He deserves another chance before the changing of the guard.

1937

Outs and Ins
A couple of big name retirees this year. Biggest name is Jack Sharkey (34 years old, 46-8-0), he fought Max Schmeling twice for the title, lost to a unanimous decision in 1930 and a knockout in 1935. So his zero World titles is 1 less than he got in real life. Also gone is Dynamite Jackson (28 years old, 26-9-1, apparently some question if he was older than he claimed), he's off to a career of owning bars and liquor stores, funding the Boy Scouts, and winning "California Black Citizen of the Year" awards. Sharkey went on to be a boxing referee, Jackson to be a referee and later a boxing judge.

Also out are Ray Impelletiere (mentioned in 1931 for being very tall but not good at boxing) with a 4-23-1 record, Prince Salah el Din (mentioned in 1931 as being the first Egyptian boxer in the universe (and not really a prince), 8-18-2). And also Corn Griffin (25 years old, 19-8-1) who left to join the police. Apparently he didn't carry a policeman's baton as he preferred to use his fists.

Best rookie is Harry Matthews, another light Heavyweight who would be a real contender in that class but not big enough to be a real Heavyweight contender. Nobody else worth mentioning.

And a late addition, also gone is yet another old contender Luis Firpo (42 years old, 57-19-3). He lost to Gene Tunney in a title challenge in 1925 and he was the only remaining boxer who had been in the database from the start. The game retired him with auto-aging so I didn't notice til later, he's off home to Argentina to become a cattle rancher and car dealer. Apparently there's a soccer team in El Salvador named after him, Club Deportivo Luis Angel Firpo. There can be no greater honor than having a soccer club named after you.

06-20-1937 #1 Max Schmeling (37-3-0(31)) v #2 Lee Ramage (28-2-0(8)) New York, NY
It was always going to be Lee Ramage. You can't lose a title fight to a judges' split decision and not get another chance. Last time out Ramage raced into an early points lead strongly ahead by the seventh round until Schmeling started grinding him down, this time is the same except without the early Ramage lead. After seven rounds everything is fairly level, but in the 8th Schmeling knocks Ramage down twice. Ramage just about survives the round but the judges generally award a round with a 10-9 score, this round was a 10-7. Not good for Ramage's chance of a points victory. He gets back into the fight though, it's all fairly level for a few rounds. Ramage is down again in the 13th, down again and only just makes it back up in the 15th, and ends the fight hanging onto the ropes hoping for the bell.

It's going to the judges again, but this time it's not close.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the judges have tallied their scorecards and here is your decision...

The winner and still WBA heavyweight champion by unanimous decision is Max Schmeling!

Two judges have it 145-136, one much closer at 142-139. It would have been close without all the knockdowns giving Schmeling 10-8 and 10-7 rounds.

So we're heading to the December 1937 title fight looking for another challenger for Schmeling. According to the rankings Tony Shucco is top, but he lost to Schmeling last year. Then it's Lee Ramage but he's not getting three in a row. Next it George Godfrey, but he's 41 and on his last legs (career stage = End) so he's out. So next up it's Joe Louis or Steve Hamas. April of each year is a Contender v Contender month and the auto-scheduler threw up a Louis v Hamas fight so that's the decider. Louis beat Hamas in Miami, the ref stopped the fight in the seventh round, so it's Joe Louis time.

12-11-1937 #1 Max Schmeling (38-3-0(31)) v #6 Joe Louis (18-0-0(18)) Cleveland, OH
In real life Joe Louis won the world championship in 1937 and defended it until 1950, he's in with a chance of something similar here. Louis is 23, still listed as "Pre-Prime" but even not being at his peak he's still listed as the best fighter in the game. Schmeling is 32 and still at his peak, he had 11 title fight wins in a row, but he's not the favorite. He starts like he is though, the first two rounds are low action and fairly close but Schmeling has the edge. The third is where Louis comes alive, the middle of the third he lands an uppercut and Schmeling is rocking. Into the 4th and Louis is going for the kill, landing big shots. Late in the round the ref jumps in and stops it, we have a new world champion.

Ladies and Gentlemen! The winner and new WBA heavyweight champion by technical knockout at the 02:15 mark in Round 4 is...

Joe Louis!

I'm not sure who his first defense will be against, but I'm pretty sure it wont be Max Schmeling.

[Chas in Cinti]

Nice! This has been fun to follow...

[JonInMiddleGA]

Apparently there's a soccer team in El Salvador named after him, Club Deportivo Luis Angel Firpo. There can be no greater honor than having a soccer club named after you.

Kind of a fun/funky story there (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.D._Luis_%C3%81ngel_Firpo)apparently. It's the 2nd oldest club in El Salvador, founded by locals not long before Firpo knocked out Dempsey (IRL). He had no connection to the club apparently, they just wanted to name it after him, and eventually chose team colors based on Firpo's actual favorite club (from Argentina).

I was kinda expecting something else, you know, like Firpo got a nice fan letter and sent them money or something. Nope lol.

[Critch]

Kind of a fun/funky story there (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.D._Luis_%C3%81ngel_Firpo)apparently. It's the 2nd oldest club in El Salvador, founded by locals not long before Firpo knocked out Dempsey (IRL). He had no connection to the club apparently, they just wanted to name it after him, and eventually chose team colors based on Firpo's actual favorite club (from Argentina).

Makes you want to fire up FM24, find a El Salvador mod and lead them to glory.

1938

Outs and Ins
Only two retirements this year, but they're big names. First out is Belgium's Pierre Charles (35 years old, 51-16-1 with 37 knockouts). He's been on the contenders list for years, he's been active since 1922 and got his chance at a title in the first (and so far only) title fight outside the US when he lost to Max Schmeling in Brussels in December 1935. Since that fight he's lost 6 of his 8 contests, he's deep into the End career stage so it's a good time to go before he really wrecks his record.

Also retiring is 41 year old ex-world champion George Godfrey (63-8-1). He fought for the title six times, his one win a knockout against Harry Wills in December 1931 but he lost the title to Max Schmeling in his first defense in June 1932. Before that he'd lost to Jack Dempsey in 1922 and 1927 (he lasted a grand total of 3 rounds in the 2 fights), then lost a pair of fights for a vacant title (1928 v Gene Tunney and 1929 v Max Schmeling). He's in the End stage too but he was good enough at his peak that he's not fallen off too far, he was still winning and was on the verge of a title challenge in 1937. He's 41 though so time to go.

Three rookies coming in, Nick Fiorentino, Curtis Sheppard and Turkey Thompson. They dont look like they're future contenders, this is probably the only time they get mentioned until they retire.

06-14-1938 #1 Joe Louis (19-0-0(19)) v #9 Leroy Haynes (32-3-1(31)) Detroit, MI
For the first challenger I've gone pretty far down the in-game rankings. Everybody at the top of the rankings has either lost a title fight to Max Schmeling recently or is Max Schmeling so I skipped them and went down to Leroy Haynes. He has a good record, he's on a run of 10 KO wins in a row and he's recently knocked out a few big names (Archie Moore, Johnny Paychek, Jersey Joe Walcott) so he's earned it. He might have earned his chance, but he's out of his depth right from the first round. Louis puts him down in the first, but Haynes struggles back up and lasts until the bell. Second round Louis puts him down again. Third round Louis knocks him down again, this round Haynes also gets a caution for using his shoulder to hit. Fourth round Haynes manages to stay up the whole round, but his eye has swollen shut. Into the fifth and the doctor is called to check on Haynes eye, he allows the fight to carry on. Doesn't take much longer, with Haynes "glassy eyed and on wobbly legs" the ref jumps in and stops the fight.

Ladies and Gentlemen! The winner and still WBA heavyweight champion by technical knockout at the 02:15 mark in Round 5 is...

Joe Louis!

That's Leroy Haynes fourth defeat of his career, Dynamite Jackson, Jack Sharkey, George Godfrey and now Joe Louis. That's a good who's who selection of 1930s heavyweights.

More bad news for the challengers is that Joe Louis has now popped from Pre-Prime to Prime so he's even further ahead. He was an overall rating 11 (Schmeling and Jersey Joe Walcott are 10s), but now he's 14.

12-10-1938 #1 Joe Louis (20-0-0(20)) v #3 Tony Shucco (49-4-1(20)) New York, NY
Leroy Haynes is a slugger and that really didn't work, so next up is a boxer. Tony Shucco is a light heavyweight who's moved up a weight class, he lost a title challenge to Max Schmeling in June 1936 but he's back again. He's won all eight fights since then so he's still at the top of the rankings, wins against King Levinsky and Unknown Winston in that eight. (Number 2 is Schmeling, I'm waiting another year before putting him in as a challenger). It's one sided, Louis winning the rounds but Shucco avoiding the punishment Haynes got in the last fight. It's a tale of two cuts, in the third Shucco's jabbing opens a cut under Louis's eye, in the sixth it's Shucco who's cut on the eye lid. Blood running into your eye is much worse than down your cheek so it's not good for Shucco. In the eight the doctor checks Shucco's cut but allows it to go on. In the eleventh Shucco's other eye is swollen closed, he's looking lumpy, battered and bruised. Into the 12th and his eye lid cut reopens thanks to Louis continually punching it, the doc is in and the fight is stopped because of the severity of the cut.

Ladies and Gentlemen! The winner and still WBA heavyweight champion by technical knockout at the 0:50 mark in Round 12 is...

Joe Louis!

Shucco's corner aren't happy that the fight was stopped with less than three rounds to go, but he wasn't going to win with the judges anyway, all the judges had him well behind.

[Critch]

1939

Still no rush of retirements for World War II, most of the boxers are American and they were fashionably late for WWII so maybe it's still a few years off.

Outs and Ins
In real life Steve Hamas (32 year old, 35-5-0) retired in 1935 due to injury after losing to Max Schmeling, I gave him a few extra years here but he was injured in his last fight of 1938 so now seems like a good time to hang the gloves up. In November 1938 he lost to a nobody after breaking his punching hand on the nobody's head. His loss to a Tomato Can has dropped him way down the rankings (down to 34th) so his time as a contender was pretty much over anyway.

Also out is James Braddock (34yo, 37-19-0), in real life he was a journeyman who retired with hand injuries, worked as a docker, then had a late comeback that ended with him winning the world championship and being played by Russell Crowe in a movie (Cinderella Man). Not in this universe. Apparently his granddaughter is Rosemarie DeWitt, I recognize her from Mad Men. I love Mad Men. Apparently she's been in some other things too but they probably all pale against Mad Men. Almost everything pales against Mad Men.

Next out is Hank Hankinson (25, 28-7-1), in real life he retired after a run of defeats that didn't happen this time. His future is bit parts in Hollywood ("Kid Galahad" with Edward G Robinson, Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart, he played a boxer). That's a career that came to an end when he beat an actress to death in 1941 and got sent to San Quentin and died in 1943. He's not getting a reprieve here.
Last to leave is Con O'Kelly (35 years old, 49-11-4), he's off to become a priest and a monsignor (I'm not up on Catholic rankings but from wiki it seems like monsignor is "Super Priest") in his native England.

On the way in it's a veritable slew of rookies, 11 in one year. A record. In order of quality from "might be a contender" down to "not sure why they're here" it's Lee Q Murray, Tommy Gomez, Tami Mauriello, Buddy Walker, Harry Bobo, Pat Valentino, Bobby Bonger, Altus Allen, Lee Oma, Johnny Flynn, Johnny Allen. All Americans. Pick of the nicknames are Tami Mauriello ("The Bronx Barkeep") and Harry Bobo ("The Peabody Paralyzer"). Although Bobby "The Bomber" Bonger is pretty good too.

06-24-1939 #1 Joe Louis (21-0-0(21)) v #4 Tommy Farr (28-5-3(6)) New York, NY
Next up is Tommy Farr. He's 26, from Wales, nicknamed The Tonypandy Terror, and Joe Louis defended his title against him in real life too. That fight was 1937 at Yankee Stadium, so it's Yankee Stadium here too. In real life Louis won a unanimous decision that was boo-ed by the crowd. In this one Louis wins round after round, after 8 one judge has Louis winning 7, the other two judges say 6, and the rounds he didn't win were tied. Into the 9th, Farr's eye is swollen and the ref has cautioned him three times, near the end of the round Louis is landing big punches. Farr's down and out, another win for Louis.

Ladies and Gentlemen! The time of the stoppage is 02:56 of round number 9. The winner and still WBA heavyweight champion by knockout is...

Joe Louis!

Next challenger should really be #2 Max Schmeling or #5 Jersey Joe Walcott but they've both got time on their side so I'm going down the rankings to #9 Max Baer. (For the rest of the rankings, #3 is Tony Shucco, #4 Lee Ramage, #6 Leroy Haynes, #7 Tommy Farr, #8 Phil Brubaker, #10 Roscoe Toles). I guess it's Schmeling and Walcott for next year.

12-09-1939 #1 Joe Louis (22-0-0(22)) v #8 Max Baer (40-4-2(31)) New York, NY
In real life Max Baer was world champion in 1934 and 1935, one of the many who stopped Max Schmeling being as dominant in real life as he was here. In this universe he's never been mentioned as a challenger but he's now 30 years old and still listed in his prime so now's his chance. It doesn't last long, Baer is on the canvas a minute into the first, caught by a Louis cross. The second is more of the same, Louis beating Baer around but at least this time Baer stays up. The third is the end of it, Louis knocks Baer out after 2 minutes. "The referee could have counted to 100 if he wanted. Baer is out cold here in round 3." says the commentary.

It's really one-sided, punches landed per round is Louis 40-ish, Baer 2.00.

Like Haynes, Baer is listed as a "slugger". I guess Louis isn't going to have a problem against sluggers, at least the "boxers" make it a bit longer before losing.