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Wrapping up the action for May 1929:

May 17, 1929: Forbes Field in Pittsburgh is the venue for the next Friday night card. Co-main event has long-time LW contender Sammy Mandell matched up with Andy Chaney, who has slipped in the ranks since hitting Post-Prime career stage. Mandell battles a cut and swollen right eye to register a UD 10 victory (98-93, 98-93, 97-94) to move to 30-10 (9) overall. Chaney, who has his best days behind him, is now 37-17-2 (12). Main event has ex-HW Champ Gene Tunney taking on Martin Burke. Both men are at Post-Prime, and Burke simply lacks the skills to compete with Tunney. The Fighting Marine goes on to score a solid UD 10 win (97-94, 99-92, 98-93). Post-fight, Tunney is 43-10-3 (25) while the loss leaves Burke at 32-12-1 (9).

May 18, 1929: A solid fight card in Europe at the Sports Palazzo in Rome. First of all, in one of the preliminary bouts, the "Ambling Alp," Primo Carnera gets his career back on track with a third round TKO win over a TC to move his record to 4-0-1 (3) as he prepares to enter Pre-Prime career stage. No title bouts but there are a couple of interesting 10-round co-main event bouts featuring some top 10 ranked fighters. Chilean Luis Vicentini, angling for a shot at the WBA LW crown, takes on veteran "French Flash" Benny Valgar in the first of the dual main events. Vicentini decks the Frenchman with a nice combination in the bout's opening round but cannot follow up on this early success. The bout is fairly uneventful until round six, when Valgar sustains a cut over his right eye. Valgar also survives aquick hook to the head from Vicentini and hangs on to last the distance. Scorecards show a SD 10 win for Vicentini (95-94, 93-96 Valgar, 96-94) while this observer had the Chilean as the winner by a solid margin. In any event, Vicentini moves to 28-5 (12) after the win, while Valgar drops to 39-14-2 (13). The final bout of the evening has MW Rene DeVos, former EBU Champion and still a top contender, paired with American Billy Angelo, former NABF MW king. Not much action until midway through the fifth round, when DeVos puts Angelo on the deck with a strong shot. By the end of round six, Angelo's right eye starts to swell, and for the rest of the bout he seems to be in survival mode. DeVos thus coasts to a nice UD 10 triumph (99-91, 99-92, 97-93) to maintain his status as a serious MW contender. Post-fight, DeVos is 40-10-2 (17) compared to 23-8-1 (17) for Angelo.

May 24, 1929: Action this day in the Philippines, at the Rizal Arena in Manila. Main event has Ceferino Garcia, the OPBF MW Champion, defending that title for the first time in about 18 months and, lacking any more qualified opponents, his opponent is journeyman Australian Frankie Burns. The two have split two prior bouts, and this time Garcia wastes no time, stunning Burns with a quick hook to the head near the end of round two. Burns is troubled by a cut under the right eye in round five. A round later, although the cut eye has been patched up by Burns' corner, Garcia starts pounding away, leaving a helpless Burns dangling against the ropes. The ref steps in, and the bout goes as a TKO 6 win for Garcia. The Filipino keeps the belt, moving his career marks to 21-5 (16) after the win while Burns winds up the bout at 24-15-1 (17).

May 25, 1929: Action shifts to Earls Court in London, UK. Featured bout on the card is for the Commonwealth LH title, with Len Harvey defending against 39-year old veteran Tom Berry. Harvey is looking to repeat an earlier TKO win back in 1924. From the start, an out-of-shape Berry appears to be totally outclassed by the sharp-boxing Harvey. In round two, Harvey rips open a cut over Berry's right eye and forces the challenger to cover up after nailing him with a nice uppercut near the end of the round. In round five, Harvey puts Berry down for a nine-count. The game challenger picks himself up off the canvas, only to be decked a second time in round seven. Bu this time, Berry is battling a swollen left eye in addition to the cut over the right eye. Mercifully, the end comes a round later when the cut becomes an issue and the ref calls a halt. TKO 8 win for Harvey, who racks up another successful defense to run his record to 32-4-1 (14) while the loss drops Berry to 21-19-2 (9).

May 25, 1929: A rare fight card in Panama City, featuring new WBA FW Champ, Jose Lombardo, who makes his first defense of the World crown against countryman Santiago Zorilla. First, an unbeaten LW prospect, Pedro Amador, takes to the ring in one of the preliminary bouts. This time, however, Amador has his hands full with fellow prospect Lew Kirsch, who pummels the Panamaniam, sending Amador to the deck in round seven and then taking a TKO 9 as a cut forces the late stoppage. Amador, now 15-1, is already at Post-Prime career stage so things are likely to go downhill from here. In one of the main support bouts, a fan favorite, Panama Joe Gans, is matched up in a rematch with Jack McVey, who battled the Panamaniam to a draw in a recent (Dec. 1928) bout in Miami. This bout also goes the distance, and once again it's a draw, despite the fact that Gans scored the bout's only knockdown. Then, it's on to the main event, Lombardo against Zorilla, with a Panamaniam champ and a Panamaniam challenger matched in a WBA title bout for the first time. The Champ gets off to a great start, putting Zorilla to the canvas in the opening round. Zorilla covers up and manages to survive the onslaught, battling back to keep the bout close into the middle rounds. In round seven, Lombardo staggers Zorilla with a nice uppercut. Once again, the challenger manages to survive, covering up to last the round. A solid cross from Zorilla then surprises the Champ, who takes a tumble to the canvas a round later. By the end of round 10, Zorilla is sporting a rapidly swelling right eye. Lombardo, sensing the bout is still a close one, manages to dominate the late action, putting Zorilla on the deck in round 14 and, again in round 15, as the challenger is literally saved by the bell. Nonetheless, it's still a relatively close bout on the cards, with Lombardo sneaking through a SD 15 (142-139, 140-141, 142-139). The win boosts Lombardo's career totals to 27-8-3 (16) while Zorilla closes out the Pre-Prime stage of his career at 17-2-1 (6).

May 31, 1929: Final card of the month is at Philadelphia, also part of the Friday night fight series. Featured bout is for the JLW WBA title, but first up is an interesting encounter involving two young HWs who have combined for 21 knockouts in their first 21 fights. Ad Warren (11-0) takes on the "Baltimore Banger," Herman Weiner. The bout turns out to be, as billed, an action-packed affair. Warren seizes the early initiative, and by the end of round one, Weiner's right eye is already starting to swell. Warren follows up in round two with a nice three-punch combination, causing Weiner to take a trip to the canvas. Weiner takes a six-count and survives the round. Warren scores a second KD in round four, following up with a wild overhand right for another knockdown but again, Weiner sur vives the onslaught. Round five, though, Weiner battles back, putting Warren down. The end comes in round nine when Warren, the fresher of the two men, puts Weiner on the deck twice more (for a total of five knockdowns), finishing well with a powerful uppercut. This time, Weiner does not beat the count. The KO 9 result moves Warren to 12-0 (12) while Weiner is now 10-1 (10).
Hard to top the excitement of this preliminary contest in the main event, where Benny Bass faces the challenge of Frankie Klick for the JLW title. In the early going, Bass appears to be struggling, suffering a split lip and a swollen right eye. In round eight, the Champ finally breaks through when he staggers Klick with a hook to the head. Klick is unable to counter, and Bass dominates the action for the remainder of the round until the ref steps in to call a halt. It goes down as a TKO 8 win for Bass as Klick is defenseless. Bass is now 32-7-3 (12) with another title defense under his belt, while Klick slips to 17-6 (10).