[JCWeb]

Correction on header on prior post, it should read 1929, not 1920. Anyway, the second half of the month's bouts are now in the books ...

June 15, 1929: Second half of the month starts with a fight card at the Palazzo del Sport in Rome, Italy. Featured bout is for the EBU HW title, with Italian crowd favorite Erminio Spalla facing the challenge of Dutchman Piet Van Der Veer. The two have split two prior bouts. Spalla lands repeatedly in the opening three rounds to pull ahead on points. Then, suddenly, the bout turns in round four, as the Dutchman nails Spalla with a nice uppercut to put the defending Champ on the canvas. A second KD follows, but Spalla manages to last the round. Van Der Veer continues to apply the pressure, sending the Italian to the canvas for a third time with a big hook in round five. The Italian crowd urges Spalla on, and he gamely battles on until round nine, when a right cross from Van Der Veer ends matters. KO 9 for Van Der Veer to capture the title. Post-fight, Van Der Veer is 32-13-6 (20) while the loss leaves Spalla at 30-12 (21).

June 15, 1929: Another good fight card at Miami Stadium in Florida, leading up to the main event, a 12-rounder with the USBA FW title at stake. Dick Finnegan is defending the belt against challenger and ex-WBA Champ Chick Suggs. Suggs is the aggressor from the early rounds, and he survives a late rally by Finnegan to take a MD 12 (116-114, 115-115.116-114) to lift the belt. Post-fight, Suggs is 33-10-4 (11) compared to 27-10 (8) for Finnegan.

June 21, 1929: Friday night fight action moves to Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. Good fight card, especially the main support bout which has two unbeaten young HW prospects locking horns -- Elmer ("Kid Violent") Ray and Jimmy Mendes. Mendes surprises Ray with a nice cross right before the bell in round one, leading to the first and only knockdown of the fight. Mendes is unable to follow up, and Ray gradually works his way back into the action. However, in round six, Ray sustains a cut over his right eye. Ray presses forward despite the cut, but he is unable to break down Mendes' defenses. In round nine, Mendes lands a strong shot, forcing Ray to cover up; his right eye puffs up while the cut over the left is reopened as well. The bout goes the distance, and the result is a solid UD 10 for Mendes, dropping Ray to 13-1 (10) after his first loss while Mendes keeps his clean slate at 13-0 (11). All of this leads to the main event, for the USBA JLW crown. Matched up is defending Champ Jack Bernstein and challenger Mike Ballerino. The two have split two prior bouts, and this one goes down to the wire as neither is able to gain a clear upper hand in what turns out to be a defensive struggle. Bernstein prevails by a narrow SD 12 (114-115, 114-113, 114-113) in a bout with few notable highlights. The win moves Bernstein's career totals to 24-14-1 (6) after the win while Ballerino emerges from the bout at 22-10-4 (6).

June 22, 1929: New York's Yankee Stadium, "the House that Ruth Built," is the scene of the next fight card. The co-feature has veteran LH Lou Bogash facing a stiff challenge from Cuban Roleaux Saguero. Bogash battles all the way, but the Cuban wears him down to score two KDs in the last two rounds; these two 10-8 rounds turn out to be the difference in the final scoring, as the KDs are just enough for Saguero to take a UD 10 win (96-93, 95-93, 95-93). Next, it's on to the main event, for the USBA HW crown, with Bearcat Wright defending against an impressive newcomer, Tuffy Griffiths, who is in his first title try shortly after reaching Prime career stage. Griffiths gets off to a strong start, and Wright's right eye is starting to swell by the end of round two as a result. The Bearcat has his moments in the middle rounds, slowing down the younger challenger with a strong right hook in round six and then a jolting uppercut in round seven. As the bout moves into the later rounds, Wright's other eye starts to swell. Late in the final round, Griffiths appears to deliver the coup-de-grace when he nails Wright with a solid cross for the only KD of the bout. Wright picks himself up on the canvas and manages to finish on his feet. The scorecards are read with the result, a draw (114-114, 114-113 Wright, 115-113 Griffiths) as a surprise as this observer, along with most of the fans watching the bout, expected to see Griffiths announced as the winner. Post fight, Wright is now 24-10-3 (15) and Griffiths, 19-2-1 (13). With the outrage expressed at the result, a rematch has been ordered in three months' time.

June 28, 1929: Action shifts to the West Coast for the final Friday night fight action of the month at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. First, the fans are entertained in one of the preliminary bouts by young HW knockout artist Max Baer, who puts away his TC opponent in the first round for his third KO win in three pro bouts. Baer is scheduled to be back in action in July. In another preliminary bout, LH Mike Mandell impresses with a first round KO over previously unbeaten Mexican Rosy Rosales; Mandell is now 19-2 (16). Unbeaten WW prospect Jackie Fields also puts in an appearance, going the distance to take a UD 10 win over veteran Phinney Boyle to run his career mark to 17-0-1 (12). After watching these exciting preliminary bout fighters, the crowd settles in for the main event, with the MW USBA title belt at stake. Defending is Vince Dundee, who faces the challenge of the higher ranked Young Terry. The duo has met three times previously, each with a win, a loss and a draw in those prior bouts. Dundee looks rock solid in the opening rounds, scoring well to build a points lead. Terry comes to life in round seven, rocking Dundee with a sharp combination. Two rounds later, Dundee goes down to a strong shot from the challenger. In the final three rounds, Dundee manages to hang on, doing enough to keep the title via a UD 12 (116-111, 117-110, 116-111), a result that is not particularly well-received by the crowd as Terry certainly seemed the more powerful puncher in the later rounds. The win boosts Dundee's career totals to 24-3-1 (13) while Terry emerges from the bout with a 20-2-3 (9) mark.

June 29, 1929: Final card of the month is at the Earls Court in London, and a series of preliminary bouts leads up to the main event, a WBA title bout for the Flyweight crown held by Elky Clark who takes on Frankie Genaro in a rematch of their title bout that ended in a controversial DQ call earlier in the year. First up, in one of the support bouts, EBU FW Champ, Dom Volante (a Brit) blasts out former WBA Champ Carl Duane in three rounds for an impressive win; Volante is now 21-5-2 (15). Then, in the main event, Genaro gets off to a strong start, outboxing and outworking a lethargic Clark. The Champ just cannot seem to get on track in this one, despite Genaro being called for a low blow in the fifth round which had fans remembering how Clark won the title back in January. Clark tries to step up the pace in the later rounds, to no avail as he begins sporting a swollen left eye by the end of round 11. Not much surprise when the bout goes the distance, and Genaro is declared a UD 15 winner (149-136, 148-137, 149-137). Genaro thus becomes the first four-time WBA Flyweight champion. He moves to 32-9 (15) with the win while Clark slips to 29-8-1 (15).