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And, here's the first of the year-end reports for 1929.

Titles and Title Bouts

WBA: The title changed hands twice in three title bouts. First, George Godfrey took the belt from Jack Sharkey (KO 3). Then, Young Stribling regained the title via a UD 15 win over Godfrey. He then defended against George Thompson (UD 15).

NABF: Lanky Ralph Smith began the year with this belt, but lost it in his first defense to Young Stribling (UD 12). The title was vacated after Stribling captured the WBA crown. Sully Montgomery took the vacant title with a UTD 11 win over Joe Sekyra.

USBA: Bearcat Wright dethroned Pat Lester (KO 5), then defended twice, against Tuffy Griffiths (D 12) and Floyd Johnson (KO 5).

CBU: Jack Doyle defended against Tom Heeney (DQ 11) but then lost the belt to Larry Gains (TKO 5). Gains then defended versus Bartley Madden (KO 7).

GBU: “Fainting” Phil Scott defended once, versus Don Shortland (SD 12).

EBU: The EBU belt changed hands twice during 1929. Erminio Spalla took the title from Paulino Uzcudan (UD 12). Then, Dutchman Piet VanDerVeer took the title from Spalla (KO 9) then defended versus Jack DeMave (UD 12).

OPBF: Aussie George Thompson defeated Tom Heeney (UD 12) to capture this title.

HW Division Profile

Total: 215 RL: 135 TC: 80

RL by Career Stage:
End - 8
Post - 19
Prime - 60
Pre - 35
Beginning - 13 (10 New)

Rated: 94
800+: 18
500+: 44
200+ : 84

Jan, 1930 Rankings (Perf Points and Changes from Jan. 1929 in Parens):

Champ: Young Stribling 33-5-1 (18) (1678) (+1)
1. Larry Gains 27-5 (17) (1504) (+1) (CBU Champ)
2. Harry Wills 61-11-1 (47) (1326) (+2)
3. George Godfrey 38-9-1 (27) (1224) (+3)
4. Jack Sharkey 21-5 (14) (1157) (-4)
5. Lanky Ralph Smith 21-7-2 (7) (1149) (NC)
6. Gene Tunney 44-11-3 (26) (1070) (+2)
7. Max Schmeling 21-1 (17) (1017) (+9)
8. Floyd Johnson 28-8-1 (22) (979) (-5)
9. Tuffy Griffith 21-1-2 (14) (938) (+15)
10. Jack Dempsey 55-11-1 (49) (937) (-1)

Others: 11. Bearcat Wright 25-10-3 (16) (932) (+27) (USBA Champ)
13. Piet Van Der Veer 33-14-6 (20) (874) (+13) (EBU Champ)
17. George Thompson 23-5-1 (13) (816) (+5) (OPBF Champ)
20. Sully Montgomery 29-9-1 (10) (744) (+9) (NABF Champ)
29. Phil Scott 27-16-2 (17) (639) (+11) (GBU Champ)

Top Ten: Heading into 1930, all the above at Prime except for Wills (now at End), Dempsey (also at End), Smith and Tunney (both at Post). Stribling started the year with a UD 10 over Gains, now the #! Contender, then won three title bouts to extend his winning streak to seven. Gains recovered from the early-year loss to post four straight wins, including a stoppage of ex-Champ Sharkey and a UD 10 over the EBU titleholder, VanDerVeer. The aging vet, Harry Wills, went unbeaten during the year, with wins over DeMave (UD 10), Pat Lester (MD 10) and Sharkey (TKO 9) – surprised to see him still ranked this high. Godfrey split two WBA title bouts and was otherwise inactive during the year. Sharkey had a really down year, losing the title then compounding the situation with consecutive TKO losses to Gains and Wills. Smith lost the NABF title, then scored a UD win over Montgomery, but was held to a draw by the lowly-regarded Quinton Romero Rojas. Tunney impressed in a TKO win over up-and-coming Harry Persson, but the MD 10 loss to old rival Jack Dempsey has stalled his career. New to the top 10 is the “Black Uhlan,” Max Schmeling, by virtue of his UD 10 over Dempsey; Max has now won five in a row since his only career defeat to Jack DeMave. Johnson went 2-2 in 1929, losing to higher-rated guys in title tilts, while registering wins over Frankie Campbell (UD 10) and Martin Burke (KO 4). Tuffy Griffith moves into the top 10 with his surprise KO win over Dempsey late in the year. Dempsey, the aging veteran, struggled after KO wins over Firpo and Johnson, losing to Schmeling and Griffith, but pulling off a surprising MD 10 over Tunney to move to 2-1 in career bouts with the “Fighting Marine.”

Other Notables: Wright maintained his USBA title and kept intact a five-bout unbeaten streak but did not face any other top contenders (other than Griffith, who battled him to a draw before defeating Dempsey). Former EBU Champ Erminio Spalla bounced back with a TKO win over Pat Lester to end up the year at #12, two spots lower than last year. His successor, VanDerVeer, ended up a spot lower after suffering a late-year UD loss to Gains. Another ex-EBU Champ, Spaniard Paulino Uzcudan, bounced back with two wins (a split duke versus Firpo and a TKO over Maloney) to finish the year at #14. Frankie Campbell, who had a five-bout win streak going until his loss to Floyd Johnson, wound up at #15 with a KO over Jack Gross. DeMave, who beat Schmeling and Tunney in back-to-back efforts in 1928, was winless in three 1929 outings to slip from #7 all the way down to #16. Thompson had a three-bout winning streak snapped when he lost the WBA title clash with Stribling. Montgomery won four of five during the year, capturing the NABF title previously held by Smith and Stribling. Top newcomer is unbeaten Ad Warren, who had to go the distance in two 1929 bouts but kept his slate clean, at 15-0 (13), debuting at #26. Other newcomers to the rankings include Elmer Ray, #22 with a 14-1 (10) mark, despite suffering his first defeat (a UD) at the hands of Jimmy Mendes, and “Bingo” Joe Banovic, who went 4-0 during 1929 (including a stoppage of Lou Barba) to finish at 15-2 (6), good for 38^th spot. British titleholder Phil Scott recovered from a UD loss to Schmeling with three successive wins, among them a UD over Otto Von Porat and a TKO win over George Cook).

Prospects: Patsy Perroni remained unbeaten, ending the year at 12-0 (2) after taking decisions from Charley Retzlaff (UD 10) and Charley Boyette (MD 10); the loss was Boyette’s first, and he wound up 1929 at 12-1 (7). Young Swedish ace Johnny Widd has now won five straight, including four by KO, to move to 12-1 (10); his latest victim being Hans Schonrath, a top young German prospect. His countryman, Nils Ramm, remained unbeaten, finishing the year at 10-0-2 (5). Hard-hitting Herman Weiner continued to mow down his opponents, the only blemish in his 11-1 (11) career start a KO loss coming at the hands of Ad Warren. Maintaining unblemished records were Natie Brown (9-0, 4 KO); Al McCoy (9-0, 4 KO); South African Don McCorkindale (9-0, 6 KO); “Two Ton” Tony Galento (8-0, 7 KO); King Levinsky (8-0, 4 KO); and the talented Max Baer (5-0, 4 KO).

Retirements: There were no less than eight retirements in the HW ranks in 1929, career records follow.

Frank Goddard (UK) 1914-29 28-27-4 (10) GBU Champ Highest Rank: 41
Chet McIntyre (USA) 1914-29 32-27-5 (12) No Titles Highest Rank: 33
John Lester Johnson (USA) 1912-29 39-27 (19) No Titles Highest Rank: 15
Jack Burke (USA) 1920-29 21-16-4 (13) No Titles Highest Rank: 66
Charley Weinert (USA) 1912-29 40-24-1 (21) No Titles Highest Rank: 10
Ralph Brooks (USA) 1921-29 20-14-4 (5) No Titles Highest Rank: 47
Homer Smith (USA) 1914-29 35-28-2 (15) USBA Champ 1925-26
Emil Andreasen (DEN) 1921-29 18-17-3 (8) No Titles Highest Rank: 39

Looking Ahead: Stribling is back on top, but it remains to be seen for how long. Sharkey is still a potential contender, but probably the most feared guy right now is Schmeling, who has just hit Prime and also the top 10 for the first time. Look for Max to be angling for a shot at the EBU belt before launching a bid for the WBA crown. It remains to be seen if Griffith’s surprise KO win over Dempsey can be repeated against seasoned, in shape (i.e. Prime) competitors. Uzcudan and Heeney (who has dropped all the way to #31 in the year-end rankings) have thus far under-performed and will be looking to gain top 10 status as guys like Wills, Tunney and Dempsey fade from the limelight. Jersey Joe Walcott tops a talented list of 10 newcomers to the division; others set to debut in 1930 include Steve Hamas, Art Lasky, Walter Neusel and Lee Ramage.