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THE SCENARIO--California middleweight champion Jack Chase, looking for a woorld title shot himself, decided not to defend his California title but instead take on the talented welterweight, Cocoa Kid. The two met in San Francisco on September 24, 1943.
THE FIGHT--There was speculation that the Cocoa Kid was coming into the ring undertrained. The first round was fairly tame, and while Chase had a slight edge, the crowd was already booing and calling for more action. Chase had an even greater margin in round two. The third was another slow round, the crowd booing again. Cocoa Kid tries to fight inside in round four, but Chase still has the edge. Chase tries to stay at long range in the fifth, but the Kid keeps moving inside and enjoys his best round yet. The two fighters pick up the pace in round six, with Chase again landing more frequently.
In the seventh, it is Chase who suddenly moves inside and uses his weight advantage to savage the Kid at close range. The Kid, appearing to tire, tries to box at long range in the eighth, but Chase still lands more punches to good effect. A sharp left early in the eighth round drops Cocoa Kid, perhaps as much from exhaustion as anything else. The Kid pulls himself up at 8 and while Chase rocks him with several solid punches the round ends with both fighters still on their feet. Amazingly, the Kid starts the tenth and final round with a flurry, but Chase comes back at the end of the round to seemingly seal his opponent's fate.
Sure enough, the decision is unanimous and one-sided, the referee scoring the bout96-93, one of the judges making it 96-92 and the other judge making it 99-91, all for Jack Chase.
THE AFTERMATH--Although the Cocoa Kid had been successfully taking on middleweights for years, Chase's standing among middleweights was hardly enhanced even by this clear decision victory. If anything, his claim to a shot at Moore's world title was as remote as ever.
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