On March 27, 1942, Joe Louis made the 21st defense of his heavyweight championship against colossal New Yorker Abe Simon at Madison Square Garden. There wouldn’t be another heavyweight title fight for four years and three months.

Louis had stopped Simon a year earlier, dropping the 250-pounder four times en route to a 13th-round knockout win. Having had a relatively comfortable time in their Detroit clash, “The Brown Bomber” was a huge favorite to score a repeat victory in the Big Apple.

Simon was down in the second and fifth rounds, and the champion ended matters early in the sixth. Louis’ hand speed and power proved too much for the lumbering challenger, who bravely stood up to some hellacious punishment. The official time of the stoppage was 0:16.

Although he boxed some exhibitions while fulfilling his Army service during World War II, Louis wouldn’t make another defense of the championship until he rematched Billy Conn at Yankee Stadium in June 1946.

This was the final fight of Simon’s career.

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