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Between 1890 and 2019 a whopping 1,876 people died because of being punched in the head for the entertainment of others. I’m talking about boxing. This is the story of one of those 1,876, Ernie Schaaf.
--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: February 10, 1933--
People have been punching each other in the face ever since there have been people. Sumerian art from almost five millennia ago show two dudes punching each other. An Egyptian relief sculpture from 3,500 years ago shows not just boxers, but spectators. In 688 BCE boxing was an official sport of the Ancient Olympic Games in Greece. In terms of available evidence, the Greeks were the first to have rules regarding the sport; there were no rounds, just punch the fuck out of each other until someone gives up or goes to sleep. The Iliad makes reference to how brutal the sport is.
Ernie Schaaf was born in 1908 in New Jersey. He joined the Navy at 15 (yikes) and when he left at 18 was the United States All Services Champion. A heavyweight fighter weighing about 200 pounds, Ernie was no rookie. His death wasn’t a case of being horribly overmatched. He was a force to be reckoned with in the ring. Continues …
Becoming a paying subscriber is better than a boot in the head with a frozen mukluk. It’s also better than a punch in the face.
Schaaf lost some bouts, but also won many. He easily won against two future heavyweight world champions, Max Baer and James Braddock. Schaaf faced Baer for the first time in 1930. Baer had killed Frankie Campbell, who had an impressive 33 and 4 record, in the ring only a few months earlier. But Schaaf won his first bout with Baer. It was his rematch against Baer two years later that may have contributed to Schaaf’s death in a later fight.
The rematch took place in August of 1932, Baer pummeled the shit out of Schaaf, knocking him out cold just two seconds before the final bell, so Baer won on points. Afterward, Schaaf complained of headaches and there were rumors of brain damage. Six months later, on February 10, 1933, Schaaf fought Primo Carnera, who outweighed Schaaf by 50 pounds and stood five inches taller. Carnera, who four months later would go on to win the World Heavyweight Championship and hold the title for a year, has the record for more wins by knockout than any heavyweight champ in boxing history. If Schaaf beat Carnera, he’d get a shot at the title.
Held in New York’s Madison Square Garden, the fight was scheduled for 15 rounds. It lasted 13. The fight hadn’t been terribly exciting, and the hit that knocked out Schaaf was not a brutal one, just a left jab. Fixing fights was well known, and as Schaaf lay on the mat many in the 20,000-strong audience yelled “Faker!”
Schaaf never regained consciousness, and died four days later, on Valentine’s Day. Another thing that is surmised to have contributed to his death was his recent serious bout of influenza along with suffering from meningitis, swelling of the brain. Ernie Schaaf was 24 years old.
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