Joe Louis settled an old score on September 20, 1939, knocking out Bob Pastor in the 11th round before 33,868 spectators at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. Pastor had escaped him for 10 rounds two years earlier. Louis made certain that the same tactics would not save him again.
Their first meeting took place at Madison Square Garden on January 29, 1937. Pastor, a former New York University fullback, conceded roughly 25 pounds and was listed as a 10-to-1 underdog. He survived by circling, retreating, and refusing to remain within punching range.
The unanimous decision belonged to Louis, but Pastor celebrated reaching the final bell. Sections of the 18,864 crowd booed the winner and treated the challenger’s survival as a moral victory. Their reaction irritated the future champion, who believed Pastor had reduced the contest to a footrace.
By the rematch, Louis (39-1, 35 KOs) was making his eighth defense of the heavyweight championship. Pastor (38-4-4, 17 KOs) had developed into a leading contender. Both men were 25, though Louis held a 17-pound weight advantage at 200 pounds.
Pastor’s camp requested a 20-round fight, believing the extended distance would test the champion’s stamina. It was a disastrous calculation. Pastor prepared to ration his energy across a marathon. Louis attacked from the opening bell as if the fight had been scheduled for three rounds.
A different pursuit strategy also separated the rematch from their 1937 encounter. Instead of following Pastor around the perimeter, the champion used shorter diagonal steps and moved across his escape lane. Pastor repeatedly found his opponent waiting for him.
The adjustment produced four knockdowns in the opening round and another in the second. Yet that early destruction presented Louis with a test of his own. He had spent heavily trying to force the stoppage, and Pastor’s refusal to fold left the champion less explosive through portions of rounds three through six.
There was no reckless chase for the knockout after the early assault failed to finish Pastor. The champion lowered his output, recovered his breathing, and resumed the methodical work of taking away the challenger’s legs. Body punches during close exchanges reduced Pastor’s lateral bounce without wasting energy on punches aimed at an absent target.
Pastor had trained specifically to avoid Louis’s left hook. Trainer Jack Blackburn turned that preparation against him. The champion showed the left, occupied Pastor’s vision with throwaway jabs and drove his right hand through the opening. Pastor’s habit of slipping outside the left placed his head in the route of the punch he truly needed to avoid.
The challenger produced his strongest work in the eighth. Pastor planted his feet, backed Louis toward the ropes, and connected with jabs and short combinations. The sequence exposed a flaw in the champion’s defense. Louis held a high guard but offered limited upper-body movement, allowing an active jab and quick inside punches to reach him before he regained his punching position.
That success carried a price. To back Louis up, Pastor had to abandon the movement that had protected him. Every planted combination created a stationary target. The champion remained calm, absorbed the surge, and continued attacking the body rather than trying to silence Pastor with one wild counter.
A short right badly staggered Pastor in the tenth. By then, the left hand had become a range finder and visual distraction. Pastor was still reacting to the hook, while Louis was measuring him for the right.
Back in the corner after the tenth, the champion told Blackburn that the next round would be the last.
Pastor opened the 11th by jabbing and attempting to circle left along his familiar escape route. Louis extended the left to obstruct his view and close the lane. Pastor moved to evade the punch he expected, and the right hand came over the top.
He never saw it. Pastor crashed to the canvas and remained there for referee Sam Hennessey’s count. The knockout came 38 seconds into the round, after the challenger had been dropped six times.
The victory paid Louis $118,400 from a gross gate of $347,870, while Pastor received $51,800. More importantly, it erased every complaint left behind by their first fight. Pastor had survived by making him chase in New York. In Detroit, the champion cut off the ring, attacked the challenger’s habits, and used the punch Pastor had spent the entire night helping him find.
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