Max Baer vs Lou Nova II - Rounds 1-4 - Part 1

Max Baer touched gloves for the second time with Lou Nova on April 4, 1941. Lou Nova beat him to a pulp. Though Max begged the referee to continue the bout, in the 8th round, his face and body almost unrecognizable, the fight was stopped for fear of his safety.

While many in the press called him "ancient" and "washed up" at age 32, sportswriter Harry Cohn called him a man "who conceals a simple soul, a sensitive nature and an inferiority complex beneath the mask of a clown."

Sportswriter Joe Williams gave Max a nice send off. "The most talented and aromatic ham the prize ring has ever known closed out his Broadway career with a masterful performance before a packed and admiring house last night in Madison Square Garden."

The fact that Max Baer was stopped in 8 rounds by a younger and better conditioned Lou Nova is secondary to the finished show the hilarious Hamlet put on. It ran the range from low comedy to high drama."

As if realizing the crowd had gathered mainly to see him in his Paeon to big time Pugilism, the magnificent screwball surpassed himself in his efforts to paint an unforgettable picture of the theater that is peculiarly his own." "Baer may be 32 years old and a little tired from keeping the lights burning along the gay white way, but when he winds up with that right he still can punch."

As Nova's hand was raised in victory on a TKO in the 8th, Max strolled over to his corner and "in a few minutes he was kneeling on the apron of the ring chatting brightly with the men in press row."

His dream of regaining the title now in tatters, Max Baer officially retired from the ring.

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