Sport: The Slugger & the Teacher

The boys along Jacob's Beach had never thought much of Joey Maxim as a light heavyweight champion. For 19 months he had refused to risk his title, though he had ventured once into the heavyweight class and taken a tremendous 15-round belting from then-Champion Ezzard Charles. He might be able to box, but he was never a puncher. The boys thought a lot more of Irish Bob Murphy, a redheaded, left-handed brawler who had scored eight knockouts in ten bouts this year. As a 5-to-12 fight-time favorite, Murphy would undoubtedly cut the hapless champ...

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