Remembered: Max Baer stopped Frankie Campbell in 1930 Pacific Coast bout
The 1930 Pacific Coast championship bout ended with Max Baer stopping Frankie Campbell, who later died from injuries sustained in the fight.
Max Baer stopped Frankie Campbell in the fifth round of their Pacific Coast championship bout on Aug. 25, 1930, at Recreation Park in San Francisco. Campbell later died from a double cerebral haemorrhage caused by injuries sustained during the fight.
The bout was staged outdoors, with the ring built over the baseball field’s home plate. Baer was 21 and weighed 194 pounds, while Campbell weighed 179. Baer had become a rising local heavyweight after knocking out Jack Linkhorn three months earlier, while Campbell entered the contest on a 14-fight winning run.
Campbell briefly appeared to put Baer down in the second round with a left to the ribs, but referee Toby Irwin ruled it a slip. Campbell moved towards the ropes as Baer rose, and Baer then landed a heavy right to the side of his head. Campbell remained upright but told his corner after the round that he felt something was wrong in his head.
Campbell recovered in the third round and controlled the fourth. In the fifth, Baer’s left hook to the jaw left Campbell trapped in a corner. Baer continued throwing power punches as Campbell was supported by the ropes, and several blows drove his head into the metal turnbuckle before Irwin intervened. Campbell fell unconscious when the referee separated the fighters.
Baer was later told that Campbell had remained in the ring for close to half an hour while waiting for an ambulance. Campbell died at 11:35am the following day. Police Captain Fred Lemmon arrested Baer on a manslaughter charge, with bail fixed at $10,000. The charge was eventually dismissed, but Baer, Irwin, and both fighters’ managers and seconds were suspended for a year by the state athletic commission.
The death had a lasting effect on Baer. He became less aggressive in the ring, moved towards showmanship, took up smoking and suffered nightmares. He went on to defeat Primo Carnera for the heavyweight championship four years later, but continued to describe Campbell’s death as the event that affected him more than anything else.
Source: The Fight City
