Gunnar Barlund

[Boxing_12]

A fighter that is never talked about in the boxing world! He was European Amateur champion at heavyweight in Budapest, Hungary in 1934; beat H. P. Floyd of England in the final.

Had over 80 fights. Stopped Buddy Bear, and even made the front cover of a ring magazine.

He was also from Finland, a country that dosent get to many good boxers. any footage of him around, billy conn stopped him in 8.

[TheGreatA]

Here's some footage of one of his last fights:

http://www.yle.fi/player/player.jsp?...d=7290&locale=

Likely the best boxer that Finland ever produced, not that too many boxers have come out of Finland. He was once ranked number 3 (early on in his career) and another time number 2 contender (after stopping Baer) for Joe Louis' title by the Ring Magazine, unfortunately Bärlund was injured when the fight was close to being made.

Bärlund was a strong body puncher. His best ever display was against the giant Buddy Baer when he stopped the much bigger man with a relentless body attack. Another one of his big wins was avenging an earlier loss in the Olympics against Alberto Lovell, the Olympic gold medalist. Bärlund outpointed Lovell in the pros.

[Boxing_12]

Here's some footage of one of his last fights:

http://www.yle.fi/player/player.jsp?...d=7290&locale=

Likely the best boxer that Finland ever produced, not that too many boxers have come out of Finland. He was once ranked number 3 (early on in his career) and another time number 2 contender (after stopping Baer) for Joe Louis' title by the Ring Magazine, unfortunately Bärlund was injured when the fight was close to being made.

Bärlund was a strong body puncher. His best ever display was against the giant Buddy Baer when he stopped the much bigger man with a relentless body attack. Another one of his big wins was avenging an earlier loss in the Olympics against Alberto Lovell, the Olympic gold medalist. Bärlund outpointed Lovell in the pros.

Is he a icon in Finland? And how do you think he would of faired against Louis, and did Conn just destroy him?

[TheGreatA]

There was a lot of controversy about the Billy Conn-Gunnar Bärlund fight.

I don't know all the details but Bärlund ended up losing his purse and was suspended for a year by the Illinois athletic commission because the fight was suspected of being a possible fix or atleast a quitjob. No one thought Conn could stop the much bigger, durable Bärlund.

According to Bärlund's own words, the fight was competitive, a little too competitive in fact (putting the Louis-Conn bout at risk) until his crooked manager Paul Damski decided to throw in the towel for reasons unknown to him. His manager stated he stopped the fight due to a cut although the ring doctor had allowed Bärlund to continue. Bärlund never forgave him, and testified against his manager, claiming he was not in on anything and wanted to fight on.

[Boxing_12]

There was a lot of controversy about the Billy Conn-Gunnar Bärlund fight.

I don't know all the details but Bärlund ended up losing his purse and was suspended for a year by the Illinois athletic commission because the fight was suspected of being a possible fix or atleast a quitjob. No one thought Conn could stop the much bigger, durable Bärlund.

According to Bärlund's own words, the fight was competitive, a little too competitive in fact (putting the Louis-Conn bout at risk) until his crooked manager Paul Damski decided to throw in the towel for reasons unknown to him. His manager stated he stopped the fight due to a cut although the ring doctor had allowed Bärlund to continue. Bärlund never forgave him, and testified against his manager, claiming he was not in on anything and wanted to fight on.

Wow, so he was giving Conn a good fight, and why did Barlund's manager stop it?

Do you think Louis would of stopped Barlund?

[TheGreatA]

Is he a icon in Finland? And how do you think he would of faired against Louis, and did Conn just destroy him?

He was very popular in his own time but he has largely been forgotten about today.

Here's a statue that was built in his honour:





A couple of pictures:

[TheGreatA]

Picture from the Conn bout:

[Boxing_12]

Picture from the Conn bout:

I thought you would provide some insightfull information, thanks mate.

[TheGreatA]

Wow, so he was giving Conn a good fight, and why did Barlund's manager stop it?

Do you think Louis would of stopped Barlund?

According to Bärlund's own words that is. I have not read any good accounts on the fight yet, most have been dealing with the aftermath (the trial with Bärlund and his manager).

Louis would have likely stopped Bärlund who would have been a sitting target to his punches. Now Bärlund was tough but throughout his career he had a problem with cuts. Louis would have cut him up and TKO'd him with sharp punching. The one thing that may have worked in Bärlund's favour was that he could have crowded Louis as was his style, which Louis admitted was a bit of a weakness of his.

I believe the only man to cleanly KO Bärlund was Tommy Gomez at the very end of Bärlund's long career. GJC's favorite Joe Baksi stopped Bärlund in the last round of their fight which is listed as a KO but from what I've read it was a technical stoppage.

[Boxing_12]

According to Bärlund's own words that is. I have not read any good accounts on the fight yet, most have been dealing with the aftermath (the trial with Bärlund and his manager).

Louis would have likely stopped Bärlund who would have been a sitting target to his punches. Now Bärlund was tough but throughout his career he had a problem with cuts. Louis would have cut him up and TKO'd him with sharp punching. The one thing that may have worked in Bärlund's favour was that he could have crowded Louis as was his style, which Louis admitted was a bit of a weakness of his.

I believe the only man to cleanly KO Bärlund was Tommy Gomez at the very end of Bärlund's long career. GJC's favorite Joe Baksi stopped Bärlund in the last round of their fight which is listed as a KO but from what I've read it was a technical stoppage.

Interesting. How do you think Barlund would of fared against other heavyweights of his era Baer, Schelmling, Walker, Abe Simon etc.