Around 10,000 fans attended the outdoor championship card. Promoters had hoped for a considerably larger crowd, but those in attendance witnessed one of the division’s most memorable upsets.
The contest quickly developed into the kind of brutal fight both men welcomed. Zivic had built his reputation on roughhouse tactics that included thumbing, elbows, holding, and head clashes. Cochrane refused to be intimidated, matching the champion’s physical style while focusing much of his attack on the body with hard left hooks.
One of the bout’s most controversial moments came after Cochrane complained that Zivic repeatedly thumbed him in the eye. The challenger answered with a left hook below the belt, drawing a penalty from referee Joe Mangold, who awarded the round to the champion.
Cochrane maintained a relentless pace through much of the fight. Relentless pressure and effective body punching carried many of the early rounds, while Zivic relied heavily on straight right hands in search of momentum.
Zivic opened a cut over Cochrane’s eye in the 12th and rocked him in the 14th, raising hopes of a late comeback. Cochrane weathered the surge, answered with strong rallies, and forced Zivic backward before the final bell.
Mangold, serving as the lone scoring official under New Jersey rules, awarded the fight to Cochrane by a margin of seven rounds to four with four even. United Press scored the contest six rounds apiece with three even, illustrating how competitive the action became down the stretch.
Military service interrupted Cochrane’s reign after he enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942. His championship remained inactive throughout World War II before he returned to make his only title defense on February 1, 1946. Marty Servo stopped Cochrane in the fourth round at Madison Square Garden to win the welterweight championship.
Servo later relinquished the title because of a chronic nose injury, allowing Sugar Ray Robinson to capture the vacant championship that December. Zivic later defeated Cochrane in a non-title bout but never regained the welterweight crown, while Cochrane’s upset victory over the veteran champion remained the defining achievement of his career.
Read the full article here