Champion Lou Plummer

Referee – March 11, 1939
By Lew Porter

Let it be distinctly understood, I have no great love for Lou Plummer. I can get along fine and dandy if I never see his battered mug again and I hate his big “I” bluster. I can’t stomach his dirty, underhand mat tactics and his constant bellyaching in the ring gives me a pain in the neck. He’s a great rough-and-tumble brawler, yes. He also knows scientific wrestling from A to Z, but you would never suspicion it from watching him in action. I think he got a “favorable decision” the night he won the title from Szabo. You’ll have to do a lot of high-powered vocalizing to sell me the idea that Mr. Plummer has ever been anything but an All-American heel.

It wouldn’t break my trusting heart if an opponent walloped Plummer over the noodle with a stool and spent the next thirty minutes stomping him in the face. He has it coming. I know a fellow in the Northwest Plummer put through the wringer with just such tactics. I also know a young chap in Tacoma who would give ten years of his life for just one more chance at the Missourian. And I’d hate to stand on one foot until that “beef” is squared. All in all, Mr. Plummer is marked plumb ornery on my tablet, and on the writing pads of a million or so other fans, also.

But I vote a hearty “no” to the rumor that Plummer is yellow. Regardless of my personal opinion of the man, I must admit he has more guts than an army mule. No honest fan, for all of his likes or dislikes, can get around that. Plummer stood up against Szabo’s punishing attack for an hour and battled through to win. He also won the nod over powerful Ivan Rasputin, with no odds asked and none given. He stands ready to defend his title against any man selected by Promoter Joe Malcewicz. These are hard, cold facts. You can’t get away from ’em.

Promoter Malcewicz should experience little difficulty in finding a suitable opponent for the new champ. There are three matsters in California right now who can “give and take” with “Larrupin’ Lou” until the cows come home.

Dean Detton, for instance. The former world’s champion has just returned from a victorious invasion of New Zealand and Australia, and is in the well-known pink of condition. I am sure he would welcome an exchange of wallops and holds with Plummer. Dean, one of the greatest matsters of the decade, should hand “Larrupin’ Lou” a much-needed wrestling lesson. He can also handle his dukes and elbows with the best of ’em, so there need be no worry along that line.

Ivan Managoff, the whirlwind Russian, is another newcomer who has the science and stamina to stand up under Plummer’s wild and wooly attack. Ivan packs pure TNT in both fists and is at his best in toe-to-toe mixing. How about a Plummer-Managoff match, Mr. Malcewicz?

Hans Kampfer, the Berlin Hercules, also rates a title shot. The German is big and strong and his “bear-hug” spells curtains. Think it over, a couple or three cracked ribs might be just what Plummer needs. It would give him time to ponder over his vices for a month or two.

I have a sneaking hunch any one of the three and Plummer would pack Dreamland Auditorium in the rafters. I also have a hunch Mr. Plummer is in for a damn fine shellacking whenever Promoter Malcewicz makes one of these matches. How about it, Mr. Promoter?