WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.680 Imagine for a second that you're looking at the 00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:06.879 career of literally one of the greatest professional 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:09.019 fighters in the world. Right. Someone who stepped 00:00:09.019 --> 00:00:12.220 into the ring and amassed nearly 300 fights. 00:00:13.259 --> 00:00:15.339 Which, I mean, just the sheer volume of that 00:00:15.339 --> 00:00:18.239 is staggering. Oh, absolutely. But here's the 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:20.359 bizarre anomaly at the heart of today's deep 00:00:20.359 --> 00:00:24.239 dive. Out of all those victories, fighting in 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:26.379 the heaviest, most dangerous weight classes, 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:29.969 he... Well, he almost never knocked anyone out. 00:00:30.089 --> 00:00:32.289 Yeah, it completely subverts everything we expect 00:00:32.289 --> 00:00:34.929 from the sport, especially in the light heavyweight 00:00:34.929 --> 00:00:36.490 division. Right, because everybody wants to see 00:00:36.490 --> 00:00:39.189 the knockout. Exactly. The entire draw of boxing 00:00:39.189 --> 00:00:41.710 historically has been that promise of devastating 00:00:41.710 --> 00:00:44.649 power. I mean, the crowd pays to see a knockout. 00:00:44.750 --> 00:00:48.189 It's kind of like looking at the career of a 00:00:48.189 --> 00:00:50.390 world famous race car driver, somebody who wins 00:00:50.390 --> 00:00:52.090 championship after championship. But when you 00:00:52.090 --> 00:00:55.070 look at the telemetrics, you realize they never 00:00:55.070 --> 00:00:57.759 once drove above the speed limit. That is a brilliant 00:00:57.759 --> 00:00:59.939 way to put it. Right. Like they found a way to 00:00:59.939 --> 00:01:02.500 win while completely bypassing the fundamental 00:01:02.500 --> 00:01:06.120 expectation of the sport itself. And by bypassing 00:01:06.120 --> 00:01:08.920 that expectation, he managed to infuriate almost 00:01:08.920 --> 00:01:11.319 every single person who paid to watch him do 00:01:11.319 --> 00:01:14.430 it. which is wild. It really is. It sets up this 00:01:14.430 --> 00:01:17.310 totally fascinating conflict between, you know, 00:01:17.569 --> 00:01:19.810 substance and spectacle. So that brings us to 00:01:19.810 --> 00:01:22.609 our mission for today's Deep Dive. Looking through 00:01:22.609 --> 00:01:26.109 this stack of boxing archives, old athletic commission 00:01:26.109 --> 00:01:30.370 records, and classic Hollywood biographies, we 00:01:30.370 --> 00:01:33.730 are digging into the life and genuinely surreal 00:01:33.730 --> 00:01:36.909 career of Maxie Rosenblum. Such a fascinating 00:01:36.909 --> 00:01:39.950 guy. We want to uncover how a boxer with a heavily 00:01:39.950 --> 00:01:42.909 criticized just thoroughly unorthodox style, 00:01:43.450 --> 00:01:45.530 conquered the boxing world, and then somehow 00:01:45.530 --> 00:01:47.969 leveraged the exact caricature that people hated 00:01:47.969 --> 00:01:50.349 into this wildly successful Hollywood career. 00:01:50.569 --> 00:01:52.370 Yeah, so to set the biographical stage here, 00:01:52.409 --> 00:01:54.489 we are talking about Max Everett Rosenblum. He 00:01:54.489 --> 00:01:56.769 was born in Leonard Bridge, Connecticut in 1906. 00:01:57.530 --> 00:02:00.049 Though if you ever visit his headstone in California, 00:02:00.170 --> 00:02:02.829 it actually says 1907. Wait, really? Yeah, just 00:02:02.829 --> 00:02:04.790 the first of many weird little quirks in his 00:02:04.790 --> 00:02:07.609 story. But he occupies this incredibly rare space 00:02:07.609 --> 00:02:10.120 in American cultural history. How's that? On 00:02:10.120 --> 00:02:12.860 one hand, he's an inducted legend in the International 00:02:12.860 --> 00:02:15.740 Boxing Hall of Fame, the World Boxing Hall of 00:02:15.740 --> 00:02:18.460 Fame, and the Rings Boxing Hall of Fame. That's 00:02:18.460 --> 00:02:20.780 the triple crown right there. Right. But on the 00:02:20.780 --> 00:02:23.900 other hand, an entire generation of people remembers 00:02:23.900 --> 00:02:28.460 him not as a fighter, but as this beloved, goofy 00:02:28.460 --> 00:02:31.120 character actor from the golden age of cinema 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:34.020 and TV. Which is quite a leap. I mean, the journey 00:02:34.020 --> 00:02:37.319 from being a despised boxing champion to a beloved 00:02:37.319 --> 00:02:41.650 Hollywood actor is Well, it's huge. It's basically 00:02:41.650 --> 00:02:44.629 unprecedented. Okay, let's unpack this. To understand 00:02:44.629 --> 00:02:46.449 how we pulled that off, we have to understand 00:02:46.449 --> 00:02:48.879 the specific nature of his fighting style. You 00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:50.919 mentioned earlier that he infuriated people. 00:02:50.919 --> 00:02:53.139 Oh, they hated it. What was he actually doing 00:02:53.139 --> 00:02:55.919 in the ring to make crowds and critics so angry? 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:58.020 Well, to understand the anger, you kind of have 00:02:58.020 --> 00:03:01.719 to look at the data and just the reality of 1920s 00:03:01.719 --> 00:03:04.340 and 30s boxing. Right. Across his professional 00:03:04.340 --> 00:03:08.900 career, Maxey fought in 298 total bouts. 298. 00:03:09.020 --> 00:03:10.659 I mean, I have to stop you there, because modern 00:03:10.659 --> 00:03:13.300 fighters might have, what, 30, maybe 40 fights 00:03:13.300 --> 00:03:15.340 in an entire career? If they're lucky, yeah. 00:03:15.500 --> 00:03:17.560 Yeah. So stepping into a ring to get punched 00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:20.849 in the... the head almost 300 times is it's an 00:03:20.849 --> 00:03:23.030 endurance feat that's hard to even conceptualize. 00:03:23.289 --> 00:03:25.729 It really was a completely different era. I mean, 00:03:26.009 --> 00:03:28.270 fighters fought constantly just to make a living. 00:03:28.689 --> 00:03:32.270 And out of those 298 fights, Maxie walked away 00:03:32.270 --> 00:03:35.710 with 223 wins. OK, so he's winning a lot. He's 00:03:35.710 --> 00:03:38.590 winning constantly. But the statistic that defines 00:03:38.590 --> 00:03:41.990 his entire legacy is that out of those 223 victories, 00:03:42.710 --> 00:03:45.990 only 19 of them were by knockout. 19 knockouts 00:03:45.990 --> 00:03:48.689 in nearly 300 fights. Yeah. For a guy weighing 00:03:48.689 --> 00:03:51.979 over 170 pounds, that is... That's mathematically 00:03:51.979 --> 00:03:54.580 absurd. How was he winning these fights if he 00:03:54.580 --> 00:03:56.819 wasn't putting guys on the canvas. He was just 00:03:56.819 --> 00:03:59.719 a master of exploiting the point system. The 00:03:59.719 --> 00:04:02.400 archives show that Maxey relied heavily on hitting 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:04.740 and moving, but not with traditional planted 00:04:04.740 --> 00:04:07.180 power punches. OK, so what was he doing instead? 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:10.099 He utilized what was called an open -gloved style. 00:04:10.340 --> 00:04:12.759 Open gloves? Right. So instead of making a tight 00:04:12.759 --> 00:04:14.639 fist and throwing his body weight into a hook 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:17.079 or a cross, he would just flick his gloves. Wait, 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:19.699 like, literally? Literally. He would slap at 00:04:19.699 --> 00:04:22.220 his opponent's head and face, score a quick point 00:04:22.220 --> 00:04:24.870 on the judge's card, and then immediately dodge, 00:04:25.089 --> 00:04:28.029 weave, and move away. That is wild. Because he 00:04:28.029 --> 00:04:30.110 wasn't committing his weight to heavy punches, 00:04:30.509 --> 00:04:33.290 his balance was never compromised. It made it 00:04:33.290 --> 00:04:35.629 incredibly difficult for his opponents to actually 00:04:35.629 --> 00:04:38.449 hit him cleanly. Oh, because he's never leaning 00:04:38.449 --> 00:04:41.290 in. Exactly. So most of his fights just went 00:04:41.290 --> 00:04:44.629 the grueling 15 -round distance and ended in 00:04:44.629 --> 00:04:46.850 a decision. It sounds like, okay, it's like playing 00:04:46.850 --> 00:04:49.050 a competitive fighting video game where you just 00:04:49.050 --> 00:04:51.329 refuse to learn any of the heavy combo attacks. 00:04:51.350 --> 00:04:53.850 Uh -huh. Yes. Instead, you just learn the exact 00:04:53.550 --> 00:04:56.970 exact frame data of the game's point system. 00:04:57.389 --> 00:04:59.430 You tap your opponent with a one -point jab, 00:04:59.689 --> 00:05:01.910 and then you just perfectly dodge and backpedal 00:05:01.910 --> 00:05:03.689 until the round timer runs out. But that is a 00:05:03.689 --> 00:05:06.110 perfect description. You win on the scorecard, 00:05:06.370 --> 00:05:08.250 but the person you're playing against probably 00:05:08.250 --> 00:05:10.170 wants to throw their controller through the television. 00:05:10.389 --> 00:05:12.790 And that is exactly the frustration his opponents 00:05:12.790 --> 00:05:15.610 felt. He completely refused to engage in the 00:05:15.610 --> 00:05:18.589 bloodsport aspect of boxing, and it earned him 00:05:18.589 --> 00:05:21.550 a highly mocking nickname from the press and 00:05:21.550 --> 00:05:24.540 the public. Which was Papsimax. Papsimax, wow. 00:05:25.300 --> 00:05:27.800 But looking at the sources, they also mentioned 00:05:27.800 --> 00:05:30.000 he won a lot of these bouts through something 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:33.180 called newspaper decisions. Right, yes. If I'm 00:05:33.180 --> 00:05:35.839 trying to picture the mechanics of this, what 00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:38.699 exactly is a newspaper decision? Were journalists 00:05:38.699 --> 00:05:41.399 literally handing out trophies at the end of 00:05:41.399 --> 00:05:44.680 the fight? It's actually this bizarre quirk of 00:05:44.680 --> 00:05:48.040 early 20th century sports law. In many states 00:05:48.040 --> 00:05:50.819 at the time, gambling laws made it illegal to 00:05:50.819 --> 00:05:53.439 have official judges scoring a boxing match. 00:05:53.819 --> 00:05:56.029 Really? Why? They thought it would curb illegal 00:05:56.029 --> 00:05:58.430 betting. The law stated that unless there was 00:05:58.430 --> 00:06:01.110 a definitive knockout, the fight had to be declared 00:06:01.110 --> 00:06:03.709 a no decision. But human nature dictates that 00:06:03.709 --> 00:06:07.029 people still want to know who won. Exactly. So 00:06:07.029 --> 00:06:09.250 the sports writers sitting ringside would basically 00:06:09.250 --> 00:06:11.569 pull their opinions, tally up who they thought 00:06:11.569 --> 00:06:13.949 landed more punches, and publish their consensus 00:06:13.949 --> 00:06:16.629 in the next morning's newspaper. Oh, wow. So 00:06:16.629 --> 00:06:18.790 Maxey wasn't just gaming the official judges. 00:06:18.990 --> 00:06:21.829 No, not at all. He was gaming a jury of literal 00:06:21.829 --> 00:06:25.500 journalists sitting in the front row. He knew 00:06:25.500 --> 00:06:27.819 that if he just flicked enough open -glove jabs 00:06:27.819 --> 00:06:31.120 to visibly touch the other guy's face more often, 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:33.319 the newspapers would have to declare him the 00:06:33.319 --> 00:06:35.879 winner. Even if he didn't do any real damage. 00:06:36.680 --> 00:06:39.730 Precisely. He prioritized the substance of winning 00:06:39.730 --> 00:06:42.350 over the spectacle of brawling. Fascinating. 00:06:42.629 --> 00:06:45.029 And while the crowds booed him for being boring, 00:06:45.829 --> 00:06:48.930 true boxing minds recognized the absolute genius 00:06:48.930 --> 00:06:51.389 of his spatial awareness. I mean, this defensive 00:06:51.389 --> 00:06:54.189 approach profoundly influenced the future of 00:06:54.189 --> 00:06:56.709 the sport, tracing all the way to Custy Amato. 00:06:57.009 --> 00:06:59.589 Hold on a second. Custy Amato. Yes. Fist Amato 00:06:59.589 --> 00:07:02.470 trained Mike Tyson. He did. Tyson is arguably 00:07:02.470 --> 00:07:05.290 the most ferocious, aggressively offensive, power 00:07:05.290 --> 00:07:07.629 -punching heavyweight of our lifetimes. Are you 00:07:07.629 --> 00:07:09.529 telling me that Tyson's terrifying peek -a -boo 00:07:09.529 --> 00:07:12.129 style traces back to a guy famous for slapping 00:07:12.129 --> 00:07:14.370 and running away? It seems totally contradictory, 00:07:14.569 --> 00:07:16.889 right? Yeah. How does that math work? Well, you 00:07:16.889 --> 00:07:18.350 have to look at the mechanics of what DiMato 00:07:18.350 --> 00:07:21.449 valued. DiMato was obsessed with defense. He 00:07:21.449 --> 00:07:24.569 once said, and this is a direct quote, Rosenblum 00:07:24.569 --> 00:07:26.850 was probably the cleverest fighter I've ever 00:07:26.850 --> 00:07:29.730 seen, defensively. You just couldn't hit the 00:07:29.730 --> 00:07:33.339 man. I praise. Very high. D 'Amato observed that 00:07:33.339 --> 00:07:36.699 Maxi had developed a sort of radar, like an intuitive 00:07:36.699 --> 00:07:40.000 sixth sense for anticipating blows and moving 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:42.500 his head before the punch even landed. Oh, I 00:07:42.500 --> 00:07:44.560 see. And D 'Amato realized that if you could 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:47.220 teach a fighter that level of untouchable head 00:07:47.220 --> 00:07:49.500 movement, you wouldn't just use it to run away 00:07:49.500 --> 00:07:51.899 like Maxi did. Right. You could use that evasion 00:07:51.899 --> 00:07:54.500 to stay right in front of your opponent, slip 00:07:54.500 --> 00:07:56.819 their punch. and deliver a devastating counter. 00:07:57.240 --> 00:08:00.240 Exactly. That's the connection. OK. So Maxey 00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:02.459 proved that a human being could develop an almost 00:08:02.459 --> 00:08:05.319 supernatural radar to avoid getting hit. And 00:08:05.319 --> 00:08:07.220 D 'Amato just took that defensive foundation 00:08:07.220 --> 00:08:09.060 and basically strapped a rocket launcher to it. 00:08:09.160 --> 00:08:11.699 That is exactly it. But, you know, during Maxey's 00:08:11.699 --> 00:08:14.459 actual career, his defensive genius created a 00:08:14.459 --> 00:08:17.089 massive political problem. I can imagine. It's 00:08:17.089 --> 00:08:19.730 one thing to have a weird slapping style as a 00:08:19.730 --> 00:08:22.629 low level journeyman. It is another thing entirely 00:08:22.629 --> 00:08:25.189 to use that style to systematically dismantle 00:08:25.189 --> 00:08:27.470 the best fighters in the world and claim the 00:08:27.470 --> 00:08:29.649 undisputed championship. Because at that point, 00:08:29.990 --> 00:08:31.870 the boxing establishment can't just ignore you. 00:08:31.870 --> 00:08:33.549 They have to put you on their posters. Right. 00:08:33.970 --> 00:08:36.169 Let's look at his title run, because this is 00:08:36.169 --> 00:08:38.470 where the story shifts from a sports biography 00:08:38.470 --> 00:08:42.110 into a master class in institutional petty behavior. 00:08:42.190 --> 00:08:46.509 Oh, it really is. So on June 25, 1930 at Bison 00:08:46.509 --> 00:08:49.710 Stadium, Maxey fought Jimmy Slattery for the 00:08:49.710 --> 00:08:51.809 undisputed light heavyweight title. And how did 00:08:51.809 --> 00:08:54.590 that go? Maxey did what he always did. He flicked, 00:08:54.830 --> 00:08:57.330 he slapped, he moved, and he frustrated Slattery 00:08:57.330 --> 00:09:01.029 for 15 straight rounds. And he wins. Wow. He 00:09:01.029 --> 00:09:03.250 takes both the New York State Athletic Commission 00:09:03.250 --> 00:09:06.149 title and the Vacant Ring Magazine title. OK, 00:09:06.210 --> 00:09:08.730 so he is officially the champion of the world. 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:11.960 And to be clear, the archives show this wasn't 00:09:11.960 --> 00:09:14.320 a fluke. Not at all. He successfully defended 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:17.399 his title seven times. He held the undisputed 00:09:17.399 --> 00:09:20.139 crown twice during his reign, beating legitimate 00:09:20.139 --> 00:09:22.840 contenders like John Henry Lewis and Vicki Walker. 00:09:23.100 --> 00:09:25.980 He was undeniably the best in the world at scoring 00:09:25.980 --> 00:09:30.460 points. But here's the catch. Boxing wasn't governed 00:09:30.460 --> 00:09:33.539 by a single logical body back then. Right, it 00:09:33.539 --> 00:09:35.799 never really is. You had this alphabet soup of 00:09:35.799 --> 00:09:38.830 commissions. the New York State Athletic Commission, 00:09:39.070 --> 00:09:42.549 or NYSAC, controlled the massive New York market. 00:09:42.860 --> 00:09:45.940 Ring Magazine represented the purist lineage. 00:09:46.700 --> 00:09:48.820 And then you had the National Boxing Association, 00:09:49.019 --> 00:09:51.340 or the NBA, which represented most of the other 00:09:51.340 --> 00:09:54.279 states. And the NBA was inherently a business 00:09:54.279 --> 00:09:56.980 organization. They needed to sell tickets. Exactly. 00:09:57.580 --> 00:10:00.320 And Maxi Rosenblum's fights were notoriously 00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:02.679 boring to the casual fan. So think about your 00:10:02.679 --> 00:10:04.419 own job for a second if you're listening to this. 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:07.519 Imagine you are the absolute top performer in 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:10.059 your entire company. You close more deals than 00:10:10.059 --> 00:10:12.440 anyone else. You shatter every quota. You follow 00:10:12.440 --> 00:10:14.820 every single rule the employee handbook. Right. 00:10:14.940 --> 00:10:17.240 But then upper management decides to demote you 00:10:17.240 --> 00:10:19.200 simply because they think your sales emails aren't 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:21.519 written with enough enthusiasm. Huh. That's exactly 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:24.059 what it was like. I mean, is it fair for a governing 00:10:24.059 --> 00:10:26.779 institution to strip you of your status just 00:10:26.779 --> 00:10:28.779 because they don't find your methods aesthetically 00:10:28.779 --> 00:10:31.139 pleasing? Fair or not, that was the reality of 00:10:31.139 --> 00:10:34.679 the boxing business. In June of 1931, the NBA 00:10:34.679 --> 00:10:36.860 stripped Maxey of his title. Just like that? 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:39.669 Yep. They used the excuse that he failed to defend 00:10:39.669 --> 00:10:42.289 it in a timely manner against their preferred 00:10:42.289 --> 00:10:45.570 contenders. Did you care? Not really. Maxey mostly 00:10:45.570 --> 00:10:47.549 ignored them, kept defending his other titles, 00:10:47.750 --> 00:10:49.909 and eventually won the NBA title back anyway. 00:10:50.029 --> 00:10:53.129 That is hilarious. But the establishment's frustration 00:10:53.129 --> 00:10:56.470 finally boiled over a few years later. On September 00:10:56.470 --> 00:11:00.070 17, 1934, the National Boxing Association held 00:11:00.070 --> 00:11:02.909 their annual meeting. And during this meeting, 00:11:02.970 --> 00:11:06.679 they made a formal, almost comical ruling. They 00:11:06.679 --> 00:11:08.480 stripped him of his championship again. And the 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:10.320 official justification they wrote down is just 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:12.840 incredible. They ruled that Maxey had, quote, 00:11:13.039 --> 00:11:15.820 violated every law of boxing by his slapping 00:11:15.820 --> 00:11:18.120 and flicking tactics in the ring. It's absurd. 00:11:18.279 --> 00:11:20.559 They literally legislated against his style. 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:23.240 He wasn't putting horseshoes in his gloves. He 00:11:23.240 --> 00:11:26.700 wasn't bribing referees He was just so intense 00:11:26.700 --> 00:11:29.399 look annoying to them because he refused to stand 00:11:29.399 --> 00:11:31.279 in the middle of the ring and bleed for the audience 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:33.679 Exactly. They couldn't beat him within the rules 00:11:33.679 --> 00:11:36.159 of the sport So they literally held a committee 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:38.919 meeting to change the definition of winning Wow, 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:41.759 the establishment demanded a gladiator and maxi 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:44.259 was giving them a master class in spatial geometry 00:11:44.259 --> 00:11:47.259 But ultimately the relentless schedule and age 00:11:47.259 --> 00:11:50.200 did catch up to him Later that year, in November 00:11:50.200 --> 00:11:53.360 of 1934, he lost his remaining titles in the 00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:57.179 ring to Bob Olin in a 15 -round decision. OK, 00:11:57.240 --> 00:11:59.559 so we arrive at a critical pivot point in his 00:11:59.559 --> 00:12:02.480 life. He's aging out of a grueling sport. He's 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:04.600 been repeatedly stripped of his titles by men 00:12:04.600 --> 00:12:07.460 in suits. Yeah. And the sports critics have spent 00:12:07.460 --> 00:12:09.460 a decade writing about him like he's a clown, 00:12:09.639 --> 00:12:12.059 like he's a goofy, slapping, non -threatening 00:12:12.059 --> 00:12:14.159 heavyweight who won't fight, quote unquote, like 00:12:14.159 --> 00:12:16.750 a real man. Right. At this point, most athletes 00:12:16.750 --> 00:12:19.629 would either sink into obscurity or become incredibly 00:12:19.629 --> 00:12:22.549 better. But Maxey executed one of the most brilliant 00:12:22.549 --> 00:12:25.870 psychological shifts in sports history. He looked 00:12:25.870 --> 00:12:29.049 at the caricature the media had built. You know, 00:12:29.269 --> 00:12:31.929 the punch -drunk, clumsy, laughable lug. And 00:12:31.929 --> 00:12:34.289 he realized it was an asset. Here's where it 00:12:34.289 --> 00:12:37.649 gets really interesting. In 1937... Two full 00:12:37.649 --> 00:12:39.970 years before he even officially announced his 00:12:39.970 --> 00:12:42.769 retirement from boxing, he began accepting roles 00:12:42.769 --> 00:12:45.610 in Hollywood films. But how does a guy everyone 00:12:45.610 --> 00:12:48.029 hates in the ring suddenly get cast in major 00:12:48.029 --> 00:12:51.149 motion pictures? Was Hollywood exploiting Maxie 00:12:51.149 --> 00:12:53.590 or was Maxie brilliantly exploiting Hollywood? 00:12:54.029 --> 00:12:56.330 Did he just walk onto a studio lot and ask for 00:12:56.330 --> 00:12:58.669 a job? It had a lot to do with the studio system 00:12:58.669 --> 00:13:01.370 of the 1930s. Hollywood was churning out hundreds 00:13:01.370 --> 00:13:03.789 of movies a year, and they relied heavily on 00:13:03.789 --> 00:13:06.210 character actors. Right, people who could immediately 00:13:06.210 --> 00:13:08.269 project a specific type the moment they stepped 00:13:08.269 --> 00:13:11.259 on screen. Exactly. Maxie realized he already 00:13:11.259 --> 00:13:14.159 possessed a massive publicly recognized type. 00:13:14.440 --> 00:13:16.980 He didn't try to be a leading man. He leaned 00:13:16.980 --> 00:13:20.139 entirely into the slapsy persona. He played comical, 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:22.419 sympathetic big guys. And he wasn't just doing 00:13:22.419 --> 00:13:24.519 zero budget background work either. He was landing 00:13:24.519 --> 00:13:27.379 high profile gigs. Oh, absolutely. He's in a 00:13:27.379 --> 00:13:31.820 1939 movie called Each Dawn I Die, starring massive 00:13:31.820 --> 00:13:34.519 A -list names like James Cagney and George Raft. 00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:37.399 He did slapstick comedy shorts for Columbia Pictures, 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:39.669 teaming up with another veteran boxing champ 00:13:39.669 --> 00:13:43.110 Max Baer. He even transitioned to radio doing 00:13:43.110 --> 00:13:45.899 comedy skits with Marlene Dietrich. on The Fred 00:13:45.899 --> 00:13:48.059 Allen Show. It's amazing. I mean, it requires 00:13:48.059 --> 00:13:50.279 a tremendous amount of emotional intelligence 00:13:50.279 --> 00:13:52.639 to let people laugh at you and to figure out 00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:55.340 how to charge them admission for the privilege. 00:13:55.620 --> 00:13:58.320 It really does. He understood personal branding 00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:01.279 decades before the term even existed. And his 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:03.519 business acumen went far beyond just learning 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:06.179 lines. He capitalized on his name by opening 00:14:06.179 --> 00:14:09.259 his own nightclub. Right, Slapsy Maxies, which 00:14:09.259 --> 00:14:11.799 is just the ultimate flex. It really is. The 00:14:11.799 --> 00:14:14.279 press gives you this insulting nickname to mock 00:14:14.279 --> 00:14:16.720 your life. work and you use it as the marquee 00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:19.279 for a premier nightlife destination. Exactly. 00:14:19.639 --> 00:14:21.580 The club originally operated in San Francisco 00:14:21.580 --> 00:14:23.899 and later moved down to Los Angeles. It operated 00:14:23.899 --> 00:14:26.559 on Wilshire Boulevard and then Beverly Boulevard 00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:28.519 throughout the 1940s. And it was successful. 00:14:28.700 --> 00:14:31.740 It was a massive success. It was so iconic for 00:14:31.740 --> 00:14:34.320 that specific era of Los Angeles history that 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:36.240 you might actually know it if you've seen the 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:40.139 2013 crime film Gangster Squad. It was prominently 00:14:40.139 --> 00:14:42.820 featured as a key location in that movie. Oh, 00:14:42.940 --> 00:14:45.220 right. Yeah. Maxi was completely in on the joke. 00:14:45.419 --> 00:14:47.179 He owned the narrative. He owned the physical 00:14:47.179 --> 00:14:49.399 venue, and he was the one cashing the checks. 00:14:50.080 --> 00:14:52.919 However, when someone leans that heavily into 00:14:52.919 --> 00:14:55.919 a self -deprecating persona, the lines between 00:14:55.919 --> 00:14:58.500 the performance and reality often begin to blur. 00:14:58.679 --> 00:15:01.220 Yes, they do. And the biographies take a very 00:15:01.220 --> 00:15:03.759 sobering turn when we look at his later years. 00:15:04.539 --> 00:15:07.120 Maxie played the punch -drunk X -Boxer for laughs, 00:15:07.240 --> 00:15:10.179 but eventually the art began to tragically imitate 00:15:10.179 --> 00:15:13.899 his actual life. It really did. In 1956, Maxie 00:15:13.899 --> 00:15:16.220 was cast in a landmark piece of broadcasting. 00:15:16.679 --> 00:15:18.960 It was television's first 90 -minute live drama. 00:15:19.159 --> 00:15:21.519 A teleplay written by Rod Serling, who would 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:23.759 later create The Twilight Zone. Oh, wow. The 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:25.720 play was called Requiem for a Heavyweight. That 00:15:25.720 --> 00:15:28.159 is a legendary piece of television history. It 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:30.460 stars Jack Palance as a boxer at the absolute 00:15:30.460 --> 00:15:32.840 end of his physical rope, terrified because he 00:15:32.840 --> 00:15:34.779 doesn't know how to exist outside the ring. It's 00:15:34.779 --> 00:15:38.179 a very heavy, dramatic... brutal look at the 00:15:38.179 --> 00:15:40.879 human cost of the sport. And in that drama, Maxie 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:42.659 Rose in Bloom plays a supporting character named 00:15:42.659 --> 00:15:46.620 Steve. Steve is an ex -boxer whose entire existence 00:15:46.620 --> 00:15:49.320 has been reduced to sitting in a dingy bar night 00:15:49.320 --> 00:15:52.500 after night, endlessly pantomiming old fights 00:15:52.500 --> 00:15:54.879 and retelling stories to other forgotten fighters. 00:15:55.539 --> 00:15:58.279 Within the narrative of the play, Maxie's character 00:15:58.279 --> 00:16:02.000 serves as a ghost of things to come, like a grim, 00:16:02.039 --> 00:16:05.000 living warning of the fate that looms over Jack 00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:08.100 Palance's character. if he can't adapt to normal 00:16:08.100 --> 00:16:11.159 life. It is hauntingly meta. It's like a comedian 00:16:11.159 --> 00:16:13.620 who spends 20 years on stage doing a brilliant 00:16:13.620 --> 00:16:16.000 routine about how broken and miserable their 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:18.379 life is only to wake up one morning and realize 00:16:18.379 --> 00:16:21.480 the stage persona isn't a joke anymore. Exactly. 00:16:21.480 --> 00:16:23.639 It's become their actual unavoidable reality. 00:16:23.820 --> 00:16:26.299 Maxie was essentially cast to play the darkest 00:16:26.299 --> 00:16:28.940 possible outcome of his own life. And the tragedy 00:16:28.940 --> 00:16:31.500 goes far deeper than just the emotional resonance 00:16:31.500 --> 00:16:33.779 of a television role. We have to look at the 00:16:33.779 --> 00:16:36.259 clinical reality of his career. We spent the 00:16:36.259 --> 00:16:39.159 first half of this deep dive marveling at his 00:16:39.159 --> 00:16:41.840 defensive brilliance, his radar, his ability 00:16:41.840 --> 00:16:44.779 to avoid the knockout blow. Sure. But we also 00:16:44.779 --> 00:16:48.019 established the sheer staggering volume of his 00:16:48.019 --> 00:16:52.919 career. 298 fights. Thousands of rounds of boxing. 00:16:53.259 --> 00:16:54.679 You mean, even if you are the best defensive 00:16:54.679 --> 00:16:56.639 fighter on earth, even if you were just rolling 00:16:56.639 --> 00:16:58.360 with the punches and avoiding the heavy shots, 00:16:58.700 --> 00:17:01.100 if you stand in a professional boxing ring that 00:17:01.100 --> 00:17:04.359 many times, your brain is still absorbing trauma. 00:17:04.740 --> 00:17:07.460 Exactly. The human skull is just not meant to 00:17:07.460 --> 00:17:10.329 absorb subconcussive impacts for a living. The 00:17:10.329 --> 00:17:12.450 historical medical records note that the sheer 00:17:12.450 --> 00:17:14.849 accumulation of punches Maxey received to the 00:17:14.849 --> 00:17:17.690 head across his 15 -year career eventually led 00:17:17.690 --> 00:17:20.130 to severe neurological decline. That's awful. 00:17:20.210 --> 00:17:22.150 And the deterioration of his motor functions. 00:17:22.410 --> 00:17:24.349 And this is where his famous moniker takes on 00:17:24.349 --> 00:17:27.950 an incredibly dark weight. Oh. The nickname Slapsy 00:17:27.950 --> 00:17:30.430 Maxey, which originally described his clever, 00:17:30.650 --> 00:17:33.450 open -gloved boxing style, eventually took on 00:17:33.450 --> 00:17:36.130 a tragic second meaning as he began to physically 00:17:36.130 --> 00:17:38.750 decline and lose control of his movements. That 00:17:38.750 --> 00:17:41.180 is heartbreaking. The very name that made him 00:17:41.180 --> 00:17:43.980 a champion, the name that he put in neon lights 00:17:43.980 --> 00:17:47.359 above a Hollywood nightclub, slowly morphed into 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:49.980 a literal description of his brain damage. Yeah, 00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:52.940 it's a tough reality to face. But the archives 00:17:52.940 --> 00:17:55.180 also mention he passed away from something called 00:17:55.180 --> 00:17:58.339 Paget's disease of bone. Just a clarity, because 00:17:58.339 --> 00:18:01.160 we are talking about head trauma. Is Paget's 00:18:01.160 --> 00:18:03.680 disease a result of his boxing career? No, and 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:05.579 it's really important to distinguish the two. 00:18:05.859 --> 00:18:08.640 Paget's disease of bone is a chronic, separate 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:11.099 medical condition that disrupts the body's normal 00:18:11.099 --> 00:18:13.859 process of recycling old bone tissue. OK, so 00:18:13.859 --> 00:18:16.380 it's unrelated. Right. It leads to fragile and 00:18:16.380 --> 00:18:18.759 misshapen bones, but it is not caused by boxing. 00:18:19.160 --> 00:18:21.859 But it means that in his final years, Maxey was 00:18:21.859 --> 00:18:24.900 basically battling a war on two fronts. He was 00:18:24.900 --> 00:18:27.140 dealing with the debilitating neurological effects 00:18:27.140 --> 00:18:29.740 of his 300 fights while simultaneously suffering 00:18:29.740 --> 00:18:32.839 from this painful, unrelated bone disease. He 00:18:32.839 --> 00:18:35.420 lived with that physical decline for years, eventually 00:18:35.420 --> 00:18:38.599 passing away at the age of 69 on March 6, 1976, 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:41.299 at a convalescent hospital in South Pasadena. 00:18:41.579 --> 00:18:44.119 Wow. So what does this all mean for us today? 00:18:45.500 --> 00:18:47.960 When we step back and look at the entirety of 00:18:47.960 --> 00:18:50.950 Maxie Rosenblum's life... The through line is 00:18:50.950 --> 00:18:53.829 incredibly clear. It really is. For me, Maxie 00:18:53.829 --> 00:18:56.069 teaches us about the profound power of owning 00:18:56.069 --> 00:18:59.150 your weirdness and recognizing when to pivot. 00:19:00.029 --> 00:19:02.549 He was a master of substance in a world that 00:19:02.549 --> 00:19:05.150 demanded spectacle. Perfectly so. He had a style 00:19:05.150 --> 00:19:09.170 the purists hated. He was mocked. He was literally 00:19:09.170 --> 00:19:11.710 legislated against by committees of men in suits, 00:19:11.809 --> 00:19:15.480 but he refused to conform. He turned a slapping 00:19:15.480 --> 00:19:17.900 defensive style into a Hall of Fame career. And 00:19:17.900 --> 00:19:20.559 then reinvented himself again. Exactly. When 00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:22.819 the athletic world discarded him, he took the 00:19:22.819 --> 00:19:25.000 very insult they used to degrade him, slapped 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:27.380 it on a nightclub, and spun it into a prolific 00:19:27.380 --> 00:19:29.519 Hollywood second act. He was the ultimate survivor 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:32.619 in two notoriously ruthless industries. But if 00:19:32.619 --> 00:19:34.579 there is a final thought to pull from his story, 00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:36.980 I think we have to return to Cus DeMoto. Okay. 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:39.440 DeMoto watched Maxie's incredible, intuitive 00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:41.819 defense and believed he had found the blueprint 00:19:41.819 --> 00:19:44.500 to engineer the perfect untouchable fighter. 00:19:44.599 --> 00:19:46.559 Right, the radar. He thought that with enough 00:19:46.559 --> 00:19:48.940 skill a human being could step into the ring 00:19:48.940 --> 00:19:51.240 and completely avoid the consequences of the 00:19:51.240 --> 00:19:54.599 violence. Right. But looking at the tragic physical 00:19:54.599 --> 00:19:57.960 reality of Maxi Rosenblum's final years, we have 00:19:57.960 --> 00:20:00.829 to ask ourselves a harder question. Is it ever 00:20:00.829 --> 00:20:03.430 truly possible to play a dangerous game and remain 00:20:03.430 --> 00:20:06.250 untouchable? Or does the sheer volume of time 00:20:06.250 --> 00:20:08.490 spent in the arena guarantee that, eventually, 00:20:08.890 --> 00:20:11.369 no matter how good your radar is, the arena always 00:20:11.369 --> 00:20:13.309 collects its toll? It all comes back to the race 00:20:13.309 --> 00:20:15.769 car driver. You can drive the speed limit perfectly 00:20:15.769 --> 00:20:18.210 your entire career. You can flawlessly avoid 00:20:18.210 --> 00:20:20.670 every single crash on the track. But after 300 00:20:20.670 --> 00:20:22.970 races, the inescapable vibration of the road 00:20:22.970 --> 00:20:24.710 is still going to rattle the engine to pieces.