Career
Nova had Farr near a knockout in the 14th round when Referee Eddie Josephs started counting as he lay in the ropes. However, Farr resumed the fight after the count reached two. Both men were in a state of exhaustion in the last round.
This fight put Nova on the American boxing map as a potential heavyweight title contender.
He went on to defeat Max Baer in the first televised heavyweight prizefight June 1, 1939, on WNBT-television in New New York The left side of Baer"s face was battered out of shape after ten rounds of the most excruciating fighting he had ever undergone, and was bleeding so severely from a severe laceration of the lower lip he could hardly breathe when the referee stopped the bout.
Nova beat Baer again in 1941, although Nova was knocked down for a brief one count in the 4th from a Baer right hand. Baer was subsequently knocked down by a right for a nine count.
After he got up he was knocked down again by a right hand.
Referee Donovan stopped the bout when the count was at two. Nova was injured badly in a fight with Tony Galento and was treated in hospital, almost losing an eye. On September 29, 1941 he fought Joe Louis for the heavyweight title.
Nova was knocked down once in the 6th round.
Nova made a poor showing. The end was somewhat controversial because the fight was stopped with just one second left in the round when Nova arose unsteadily from the knockdown.
Nova went on to box four more years, losing bouts to Lee Savold, Tami Mauriello, Lee Oma, and Joe Baksi. After leaving the fight ring, he became an actor.
His motion picture debut was as Kid Mandell in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer"s Swing Fever (1943) starring Kay Kyser and Marilyn Maxwell.
Other movie roles include that as Hubert in the 20th Century Fox film noir crime drama Somewhere in the Night (1946) starring John Hodiak, and a cameo in Joe Palooka, Champ the same year. Nova acted in over 20 movies. He appeared in one stage role, that as O"Malley in the Broadway play The Happiest Millionaire (1956) starring Walter Pidgeon, which ran for 271 performances, in which Nova performed the popular baseball poem Casey at the British American Tobacco
Nova"s guest spots on television include Space Patrol, Hopalong Cassidy, General Electric Theater, 77 Sunset Strip, Shotgun Slade and Get Smart.
He was inducted into World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991, and into the Sacramento City College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999. Lou Nova died at age 78 in Sacramento, California.
