by seven pounds. Painful loss to Gunar Barlund Baer lost to gifted Finnish boxer Gunnar Barlund on March 4, 1938, before 8,565 fans in a seventh-round technical knockout at Madison Square Garden. Baer had a forty-pound weight advantage over Barlund, and -inch advantage in height, but lacked stamina and heart as the fight progressed. Baer performed well in the first, cutting Barlund's forehead and nose with stinging left jabs and an occasional right, while Barlund lost points for low blows. In the second, however, Gunnar reached Baer with a few punches and then getting his range, took the second, third, and fourth. Baer maintained an edge in the fifth, and though both showed fatigue, Gunnar took the sixth, scoring at least ten straight rights and lefts without a return. In the seventh, Barlund drove Baer into the ropes with a heavy barrage. He followed him across the ring when Baer retreated and continued his attack, Baer seeming to give up, dropping his hands to his sides during the attack, and after coming from a clinch signaling the referee to end the fight. The referee asked Baer, apparently hurt, if he wished to continue, and decided to stop the fight, 1:36 into the seventh. Baer made no excuses for his performances but believed his layoff from the ring had affected his timing and ability to connect punches, particularly his right. Barlund successfully circled away from Baer's hard overhand right. Three wins; Savold, Mann, and Blackshear He defeated Lee Savold in an important match on October 30, 1939, in an eight-round newspaper decision before 3,500 in Des Moine, Iowa. After a brief exchange, Baer had his opponent down for a count of eight in the first round from a right uppercut, and though Savold battled hard in the remaining rounds, he struggled to connect blows after his rough first round. Most reporters gave five rounds to Baer with only two to Savold in the hotly contested match. He defeated Nathan Mann on May 3, 1940, before 5000, in a seventh-round technical knockout at New York's Madison Square Garden. In the match, Baer took the first four rounds, but Mann took the next four with cutting hooks to the head and body. A savage right hook in the opening of the seventh severely cut Mann's eye, causing his handlers to end the fight. Winning in a three-round technical knockout before 4,000 fans, he