succeeded in connecting with solid lefts to Galento's head and both lefts and rights to his body.<ref>Buddy Baer Stops Tony, "Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, New York, pg. 25, 9 April 1941.</ref> World heavy title contender The highlight of his boxing career came in his two attempts to take the heavyweight boxing championship from Joe Louis. In their first fight on May 23, 1941, Baer caught Louis with a powerful left hook in the first round and knocked the champion out of the ring. Louis, however, hurt but unfazed, climbed back in before the count of ten, though many ringside believed Louis benefited from a long count. Louis eventually won the fight on a disqualification after he had knocked down Baer three times in the sixth. Baer claimed that his third knockdown came shortly after the bell had rung to end the sixth round. In the seventh, when Baer's handlers refused to leave the ring as they protested what they believed was a late hit in the sixth, the referee, Arthur Donovan, disqualified Baer in a technical knockout for not resuming the match. In a controversial decision, the referee believed the last hit came before or during the final bell, but most ringside officials, including the Official Timekeeper, Knockdown Timekeeper, and both judges believed the final blow came after the bell which should have disqualified Louis. The final decision of the boxing commissioner favored the referee, and Louis retained the title. Regardless of the decision, many ringside believed Louis would have eventually won the fight, as he punished Baer repeatedly in the sixth, and had fully recovered from his knockdown in the first. Baer, nonetheless, came closer to defeating Louis and taking the title than any of the other opponents Louis would face, until losing to Ezzard Charles in 1950.The last hit came after the bell in Considine, Bob, "Buddy Baer Seen Dethroning Louis", Democrat and Chronicle, New York, New York, pg. 21, 25 May 1941. In their rematch in Madison Square Garden, on January 9, 1942, before an estimated crowd of 19,000, Louis knocked Baer out in the first, after downing him two previous times. His second knockdown, after a barrage of blows and a thundering left hook, resulted in a count of nine. After rising to his feet again, Baer was battered around the ring and floored for the last time with a straight right to the head that