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Jock (Charles King), foreman of Fred Mullins' (Frank Ball) is supposed
to fight fighting champ Spike Sullivan (Kit Guard) in a prizefight, but
then Jock is beaten down by drifter Brick Loren (Bob Steele), and all of a
sudden, Fred Mullins decides to let Brick fight the champ instead, to
which Brick reluctantly agrees, at least in part thanks to Mullins lovely
niece Jean (Arletta Duncan).
But the champ is actually washed out, a fighter way past his
prime, so his manager Nifty Harmon (George Chesebro) tries to bribe first
Jock to lose the fight (who even agrees to it, even though he won't even
be fighting, but Harmon doesn't know that yet), then, when he learns that
Brick is actually Spike's opponent, he tries to bribe him into losing as
well ... but Brick refuses.
Still, Jock tells everyone that Brick accepted the bribe, and those who
have placed their bets on Brick, Mullins included, now threaten to shoot
him should he throw the fight. And on the day of the fight, Jock poisons
Brick's coffee ...
Even before the fight starts, Brick complains about pains in his
stomach, but he dares not not to fight, and Jock suggests his pains are
just an alibi. During the fight, Brick gets weaker by the minute, and in
the third round, just as Jock has predicted, he breaks down and is counted
out. All the townsfolks who placed their money on Brick are furious and
want to lynch him, and it takes the Sheriff (Lafe McKee) to at least get
him to a doctor. Meanwhile Jock knocks out Nifty Harmon and steals all the
betting money Harmon has won, then he tries to get away with it, but Brick
and Spike follow in hot pursuit, eventually stop him, and Jock and Brick
get into a fistfight, which Brick wins knocking Jock out - but when the
townsfolks who have followed them see this, they are more than ever
convinced that Brick actually threw the fight, and they want to tar and
feather both Brick and Spike ... until Pete (Gabby Hayes), Brick's boxing
coach, arrives at the scene with the poisoned coffee, proving Brick's
innocence for good. And when nifty Harmon's money is found on Jock, he is
proven the villain of the story ...
Many of the early talkie Monogram Westerns starring Bob Steele
and later John Wayne featured unusual stories and storyelements, and this
one is no exception, being a boxing film as much as a Western, and
featuring more fistfights than shoot-outs. Now admittedly, the film is
neither Raging Bull nor, let's say, Stagecoach, to pick a
classic of each genre, but it's an hour of good, well-paced entertainment,
and it's definitely more fun than the Rocky series.
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