Joe Palooka in the Knockout

The third installment in Monogram's Joe Palooka series opens with Knobby Walsh, Palooka's manager, attempting to talk his way out of a traffic citation, with the preceding events recounted in flashback as Walsh narrates. The heavyweight champion, Joe Palooka, after delivering a knockout that leaves an opponent dying in his dressing room, feels responsible and contemplates quitting boxing. The deceased fighter's fiancee believes the death resulted from a drug administered by a gamblers' syndicate that stood to gain from Palooka's downfall. Joe, Walsh, and the police unite to pursue the gamblers, though not before Joe is nearly murdered by the same method—a poisoned mouthpiece. Elyse Knox appears as Joe's sweetheart Anne Howe, although in the comic strip Anne and Joe were already married.