In July, 1935, he travelled to Paris to fight in the International amateur tournament and there he so impressed Jeff Dickson, British promoter, and Georges Carpentier, former French champion, that they convinced him that he should turn professional. He turned pro on his return to the United States and was taken in hand by Ray Carlan.
After suffering a defeat at the fists of the clever veteran, Maxie Rosenbloom, Nova started to climb rapidly and reached the top through his clear-cut wins over Farr and Bar lund Nova handed Farr the worst beating the Welsh miner ever suffered. far worse than the defeats at the fists of Louis, Baer and Braddock. Many of Baer's partisans, however, point out that Nova beat Farr after Malayan Prince Marries Tailor's Daughter
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.