Joe Palooka in the Knockout is a 1947 American comedy film directed by Reginald Le Borg.

The original title for the film was “Than Guy Palooka.”[2] A distraught Joe Palooka doesn't want to fight any more after believing he killed an opponent in the ring.

Joe doesn't know that gamblers John Mitchell and Howard Abbott conspired to drug the victim by blackmailing his manager, Max Steele, who unwittingly caused the boxer's death.

Nightclub owner Abbott, after hiring Nina to sing, plots to have Joe killed in his upcoming bout by once again using a poisoned mouthguard.

Film historian Wheeler W. Dixon notes the demimonde atmosphere that pervades Joe Palooka in the Knockout: “Grubby, dangerous, and controlled by shadowy forces who have only their own interests at heart.”[4]