Joe Louis
Titles: World heavyweight champion 1937-1949
Record: 68-3
Born: May 13, 1914 in Lafayette, AL, USA
Years active: 1934-1951
Nickname: The Brown Bomber
Where do you start with a great fighter like Joe Louis? His crippling power, killer
instinct, supreme balance or the great hand eye coordination? Maybe the way he took
small steps toward his prey slowly shuffling in for the kill, always seeking even
the smallest of openings with his stinging left jab. Perhaps his quite dignity
which won over a entire nation that was still racially divided? Louis is still
considered one of the 3 greatest heavyweights ever, even 50 years after his last
fight. Louis was called the perfect fighting machine and his rule of the heavy-
weight is unmatched..... and likely will never be! Think about this. He was the
heavyweight champ for 11 years, defended the title 25 (only 4 lasted the distance,
2 were knocked out in rematches) times before retiring undefeated, two of is 3
losses came after his first retirement when he was perhaps 60 percent of the
fighters he was. In my eyes no fighter has ever thrown a short punch with more
power and accuracy. If you gave Louis 6 inches of space between his fist and a
chin he could knock most any man down because of his balance. His finishing skills
are second to none and once he knocked a man down he had little chance of surviving
the follow up attack, Louis was never wild when finishing off opponents. Of course
Louis was not perfect and I count his chin (knocked down 8 times) as steady but
by no means great, he was knocked down but only failed to raise up again on 2
occasions to Rocky Marciano (when he was shell of the man he used to be) and Max
Schmeling after 12 rounds of punishment. In a time when blacks still had to ride
in the back of the bus Louis was not just respected he was loved. Louis was born
Joseph Louis Barrow on May 13, 1914, the son of a sharecropper in a shack in the
cotton field country near Lafayette, Alabama of a racially diverse background
(African American and small part Cherokee Indian) the seventh of 9 children. At
the age of 2 his father was committed to a state hospital for the mentally ill,
a fact that would play a role in his later life. After Louis' mother heard her
husband had died (a false rumor), she remarried. At the age of 10 Joe Louis and
his family moved to Detroit in the 1920s. Joe was learning cabinet making in a
vocational school and supposedly taking violin lessons (he went to maybe 6 lessons)
when he turned to boxing at the request of a friend at the Brewsters gym in Detroit.
He used his violin lesson money to learn how to box, it would turn out to be a wise.
Fighting amateur under the name Joe Louis (so his mother wouldn't find out) Joe won
50 of 54 amateur bouts and gained the attention of John Roxborough, a local bookie.
But it was not greatness from the start, in his first amateur bout Louis was
knocked down 7 times. But as he showed later in his career he was quick study.
Some have derided Louis for being a "Uncle Tom" or servant of white people but
they easily forget that it was two black men Roxborough and Julian Black, who Louis
chose to be his managers. His trainer Jack Blackburn (who had fought Langfod, Gans
and Greb among others) was also black. People did not realize it wasn't in his
character to be militant. Yet he would not be bullied into doing things he did not
believe in. For instance he refused to be pictured with a slice of watermelon for
a publicity picture and would not box exhibitions unless the crowds were
un-segregated at American serviceman performances. Picking a white manager would
have been far easier for him professionally. As a amateur Louis became the 1934
AAU Lightheavy Champ. Louis turned pro in 1934 at the age of 20, standing 6-foot-2
and weighing 196 pounds. Louis won his first 27 fights, 23 by knockout, with his
most impressive victories a sixth round TKO of Primo Carnera and a fourth round
KO of Max Baer, both former heavyweight champions. In his first year as a pro Louis
won 12 bouts all in Chicago or Detroit. Louis quickly made a name for himself and
in his second year was already traveling to the West Coast for fights, all was
in preparation for his invasion of boxings capital New York City. That came on
June 25th, 1935 against former heavyweight champion Primo Carnera. Boxing before
62,000 thousand people he blasted the much slower Carnera out in six one sided
rounds. It was a impressive opening performance which he would better only three
months later when he knocked another former champion and much more talented (than
Carnera) Max Baer out in only 4 rounds. A fight later Louis knocked out Paulino
Uzcudun (who had never been down before) and in the process drove Paulino's
mouthpiece through his upper lip. 1 fights later however disaster struck the young
Louis in the ring. A 22 year old, overconfident (but not under trained) Louis lost
his undefeated streak on June 19, 1936 when former champion Max Schmeling detected
a chink in Louis' armor. Schmeling and his handlers noticed that because Louis
carried his left hand low, he was vulnerable to a counter right. Others had surely
seen this flaw also, but to the 31 year old Schmeling's credit he was the only one
who could take advantage of it. It was also good that the overhand right was
Schmeling favorite weapon. In the fourth round, Schmeling's overhand right dropped
Louis, who never quite recovered from the blow. Louis lasted until the 12th taking
a heavy battering before two overhand rights by Schmeling in the 12th round ended
the fight. In the dressing room after the bout, Louis cried thinking he had lost
his title shot at James Braddock. But after quickly bouncing back with 7 more
fights over decent opposition (including former champ Jack Sharkey) his handlers
persuaded Braddock to fight Louis by giving him a percentage of Louis' purses for
the next 10 years. On June 22, 1937, Louis became the first African-American heavy-
weight champ since Johnson when he paid $300,000 to have the chance to dethrone
James Braddock, he did so by knocking out "The Cinderella Man" in the eighth round.
But it was not as easy as thought, in the first round Braddock dropped Louis with
a right hand he had learned from the Schmeling bout. It was the last serious threat
of the fight from Braddock as Louis moved forward smothering Braddock who could
not throw the overhand right while retreating. Louis ended the fight with a great
straight right hand of his own in the 8th round. Louis would make his first title
defense only two months after he won it when he defeated the excellent former
light heavy champ Tommy Farr of Wales over 15 rounds. It was the beginning of a
long reign which was highlighted by his rematch with Schmeling. It was more than
a boxing match it was a world event! Almost exactly two years after he lost to
Schmeling, Louis exacted his revenge on Schmeling. The fight was for more than the
heavyweight championship, more than two boxer. It was built into a battle of two
diverse ideologies. In one corner was Schmeling, Hitler's (though Schmeling wasn't
a Nazi and even hid two jewish children endangering his own life by doing so)
symbol of Arian supremacy. In the other corner was Louis, representing the U.S.
and everything democracy meant. Louis was even invited to the White House, where
President Franklin Roosevelt said "Joe, we need muscles like yours to beat Germany"
Hitler also hailed Schmeling and telephoned him personally before he left the
dressing room for the fight. Before over 70,000 fans at Yankee Stadium, Louis
destroyed the reluctant German who seemed nowhere near his best, perhaps the moment
had gotten the better of him. Louis knocked Schmeling to the canvas three times
in 124 seconds leaving him literally lying broken on the canvas. Schmeling received
two broken vertebrae in the fight and had to spend two months recovering from the
damage of the 40 punches. The German radio transmission of the fight was pulled off
the air when it caught Schmeling groaning in pain from the shots Louis was dealing
out. In my opinion the Joe Louis who came into the ring on this night would beaten
any heavyweight past or present! The two men bore no ill will to each other however
and would become good friends in the coming years. When Joe became ill Schmeling
paid for some of Louis' medical bills and gave a eulogy at the Louis funeral. After
this fight Louis went through a "Bum of the Month" club featuring men who were no
match for Louis but still the best the world had to offer. Louis ducked no one in
his time. This went on until he met former light heavyweight champ Billy Conn on
June 18, 1941. It appeared as if Louis was about to lose his title after 12 rounds,
as he trailed by three and two rounds on two officials' scorecards. Conn confused
the champ with his movement and Louis ever stalking just could not cut of the ring
against the fleet footed Conn. But Conn ignored his corner's instruction to box
with caution, after he hurt Louis in the 11th round Conn believed he could win
by knockout. The result was Louis knocking him out with two seconds left in the
13th round after Conn no longer moving away from Louis tried to come at the champ
looking for a convincing knockout. World War II would take away some prime years
of Joe Louis as the heavyweight championship was no longer fought over during the
war. Louis' war-time patriotism in a racially divided country made him a symbol
of national pride. In his only two bouts in 1942 Louis donated his entire purse to
military relief funds. He endeared himself even more to the American public when
he said the U.S. would win World War II "because we're on God's side." Louis
enlisted in the Army in 1942 and fought close to 100 exhibitions before some two
million servicemen in America, Europe and North Africa. After the war, Louis
returned to the ring he knocked out Conn again (The famous "He can run, but he
can't hide" fight). Now 32 years old and past his prime Louis continued to box.
In 1947 he fought Jersey Joe Walcott and was lucky to walk away with a 15 round
decision few believed he had deserved. In the fight Louis had been knocked down
twice and was out of the ring and walking back to his dressing room believing he
had lost when the announcement came that he had won the fight. A rematch with
Walcott had Louis whipping himself into great shape once again. The fight featured
both men on the canvas before Louis prevailed in the 11th round. Louis immediately
retired knowing he was no longer able to be the best in a demanding sport. In one
of the most shameful acts of the American government it went after Joe Louis for
back taxes. Louis! The man who was the symbol of American pride during World War II
and donated his earnings to military relief funds before and during the war was now
being sued by his government which he helped in hard times and fought for. Louis'
fights earned him close to $5 million, but the money was spend fast and loose,
mostly due to Louis' extravagances and generosity. Louis also made bad investments
on schemes of his friends. The IRS, conveniently forgot Louis' generosity during
the war, demanded a reported $1.2 million in back taxes, interest and penalties.
Louis now had to return to the ring pay back the U.S government and even suffered
the humiliation of competing as a pro wrestler to help pay his debts. After not
fighting for two years, he lost a one-sided decision to his successor as champ,
Ezzard Charles, in 1950. Louis would continue to box and went on a 8 fight winning
streak against soft opposition with the exception of Lee Savold and Jimmy Bivins.
In 1951 Louis retired for good after Rocky Marciano knocked him out in the eighth
round in 1951. It was a sad shell of a man that walked into that ring to take a
beating at the hands of one of the heaviest hitters the sport had ever seen. At
ringside fans of Louis including Frank Sinatra were seen crying at the site of
their one time hero taking a beating but refusing to lie down. Louis was still
trying his best to win but no longer had the tools to compete. Referee Ruby
Goldstein could not bring himself to count Louis out so he stopped the fight (with
Louis on his back) rather than reach the count of 9. After the loss to Marciano,
Louis sold his image to any product that would pay for it in attempts to earn a
living without taking punches. Following several stays in hospitals for cocaine
addiction and paranoia (which his father had also suffered), Louis became an
"official greeter" at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. It was the one job after boxing
he truly enjoyed, he loved talking with his fans of all ages. Louis crippled by
paranoia and physical ailments spent his last four years in a wheelchair before
dying of a heart attack at age 66 on April 12, 1981 in Las Vegas. Louis was buried
in Arlington National Cemetery (burial place of American armed forces combat
veterans) at the request of President Ronald Reagan.
Joe Louis
Career Record: 68 W, 3 L (54 K.O's)
1934
4 Jul Jack Kracken Chicago, IL KO1
12 Jul Willie Davis Chicago, IL KO3
30 Jul Larry Udell Chicago, IL KO2
13 Aug Jack Kranz Chicago, IL W8
27 Aug Buck Everett Chicago, IL KO2
11 Sep Alex Borchuk Detroit, MI KO4
26 Sep Adolph Wiater Chicago, IL W10
24 Oct Art Sykes Chicago, IL KO8
31 Oct Jack O'Dowd Detroit, MI KO2
14 Nov Stanley Poreda Chicago, IL KO1
30 Nov Charley Massera Chicago, IL KO3
14 Dec Lee Ramage Chicago, IL KO8
1935
4 Jan Patsy Perroni Detroit, MI W10
11 Jan Hans Birkie Pittsburgh, PA KO10
21 Feb Lee Ramage Los Angeles, CA KO2
8 Mar Donald "Reds" Barry San Francisco, CA KO3
28 Mar Natie Brown Detroit, MI W10
12 Apr Roy Lazer Chicago, IL KO3
22 Apr Biff Benton Dayton, OH KO2
27 Apr Roscoe Toles Flint, MI KO6
3 May Willie Davis Peoria, IL KO2
7 May Gene Stanton Kalamazoo, MI KO3
25 Jun Primo Carnera New York, NY KO6
7 Aug King Levinsky Chicago, IL KO1
24 Sep Max Baer New York, NY KO4
14 Dec Paolino Uzcudun New York, NY KO4
1936
17 Jan Charley Retzlaff Chicago, IL KO1
19 Jun Max Schmeling New York, NY KO by 12
18 Aug Jack Sharkey New York, NY KO3
22 Sep Al Ettore Philadelphia, PA KO5
9 Oct Jorge Brescia New York, NY KO3
14 Dec Eddie Simms Cleveland, OH KO1
1937
11 Jan Steve Ketchell Buffalo, NY KO2
29 Jan Bob Pastor New York, NY W10
17 Feb Natie Brown Kansas City, MO KO4
22 Jun James Braddock Chicago, IL KO8
(Won World Heavyweight Title)
30 Aug Tommy Farr New York, NY W15
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
1938
23 Feb Nathan Mann New York, NY KO3
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
1 Apr Harry Thomas Chicago, IL KO5
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
22 Jun Max Schmeling New York, NY KO1
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
1939
25 Jan John Henry Lewis New York, NY KO1
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
17 Apr Jack Roper Los Angeles, CA KO1
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
28 Jun Tony Galento New York, NY KO4
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
20 Sep Bob Pastor Detroit, MI KO11
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
1940
9 Feb Arturo Godoy New York, NY W15
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
29 Mar Johnny Paychek New York, NY KO2
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
2o Jun Arturo Godoy New York, NY KO8
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
16 Dec Al McCoy Boston, MA KO6
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
1941
31 Jan Red Burman New York, NY KO5
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
17 Feb Gus Dorazio Philadelphia, PA KO2
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
21 Mar Abe Simon Detroit, MI KO13
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
8 Apr Tony Musto St. Louis, MO KO9
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
23 May Buddy Baer Washington, DC W D.Q 7
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
18 Jun Billy Conn New York, NY KO13
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
29 Sep Lou Nova New York, NY KO6
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
1942
9 Jan Buddy Baer New York, NY KO1
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
27 Mar Abe Simon New York, NY KO6
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
1942-1945
Louis joined the Army and toured with the armed forces giving exhibitions
1946
9 Jun Billy Conn New York, NY KO8
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
18 Sep Tami Mauriello New York, NY KO1
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
1947
5 Dec Jersey Joe Walcott New York, NY W15
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
1948
25 Jun Jersey Joe Walcott New York, NY KO11
(Retained World Heavyweight Title)
1949
Announces his retirement.
1950
7 Sep Ezzard Charles New York, NY L15
(For World Heavyweight Title)
29 Nov Cesar Brion Chicago, IL W10
1951
3 Jan Freddie Beshore Detroit, MI KO4
7 Feb Omelio Agramonte Miami, FL W10
23 Feb Andy Walker San Francisco, CA KO10
2 May Omelio Agramonte Detroit, MI W10
15 Jun Lee Savold New York, NY KO6
1 Aug Cesar Brion San Francisco, CA W10
15 Aug Jimmy Bivins Baltimore, MD W10
26 Oct Rocky Marciano New York, NY KO by 8