Encyclopedia
Joseph Louis Barrow , better known in the
boxing world as
Joe Louis and nicknamed
The Brown Bomber, was a native of
LaFayette, Alabama. He is widely regarded to be the greatest heavyweight champion of all time. At a turbulent time in history, just before the war, he became a popular and national hero, along with
Jesse Owens, for both black and white America.
Biography
Early life and career
The son of Monroe Barrow, a cotton picker, and Lilly Reese, a homemaker, his father died in an asylum when Louis was only four years old. He became interested in
boxing after his mother re-married and the family moved to
Detroit in 1924. He went on to win
Michigan's Golden Gloves title, after which he turned professional in 1934. Louis made his debut on July 4 of that year, knocking out Jack Kracken in the first round at
Chicago, Illinois. He won 12 fights that year, all in Chicago, 10 by
knockout. Among his opponents in 1934 were Art Sykes and
Stanley Poreda. It was Louis, and not Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson, who gave two of boxing's most famous quotes: "He can run, but he can't hide" and "Everyone has a plan until they've been hit."
Joe Louis's trainer was Jack Blackburn. Joe and he called each other "Chappie."
Ascendance
In 1935, Louis fought 13 times, creating a sensation. He knocked out his first world champion when he knocked out former world heavyweight champion Primo Carnera in six rounds. Louis then knocked out the iron-chinned former heavyweight champion Max Baer in four rounds. Before losing to Louis, Baer had never been knocked off his feet. Louis also knocked out Paolino Uzcudun, who had never been knocked down or out before Louis KO'd him.
Louis began 1936 knocking out Charlie Retzlaff in the first round. In his next fight, he was matched with former world heavyweight champion Max Schmeling, who was thought to be fading when he upset Louis by a knockout in 12 at
New York.
Max Schmeling
Schmeling now deserved a fight for the title, but was denied a chance to challenge the world champion in large part due to his relatively weak ties to the German
Nazi Party.
That year Louis had four more bouts, winning all of them. Among the
boxers he knocked out were former Heavyweight champ Jack Sharkey and Eddie Simms, who turned and asked the referee to take a walk on the roof with him after being knocked down by Louis. The referee stopped the fight right away.
By 1937, and after a ten round decision win over a running Bob Pastor, Louis was matched with world champion
James J. Braddock in Chicago for the World Heavyweight title. Louis was dropped in round one, but he got up and knocked Braddock out in round eight, winning the world heavyweight championship. He said after the fight, however, that he would not feel like a world champion until he beat one man: Schmeling. Louis retained the title three times, outpointing the Welshman Tommy Farr in 15 rounds in his first title defense, and knocking out Nathan Mann in three and Harry Thomas in five.
The rematch with Schmeling finally took place, on June 22, 1938. This time the fight was hyped on both sides of the Atlantic, and many fans around the world saw this fight as a symbol: Louis representing the American interests and Schmeling, who was wrongly seen as a
Nazi, fighting for
Germany and white supremacy. This 'Good vs Evil' perception was mistaken, as Schmeling was, at best, a hesitant poster boy for the regime. Aside from employing a Jewish manager, Joe Jacobs, he also sheltered the two sons of Jewish friends after
Kristallnacht at considerable personal risk.
The fight itself ended quickly, with Louis knocking out Schmeling in the first round.
During World War II
From December 1940 to March 1942, when his career was interrupted by World War II, Louis defended his title ten times, a frequency unmatched by any heavyweight champion since the end of the bareknuckle era. His nearly-monthly fights against every challenger, and his convincing wins, earned his opponents the unfair group nickname "Bum of the Month."
In all, Louis made 25 defenses of his heavyweight title from '37 to 1949. He was a world champion for 11 years and 10 months. Louis set records for any division in number of defenses and longevity as world champion non stop, and both records still stand.
His most remarkable record is that he knocked out 23 opponents in 27 title fights.
Other notable title defenses before Louis enlisted were:
- His fight versus world Light Heavyweight champion John Henry Lewis, knocked out in the first.
- His fight with Two Ton Tony Galento, who knocked Louis down in the third round with a left hook. Giving Galento a terrible beating, Louis knocked Galento out in the fourth round.
- His two fights with Chilean Arturo Godoy. In their first bout Louis won by a decision, and then Louis won the rematch by a knockout in the eight round.
- His fight with world Light Heavyweight champion Billy Conn, the first of which is remembered as one of the greatest fights in heavywieght history. Conn, smaller than Louis, said that he planned to "hit and run," prompting Louis's famous response, "He can run, but he can't hide." After 12 rounds, Conn was ahead on points, only to be knocked out by Louis in the 13th round. In the rematch, held when the two fighters returned from World War Two, Louis won by a knockout in the eighth round.
Louis retired after two fights with
Jersey Joe Walcott. In the first fight, Walcott scored two knockdowns over Louis but lost a disputed decision. In the second fight, Walcott again knocked Louis down, but the aging Louis came on to knock out Walcott in the 11th round.
Obviously no longer the fighter he once had been, Louis wisely retired.
Louis served in the
Army from 1942 to 1945 and spent that period travelling around
Europe visiting with the fighting troops and boxing in exhibitions. During this time, he became a national spokesman for the Army. After he came back to keep defending his title in 1946, Louis looked somewhat slower in his fights, and his best years were obviously behind him. On March 1, 1949 Louis announced his retirement from boxing.
A not very well known fact is, that in 1944, during a promotional tour of
Liverpool, England Joe Louis actually signed for
Liverpool Football Club as a player. As of today the records still state that he was on the books and is classed has having been a Liverpool player.
1950s
In 1950, harrassed by the I.R.S., he announced a comeback and he lost a 15 round unanimous decision to world champion Ezzard Charles, who had won the vacant title after Louis retired. Overweight and much slower than he had been in his prime, Louis kept boxing, but at a level far below that of his championship days. In 1951, Louis lost by a knockout in eight rounds to the future world Heavyweight Champion,
Rocky Marciano. He retired with a record of 69 wins and 3 losses, with an amazing 55 of those wins coming by knockout.
Louis became a
professional wrestler in 1956 but quit in 1957 due to injuries suffered during a match.
Retirement and later life
A few years after his retirement, a movie about his life,
The Joe Louis Story, was filmed in
Hollywood. The role of Joe Louis was played by fighter Coley Wallace. Louis remained a popular celebrity in his twilight years. Because the IRS had taken nearly all of his money, old army buddy Ash Resnick gave gave him a job welcoming tourists to the
Caesar's Palace hotel in
Las Vegas, where Ash was an executive, just so Louis could make ends meet.
Joes health began to deteriorate, and he had two operations, which long time friend
Frank Sinatra paid for. Sinatra flew Louis to Houston to have Michael DeBakey perform surgery. Later he suffered a stroke a year before his heart finally failed him.
Max Schmeling and Louis remained friends until Louis' death.
Joe Louis died of a
heart attack in 1981. He was buried in
Arlington National Cemetery,
Arlington, Virginia with full military honours. His funeral was paid for by former competitor Max Schmeling. His life and his achievements prompted famed New York sportswriter Jimmy Cannon to write "Joe Louis is a credit to his race - the human race."
Filmography
- The Phynx, 1970
- The Fight Never Ends, 1949
- Johnny at the Fair, 1947
- Joe Palooka, Champ, 1946
- This Is the Army, 1943
- Spirit of Youth, 1938
- Max Schmeling siegt über Joe Louis, 1936
Commemoration
Louis was awarded the
Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, the highest award given by the U.S. legislative branch, in 1982. Congress stated that he "did so much to bolster the spirit of the American people during one of the most crucial times in American history and which have endured throughout the years as a symbol of strength for the nation." He has a sports complex named after him in Detroit, the
Joe Louis Arena, where the
Detroit Red Wings play their
NHL games. A memorial to Louis was dedicated in Detroit on October 16, 1986. The sculpture, commissioned by
Time, Inc. and executed by Robert Graham, is a 24-foot long arm with a fisted hand suspended by a 24-foot high pyramidal framework. It represents the power of his punch both inside and outside the ring. Joe Louis is buried at
Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
Louis was named by Ring Magazine as boxing's number one puncher in history in 2003.
A street near Madison Square garden is named after Joe Louis.
See also
- Lineal heavyweight champions
- List of heavyweight boxing champions
- List of male boxers
- List of notable boxing rivalries
External links
