Today, he is remembered as a larger-than-life figure in not just black history, but American history as one of the best athletes of his era.
JOE LEWIS BOXER RECORD FULL
He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors thanks to an exception granted by President Ronald Reagan. Joe Louis died on April 12, 1981, from cardiac arrest. A 1977 heart surgery left him in a wheelchair. He struggled with cocaine addiction and in 1970, was committed to psychiatric care. For a while, he worked as a greeter at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Joe Louis struggled financially in his later years. When Louis retired, he had a record of 68 wins to 3 losses (including bouts with Jersey Joe Walcott and Ezzard Charles, the only man to go 15 rounds with Louis and win) with 54 Knockouts. The passage of a special bill by congress forgave the remainder of his tax bills. Joe Louis retired from boxing for good after the match. The last wasn’t necessary, but it was neat. A right to the neck followed that knocked him out of the ring. Then Rocky hit him another hook and knocked him out. “Rocky hit Joe a left hook and knocked him down. Sports columnist Red Smith wrote of the match: Rocky, who stood at 5’10” and weighed just 185 pounds, was one of the smallest champions in heavyweight division history, but he had youth on his side. Louis met his match when he faced off against 27-year-old Rocky Marciano, “the Brockton Blockbuster.” On October 26, 1951, the two entered the ring in New York’s Madison Square Garden.
He was successful in his fight against Freddie Beshore on January 3, 1951, prompting excitement about a major comeback. With the IRS coming after him for not paying taxes, 37-year-old Joe Louis came out of retirement in 1951. During his service he was part of over 96 boxing exhibitions and performed for over two million members of the military.Īfter an eleven-year and eight-month streak as heavyweight champion-the longest run in history at the time-Joe Louis retired form boxing on March 1, 1949. Joe Louis and The MilitaryĪs World War II raged on, Joe Louis donated almost $100,000 worth of his earnings to Army and Navy relief societies. The press seized on the victory as symbolic of the victory of democracy over fascism. Louis defeated Schmeling in two minutes and four seconds, knocking him out in the first round. On June 22, 1938, Joe Louis and Max Schmeling, whom Adolf Hitler saw as an exemplary representative of the Aryan race, faced off in front of 70,043 fans in a dramatic rematch at Yankee Stadium.
JOE LEWIS BOXER RECORD PROFESSIONAL
Louis had experienced his first professional defeat, but he was determined to get a rematch. But on June 19, 1936, he faced off with German boxer Max Schmeling, who knocked Louis out in the 12th round.
From 1939-1941, he defended his title 13 times, leading critics to call his opponents members of the “bum of the month club.”ĭid you know? From 1934 to 1951, Joe Louis fought 71 matches and won 68 of them, 54 by knockout.īy the end of 1935, Louis had defeated former heavyweight champions Primo Carnera, a symbolic victory over Benito Mussolini’s Italy, and Max Baer. Braddock to become the first black heavyweight champion in twenty-two years and an inspiration to African Americans during the Great Depression, when black men and women were often “the last hired, the first fired.” (The fight became the subject of the 2005 film Cinderella Man). At the end of his amateur career, he had won 50 of 54 matches-43 by knockout. His hard-hitting punches soon earned him a reputation as a fighter, and he won Detroit’s Golden Gloves light-heavyweight title in the open class in 1934. He began boxing in the amateur circuit in 1932. Joe Louis Amateur CareerĪt 6”2, Joe Louis cut an intimidating figure in the ring. It was in Detroit that Joe Louis discovered boxing, using money his mother had given him for violin lessons on boxing classes at Brewster Recreation Center instead. His mother soon remarried, and moved the family to Detroit with her new spouse, Patrick Brooks. When he was 2 years old, his father was committed to an asylum. His parents made a modest living: His father, Mun Barrow, was a sharecropper, while his mother, Lillie Barrow, was a laundress.
He was the seventh of eight children and a grandson of slaves. Joe Louis was born Joseph Louis Barrow on in Lafayette, Alabama.
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