[8.7] JOE LOUIS 70-66(52)-3-0-1: Bert Randolph Sugar - Jimmy Cannon - Harry Carpenter - Joe Louis: Boxing Legend TV - Kings of the Ring TV - Joe Louis: America’s Hero Betrayed 2008 -
Our generation – our hero was Joe Louis. Bert Randolph Sugar
When they say Great to me, it’s Joe Louis. Bert Randolph Sugar
His fights counted. Every one of them. And the way he ended them – I don’t think there was anybody in the history of Boxing who was a greater finisher once he had you on the hook. Bert Randolph Sugar
Once Joe Louis got someone on the hook, they were on the hook. Bert Randolph Sugar
Twenty-five defences for Joe Louis – 22 knockouts in pursuit of these defences. Bert Randolph Sugar
Had it not been for Joe Louis we probably wouldn’t have had a Jackie Robinson. Bert Randolph Sugar
Louis carried the hopes of everyone against Hitler’s mass-murderers. Bert Randolph Sugar
The greatest sociological event held in the ring in the history of boxing. Bert Randolph Sugar
He is a credit to his race ... the human race. Jimmy Cannon
Joe Louis was one of the great all-time heavyweight champions. Harry Carpenter
Joe Louis was boxing’s new big deal. Black America had its first great hero … He was also a totem of free world democracy … Joe Louis donated all the earning from two of his fights to US Army relief … but War had robbed him of his best years. Kings of the Ring, BBC 1995
The man who never rested on canvas now sleeps on clouds. Joe Louis: America’s Hero Betrayed, 2008, Frank Sinatra’s eulogy
He was a man with dignity, with humility. ibid. wife
One of the greatest human beings we ever had. ibid. dude
Heavyweight champion of the world from 1937 to 1949. The longest reign of all time. ibid. commentary
Joe Louis destroyed Max Schmeling in the most dramatic two minutes in the history of the ring. ibid.
After the loss to Charles, Louis could no longer rely on the big paydays. ibid.
By the mid-50s Louis’ debt to the IRS had ballooned to $1 million. Louis hawked everything from cigarettes and liquor. ibid.
Part of that depression was associated with drugs. ibid. son
Following heart surgery, Louis suffered a stroke and was confined to a wheelchair. ibid. commentary
22) Max Baer KO4: US Fight Commentary TV -
v Max Baer 24th September 1935 Yankee Stadium New York [r1] ... A gate of over a million dollars ... Everyone stunned by the fury of Louis’ attack. The bell and it saves Maxy from a knockout ... [r3] ... Baer is down! That last right to the jaw did it. Up at the count of nine. Three lightning left hooks to the jaw. The bell saves Maxy for a second time ... This Lewis has dynamite power in both hands ... US fight commentary
25) Max Schmeling Lost KO12: Joe Louis: Boxing Legend TV - Bert Randolph Sugar - Max Schmeling - Geoffrey Simpson - Beckley Post-Herald - Chris Mead -
In 1937 Louis became the first black to fight for the heavyweight title in twenty-two years. The knockout of James Braddock started a record twelve-year reign. Joe Louis: Boxing Legend
The 1938 Louis/Schmeling rematch became a contest of political ideologies. ibid.
He didn’t train for the first fight. He played golf. Bert Randolph Sugar
I see something. Max Schmeling, televised interview
It is the title [Schmeling] wants on behalf of himself and the German nation. If successful he promises to defend the championship in the United States next September, but my guess is that he will take the next boat back to Germany. That’s what the Americans are scared of. Geoffrey Simpson, Daily Mail
Everybody fears that Max will take his title back to Germany – in case he wins it. Nobody with a sense of fairness wants to see the next heavyweight championship fight staged in the land bossed by Hitler … Beckley Post-Herald editorial
Bill Henry of the Los Angeles Times described the fight as a ‘pugilistic drama starring Joe Louis as the hero and Max Schmeling as villain’. Chris Mead, ‘In Three Rounds, Chappie’
American hostility towards Germany and Schmeling increased when the US government indicted 18 American citizens four days before the fight, accusing them of spying on America for the Nazis. ibid.
Der Ansgriff, another Nazi paper, accused the United States of baiting of the worst sort of stupid attacks on Schmeling and said the Americans were making ‘a racial question and political affair’ of the fight. ibid.
Schmeling himself understood what was happening. Certainly he neither wanted nor deserved the role as representative of Nazism. ibid.
After the Second World War Schmeling took great pains to bring about a reconciliation with Louis. The way the press played the two boxers off against each other clearly bothered Schmeling. ibid.
The two boxers nodded to each other, not speaking. Schmeling weighed 13 stone 11 pounds, Louis at 14 stone 2 and a half pounds. ibid.
33) James Braddock KO8: In This Corner: Great Heavyweights TV -
In 1937 Louis became the first black to fight for the Heavyweight title in twenty-two years. The knock-out of James Braddock started a record twelve-year reign. In This Corner: Great Heavyweights
34) Tommy Farr Points 15: Harry Carpenter - A J Liebling - Moss Deyong -
Millions of people got up at three o’clock in the morning. Electricity boards all over the country reported this amazing surge in electricity being used at three o’clock in the morning. Harry Carpenter, Louis v Tommy Farr 1937
He was Tommy Farr, the old Welsh heavyweight who went 15 founds with Joe Louis in 1937. There is a half-established legend in Britain that he was twisted out of the decision, which he wasn’t. Farr does nothing actively to favour the myth, but he doesn’t discourage it, either. He also fought a series of savage bouts, with varied fortunes, against fellows like Max Baer, and against them, he thinks, he got all the worst of it when he lost. ‘But I love the States,’ he said. ‘I made a lot of money there. That’s what I fought for, eh? Money.’ He rubbed a thumb like a hammer against a rectangular index finger. ‘Two hundred and ninety-six fights I had. Do you think it was for a rooddy lark?’ A J Liebling, Donnybrook Farr
Once he was known in London, Tommy progressed well, and as everybody knows it was he who killed the myth of British boxers’ inability to stand up to the Americans in their own rings. Dour fighting spirit had kept Tommy Farr going from his obscure days, and it was that same instinct, coupled with his later-gained experience, that contested every second of the 45 minutes against Joe Louis. Farr did British boxing a great service that day. Moss Deyong, The Ups and Downs of Petersen