Joseph Louis was the best heavyweight of all time considered by some people. Called the Brown Bomber he elevated the sport of boxing into being just a sport people gambled on to being a regularly broadcast sport. He reigned as champ for 140 months straight fighting in 26 championship fights which he won all of and successfully won 25 title defenses. He is still ranked number 1 on the Rings all time best puncher list. He is known as the first black to be known as a sports hero around the country. He broke down a lot of cultural barriers in sports. He knocked out 54 people in matches.
He was born in Alabama and was the seventh of eight children. He had a speech impediment so he barely spoke before the age of 6. The family moved to Detroit after the family was harassed by the KKK. His mother made him learn how to play the violin. He choose John Roxborough as his manager a small black manager turning down big white managers. He did this because John said the other manager wouldn’t be interested in a black fighter making it to title contention.
In his first professional fight he knocked out his opponent in the first round and earned 59 dollars. He married a reporter that threw him a party after a knock out win. He won the athlete of the year award by the Associated Press. When Lewis fought Schmeling he spent most of his time playing golf instead of training. Schmeling won that fight but Loius rematched him and destroyed him.
I Think He is one of the greatest boxers ever I love watching the Rocky movies and this reminds me of Rocky 4. When he fights the Russian in Russia and rocky beats all the odds, but this was kind of the other way around until the rematch.
http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=009027&cat=boxer ia.org/wiki/Joe_Louis
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Good but only one picture!