World heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis (photo in the article) was once the most famous African American in the United States, almost the only one who regularly appeared in newspapers for whites. Breaking down the racial barrier that boxing shared after black heavyweight jack Johnson offended whites, Louis began the process, eventually opening the sport to athletes of all races.
During his unprecedented 12-year stint as a world champion, Joe radiated power in the ring and quiet dignity beyond. In the media, he turned from a black savage into a national hero and an icon of sport. The last years of his life were difficult, marked by financial problems and the fight against mental illness, but when he died, everyone cried.
Early biography
Joe Louis was born on 05/13/1914 with Alabama tenant farmers Munroe and Lilly Barrow. He was the penultimate of 8 children and lost his father early. Two years after birth, Joe Munroe Barrow was admitted to the hospital, and his wife was soon informed that he had died. In fact, the father lived another 20 years, not knowing the growing popularity of his son. Believing she was a widow, Lilly Barrow soon married Pat Brooks, a widower with five children of her own. For some time, Joe helped his parents work in the cotton fields. And in 1926, the family joined the growing wave of black migration to the north of the United States.
They moved to Detroit, where 12-year-old Joe was unprepared for school. To his embarrassment, he was placed in elementary grades with young children. Ultimately, the school system sent him to the Bronson Craft School. Luckily for Joe, he found his calling outside the Detroit education system. When the Great Depression deprived his stepfather of his work, Joe spent time on the street looking for odd jobs. To protect him from evil influence, his mother gave him 50 cents a week for violin lessons, but he spent them on boxing lessons at the Brewster Recreation Center.
Fearing that his mother would find out where the "money for the violin" goes, he began to box under the name Joe Louis. Although the results were promising, the exhausting full-time job during which he moved heavy truck bodies left him little time or effort to train. At the end of 1932, he took part in his first amateur match with that year's Olympic team member Johnny Miller. Bad preparation affected, and Miller knocked him 7 times in the first two rounds. Depressed Joe Louis decided to quit boxing altogether, following his stepfatherās advice to focus on his work. It is interesting that it was his mother who prompted him to return to the ring, seeing in boxing his chance to do for himself what he liked.
Amateur years
This time, Joe left work and focused on training. He returned to the amateur club and the next year he won 50 out of 54 matches (43 by knockouts). This impressive record soon caught the attention of John Roxborough, the famous Negro ghetto in Detroit, the king of the illegal lottery. His other activities included charity work and the promotion of local youth in realizing her dreams. He decided to take Louis under his wing, settled in his home, provided proper nutrition and took out decent equipment for training.
In June 1934, before becoming a professional, the boxer asked Roxborough to become his manager. To finance Louisās career, he brought his long-time business partner Julian Black to Chicago. Together they organized Louis's training with Jack Blackburn, who had already prepared two white boxers for the world championships. At that time, blacks had very little chance of winning the title, especially in heavy weight. Racism and segregation were common to American society, but in boxing there was a particular reason African Americans were discriminated against. And this reason is Jack Johnson, who was the heavyweight champion from 1908 to 1915.
He was the first holder of the title in this weight category and reveled in grandeur, ignoring conventions, gloating over defeated white opponents, openly talking with white prostitutes and marrying white women. For 7 years, he defended his title against a number of white applicants, but in 1915, he finally lost to Jesse Willard, in a match that might not have been completely honest. The white press openly rejoiced, and the white promoters and boxers vowed never to let blacks fight for the title.
Given this story, Blackburn did not want to take a black boxer, but he needed a job, and Roxboro and Black promised him the world champion. Blackburn organized a strict regimen for Louis, including a daily 6-mile run, and coached him in a style that combined balanced footwork, a strong left jab and quick punch combinations. At the same time, his team carefully selected the image so that he contrasted sharply with Jack Johnson. A black boxer had to be merciful before and after the fight, consistent with the image of a God-fearing, neat decency and, above all, avoided insulting the whites and did not meet with white women. All this allowed Louis to fight for the title.
Becoming a Professional
On July 4, 1934, the first professional boxing match of Joe Louis took place. At the Bacon Arena, he sent Jack Kraken in a knockout in the first round. By October 30 of that year, by knocking out Jack O'Dowd in the second round, he had won 9 fights in a row, 7 of which ended in knockouts. Along with his reputation, his payouts grew from $ 59 to $ 450 at the height of the depression, when most of his old neighborhood struggled for help and temporary work. Louis faithfully sent money home to support his family, but he also began to get used to the costs that plagued him in subsequent years: he bought expensive suits and a shiny black Buick.
It soon became clear that Louis had outgrown carefully selected opponents, designed not to spoil his early career. His managers began to look for more serious rivals and soon settled on Charlie Masser, who took 8th place in the ranking of challengers in the heavyweight division of Ring magazine. On November 30, 1934, Louis met with Masseroy and knocked him out in the third round. After 2 weeks, he entered the ring against heavyweight Lee Ramage, who became a real challenge for Louis. Ramage was fast and defended well. For the first few rounds, he managed to dodge Joeās powerful jabs, and during the break Blackburn advised him to beat the opponentās hands. In the end, Ramage was tired of raising his hands, Joe pressed him to the ropes and knocked out in the eighth round.
Roxborough decided that Louis was ready for big boxing, that is, for the New York Madison Square Garden, in which fights were held at the highest level since the 1920s, when he entered into contracts with all major rivals in heavy weight. And that was a serious problem. Jimmy Johnston, Madison Square Garden manager, said he could help Louis, but Roxborough had to take into account some things. Joe did not have to behave like the white boxers, and could not win every time he entered the ring. In fact, he suggested that Roxboro have Louis lose a few fights. This was contrary to his command not to take part in contractual matches, and he hung up. Fortunately, Johnston's monopoly was shaky.
Get out of this situation helped Mike Jacobs. He was looking for a way to compete with the Gardena, and finally found it. Traditionally, several boxing competitions were held in the New York arena to raise funds for Mrs. William Randolph Hurst's Dairy Fund for Babies. The fund received a portion of the profits, and Garden earned a good advertisement in the influential newspapers of Hurst. When the arena decided to raise rents, some entrepreneurial sports reporters, including Damon Runyan, decided to create their own corporation to compete with Garden. They could provide advertising, but they needed an experienced promoter. Therefore, reporters invited Jacobs and founded the 20th th Century Club. Officially, Jacobs owned all the shares, because the reporters did not want to be identified with the fights that they were going to cover.
Meanwhile, the winning streak of Joe Louis continued. On January 4, 1935, he defeated the 6th in the Petsy Perroni rating, and a week later defeated Hans Birka. Mike Jacobs needed a serious boxer to make his club popular, and he soon found out about Joe. He went to Los Angeles for a rematch between Louis and Ramage. This time, Joe knocked out an opponent in the second round. Impressed Jacobs invited the winner to play for the 20th th Century Club, assuring his managers that he could win all the fights and, if possible, knock out in the first round.
Victory over Primo Carnera
Jacobs organized several fights for Joe Louis outside of New York, and his secret partners launched an advertising campaign, which, ultimately, led to the fact that everyone knew about him. In search of an opponent for the big New York match, Jacobs stumbled upon former heavyweight champion Italian Primo Carner. The battle was scheduled for 06/25/1935, and the time was chosen very well. In the summer, Mussolini threatened to invade Ethiopia, one of the few independent countries in Africa. The international community was very worried about this, and especially African-Americans. In the pre-match commercial, Jacobs represented Louis as a member of his race, and by the time of the fight everyone was very curious about who this boxer was who challenged racial restrictions.
That evening, more than 60,000 fans and 400 sports commentators gathered at Yankee Stadium to see 188-cm Joe Luis, who weighed 90 kg, and the 198-cm Italian giant, who was 28 kg heavier. After a dull start, the audience saw something amazing. In the 5th round, Joe hit Carner with his right, he fell on the ropes and bounced off to meet the blow with his left, and then again with his right. In order not to fall, the rival hung on Louis. In the 6th round, Joe knocked him twice, but each time Carner staggered to his feet. Finally he could not stand it and collapsed onto the ropes. The referee stopped the fight.
Brown bomber
The next morning, the media made Joe a sensation, and the Americans witnessed a rarity: a black man appeared in the headlines. Naturally, commentators mainly focused on his race, giving out an unlimited supply of nicknames that characterized the new contender for the title: Mahogany Boxer, Chocolate Meat Grinder, Coffee King of Knockout and the one that was assigned to him, Brown Bomber. Reporters exaggerated the Alabama accent of Joe Louis and his limited education to create the image of an ignorant, lazy, ādarkā boxer, incapable of anything except food, sleep and struggle.
Way to the top
A twist of fate was to make boxer Joe Louis a participant in the championship and destroy racial prejudice. A few weeks before he defeated Carner, James Braddock defeated reigning heavyweight champion Maxim Baer in one of the most disappointing matches. Assuming Baerās victory over an opponent who lost 26 fights in his career, Garden's Jimmy Johnston made a fatal mistake. He signed a standard contract with Baer, āāobliging him to fight in the arena only if he won. Mike Jacobs went to Max Baer and signed a contract with him to fight with Louis 09/24/1935.
But Joe had personal affairs, which he had to do first. On that day, he married Marve Trotter, a 19-year-old newspaper secretary, beautiful, smart, and, most importantly for the managers, black. There were no such problems as with Jack Johnson. The new Mrs. Louis took a seat at the ring, when the referee counted the time when Max Baer tried to get up from the knee in the 4th round. He could have risen, but, according to him, if the audience wanted to see him being beaten, they should have paid more than $ 25 per seat.
Fights with Schmeling
The victory over Baer made Louis the best boxer, and his power overshadowed the unfortunate James Braddock. But on the horizon was another white boxer. After many years of successful appearances in Europe, former German heavyweight champion Max Schmeling wanted to return to America. Naturally, he wanted to compete for the title, but the boxing commission said that he would have to first fight with Joe Louis. Unfortunately, he was too busy enjoying the newfound wealth and fame to seriously train. 06/11/1936 he first lost a professional boxing match in the 12th round.
Louis and his fans were crushed, but not for long. The following year, he, and not Schmeling, became the champion. This was partly due to events in Germany. Hitler's abhorrent attempt at using sporting events such as the 1936 Berlin Olympics to demonstrate Nazism and Aryan supremacy was disgusting to many Americans.
Everyone knew that a rematch with Shmeling was necessary for the championship title to be considered legal. It took place on June 22, 1937. The situation before the battle was unbelievable even for the most famous black man in America. The world was on the brink of war with Nazism, and Max Schmeling looked like a guy from an Aryan poster. For the first time, white and black America came together, rooting for Louis, so that his victory was proof of America's ability to defeat Germany.
Joe had a simple fight strategy: a ruthless attack. From the very beginning, he struck a blow to the head, stunned Schmeling, hit him in the back with 2 punches, and sent him knocked down three times in a row. 2 minutes and 4 seconds after the start of one of the best fights of Joe Louis, the German coach threw a towel. 70 thousand fans welcomed the winner.
National hero
Between the battle with Schmeling and the outbreak of World War II, Louis defended his title 15 times against opponents who were clearly weaker than him. Only light heavyweight champion Billy Conn seemed to offer noticeable resistance: he held out 13 rounds, but lost. Before the match, Joe coined the phrase āhe can run, but he cannot hideā in the American vocabulary.
Shortly after Pearl Harbor, Louis was enlisted in the army, strengthening his reputation in white America. He went to a series of demonstrative battles in the troops. Joe twice donated proceeds from the fighting for the title to the Fleet Assistance Fund. At the same time, he quietly worked on the desegregation of the armed forces, often participating in interracial events.
When Joe Louis left service in 1945, he was at the peak of his popularity. He finally became a hero for all Americans, successfully defended the title from all applicants, earned a lot of money and left the sport undefeated in 1949 after his longest stay in the history of boxing as a world champion. His legendary generosity towards his family, old friends and almost any worthy cause for black ensured him the love of the public.
Personal failure
But not everything went smoothly. Constant relationships with other women, carefully hidden from the press, ruined Luisās marriage. In 1945, Joe divorced Marva. They again married a year later, but in 1949 they broke off relations completely. Luis's generosity also suffered greatly, throughout the war he actually had to borrow significant amounts from his managers. In addition, he had hundreds of thousands of dollars of unpaid taxes. A year after leaving boxing, for financial reasons, he was forced to return to the ring.
09/27/1950 Louis opposed the new heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles, but lost by decision of the judges.
10/26/1951 he made his last attempt to return. Future champion Rocky Marciano knocked down Louis in the 8th round.
Years of decline
For the rest of his life, Joe Louis has struggled with financial difficulties. He earned money by performances, demonstration matches and even for a short time was a professional wrestler.
From 1955 to 1958, he was married to a successful businesswoman, Rose Morgan, who worked in cosmetics, which helped pay most of the bills.
In 1959, he married lawyer Martha Malone Jefferson and moved to her home in Los Angeles. Under political pressure, the tax office established payments of $ 20,000 per year for Louis, but even this amount was not affordable for him.
In the 1960s, the life of the former champion began to derail. He had a connection with a prostitute (in his autobiography he calls her Marie), who in December 1967 gave birth to his son. The Joe Louis family adopted a boy whom they named Joseph. At the same time, the former boxer began to use drugs, including cocaine, he showed signs of mental illness. Louis warned friends and family about conspiracies against his life. For several months, he was treated at a mental institution in Colorado. Martha stayed with him, and with her help and support he threw cocaine. His paranoia continued intermittently, although most of the time he was himself.
Death
In 1970, Luis hired Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. His work consisted of signing autographs, playing for money when he needed to increase the excitement of visitors, and playing golf with special guests. The casino provided him with housing and paid 50 thousand dollars a year. Joe lived and worked at Caesar's Palace until an extensive heart attack occurred on April 12, 1981.
Louisās funeral was a huge media event. The nation, which had almost forgotten about him, suddenly remembered everything that he meant for the country, and again greeted him as a great boxer who restored class and honesty in professional boxing. Three thousand mourners gathered to hear speeches by speakers such as Jesse Jackson praising Louis for opening the world of big sport to black athletes. Perhaps Muhammad Ali spoke best of all, who told the reporter that both blacks and white poor people loved Luis, and now they are crying. Howard Hughes died with his billions, and there was not a single tear, but when Joe Louis died, everyone cried.
Real athlete
Journalists have repeatedly written that the boxer slept a lot and ate, read comics, supported the Detroit Tigers and loved to play baseball and golf. But none of these generalizations was true. Even in the ring, and even more so outside of it, Louis did not show cruelty. He did not attack his opponents when they were in pain, and did not show pleasure from their suffering. He was not lazy. Joe trained, and any reporter covering his training knew that. As for his mind, Louis was not an intellectual, but which boxer was he? All these myths arose from one and only one thing: his racial affiliation.