Which champions did Louis's reign prevent?

Good to see you back Suzie. Will you be staying a bit longer this time or just filling in spare time for a while mate?

 

Interesting question. There are a lot of possibilities. Schmeling and Baer to regain the title. Pastor. Conn. Nova might have slipped in around the time he beat Baer. Bivins for certain. Later Elmer Ray and Jersey Joe Walcott. Melio Bettina might have surprised. Tommy Farr would have had a shot.

Unlikely--Buddy Baer. Arturo Godoy. Godoy lost most of his fights with Roscoe Toles. Carnera? I doubt it after the Leroy Haynes KO's.

I wonder if Toles might have had a shot at becoming champion for a short reign.

Conn is the best bet to have been champion for a while. Along with Bivins.

 

So if Galento got his deserved title shot, he might have ended up as a HW Champ? What a timeline......

 

Schmeling regains the title against Braddock. He was extremely close to fighting Farr - and claiming the winner as the rightful champion when Louis was allowed to leapfrog Max for the Braddock bout. Louis offered more money at last minute and Farr fought Louis instead. Schmeling also wanted a rematch with Larry Gains whom defeated him as a teenager. So my guess is Schmeling, beats Braddock, Gains and Farr. Farr is no lock but I think Max wins. Maybe another fight with Sharkey? To me he clearly comes out as the most dominant fighter even if he is carefully steered away from big risks. Conn would likely win right before the war if Schmeling still had title. And then have it frozen until after the war. Conn quickly loses it after war to Walcott or Mauriello etc as he just wasn’t same fighter

 

Fans would call it a "competitive era". Long reigning champs aren't always given credit.

 

No mention of Elmer Ray, I think he'd have a good chance?

I agree the title would probably change hands quite a bit. I think Buddy Baer and Billy Conn would likely win it. Might get some wild cards.

 

I think Ray has a real shot after the war to win the title if things go right for him.

Another question, Louis broke the color line for the heavyweight title since Jack Johnson. Who would be the first black challenger since Louis is out of the picture and when?

 

Might have been John Henry Lewis or Tiger Jack Fox.

 

I'm not too sure that John Henry Lewis gets his shot, if I'm remembering right a lot of his shot had to do with being friends with Joe Louis. Joe Louis also had a management team which (again if I'm remembering this right) had to work with Louis to present the right type of image along with his ring success to get a title shot.

 

Farr arguably deserved the decision against both Braddock and Burman, but that is a separate argument.

I would expect the best version of Farr, to beat Bivins, but lose to Conn.

Obviously those fights could not have ben made on a prime for prime basis.

The Farr that beat Max Baer, would almost certainly have been too much for Lem Franklin.

Take Louis out of the picture, and Farr might well slip through the cracks, with the right breaks.

 

i definitely would not favor Farr over Bivins. Farr was stiff, Bivins had skills and a long reach. He outboxed several men much better than Farr

 

Wasn't Lewis sick? Joe accepted his challenge as a favor.

 

Yea that's what I'm remembering he was close to blind?

 

Jimmy Bivins, Lem Franklin, possibly Roscoe Toles.