Joe Louis. The 8 black men who got away.

In twelve years ( eight or so active ) he fought two black challengers opposed to twenty or so white .. those numbers show the best didn't always get the match but politics and money were a big part as well ... that said I doubt Louis was scared of anyone .. he went on to beat Bivins and Ray multiple times in exhibitions late in both men's careers ...

 

How many Chinese challengers did he fight?

 

Fights can and would be made for ANY and all Boxers, by Matchmakers, Managers & Promoters - big & small, NO Changes there...

Contenders would likewise fight other Contenders & finge contenders also as above. Boards would Coordinate elimination tourneys towards World titles and Champions could likewise fight fringe conterders and/or journeymen fighters as they please for tune up fights...

However, in this Day and age when champions are lucky to fight twice in a year, would they even need tune up fights?

the Boards could demand 2 defences a Year, 3 even. therefore the champion would only be involved in Title fight contests.

 

Interesting idea, and not without merit.

Who would you have mandated Louis to fight, and when, and why, if anybody?

 

Not to interrupt, but I will say the one glaring ommission that I would have mandated Louis fight when he left the service would be Jimmy Bivins. Now, I know they eventually met, but that's not what I'm talking about. Bivins held the interim titles at 175 and heavyweight and it is a crying shame that he wasn't given a title shot immediately by either Gus Lesnevich or Joe Louis when hostilities ended. He was the most deserving, not a rematch with Billy Conn.

 

Don't know @janitor I'm not really qualified to say, but I was always a little intriqued by such longstanding contenders, always wondering What & Why they might have been all things equal. Two who come to mind are the affore mentioned Lem Franklin and Fred Lenhart.. others will know better than me.

too many Great & Top men NEVER got the Honest & Equal consideration that a Sport is 'suppose' to account for... but a Business often operates outside of any such jurisdictions.

 

Sound choice, but there are two questions that we need to ask.

1. Were these contenders being denied title shots, despite the fact that their paper credentials stacked up?
2. Were these contenders being denied title shots, simply because the politics and money of the day, prevented them from attaining their potential?

I lean strongly towards number 2!

 

Why not suggest the Chinese contenders he could have fought , key word being contenders ..

 

I know Louis later fought Bivins, as I said ("Even though Louis fought him later...") but he deserved a title shot.

Gains beat Godrey in 1928.

I realize that you are conversing with a whole bunch of people here but you have misunderstood my post. Perhaps I did not explain myself well.

 

Here is the National Boxing association end-of-year ratings from 1940-1948

1940
Champ--Joe Louis
1--Max Baer
2--Red Burman
3--Arturo Godoy
4--Lou Nova
5--Pat Comiskey

1941
Champ--Joe Louis
1--Billy Conn
2--Lem Franklin*
3--Buddy Baer
4--Bob Pastor
5--Melio Bettina

1942
Champ--Joe Louis
1--Billy Conn
2--Melio Bettina
3--Tami Mauriello
4--Turkey Thompson*
5--Pat Valentino

1943
Champ--Joe Louis
1--Billy Conn
2--Jimmy Bivins*
3--Tami Mauriello
4--Melio Bettina
5--Lee Q Murray*

1944
Champ--Joe Louis
1--Billy Conn
2--Joe Baksi
3--Jimmy Bivins*
4--Melio Bettina

1945
Champ--Joe Louis
1--Billy Conn
2--Tami Mauriello
3--Jimmy Bivins*
4--Melio Bettina

1946
Champ--Joe Louis
1--Elmer Ray*
2--Tami Mauriello
3--Bruce Woodcock
4--Jersey Joe Walcott*
5--Joe Baksi

1947
Champ--Joe Louis
1--Jersey Joe Walcott*
2--Ole Tandberg
3--Elmer Ray*
4--Joe Baksi
5--Joey Maxim

1948
Champ--Joe Louis
1--Jersey Joe Walcott*
2--Ezzard Charles*
3--Lee Savold

*black contender

Bivins was rated at light-heavyweight in 1941 and 1942

Franklin made a big run in 1941, but fell apart in 1942, with all kinds of bad KO losses, including to Pastor and Savold.

Ray in 1946 has a good case, but he lost to Walcott in 1947 and Walcott got the shot. As Janitor alluded to earlier, Bettina, and also Baksi, had about as good a claim as any while being long-term contenders. There is no controversy concerning them although they were higher rated than fellows like Thompson and Murray.

Louis and Conn were frozen in place because they were in the service. We can second-guess that, but it was the thinking of the time.

 

Exactly my point, there weren't any.

 

it's always the 2cd, simply through Vested Interests, Ownership, Influence and Risk... IF you don't belong, you don't play, and especially more so against Contenders who ARE a Genuine Threat or Better.

Sadly the Invested Business WINS, the fighters, the fans and the History lose.

 

Louis won a 6 round exhibition from Bivins in 1948. Had he been stopped, Bivins would have claimed the title.

http://i.imgur.com/v6bQI0N.jpg