Who is the most respected boxer ever ?

Joe Louis was the first black athlete that trancended the color barrier, in his time he was respected by most people of any color, we are talking about the 30s and 40s here, in an era where a white person could kill a black person in the middle of the street for no reason and get away with it.
He was the first black guy that most White people cheered for to win.

 

Plausible, and may have seen Ali figure better in Ali vs Frazier I (whenever that fight might have occurred with the different scenario).

Careful mentioning Marciano, 49 & 0 here. It'll get challenged too, believe it or not!

 

Louis before the war was defended about 7 times a year compare to Ali's 4 or 5 times a year. Ali was pretty far off at 31-0 vs the 49-0 record. In Frazier if I recall.

Well I dont think Ali would have made it to 49-0, I think Norton or Frazier would have laid the first lost when Ali was 35 or 37-0. Not sure on the 25 mark. I sure Louis would have rank up well over 35 defenses with out WWII.

 

All plausible too.

But don't say I didn't warn you about mentioning 49 & 0 here...standby....

 

He was shown in the end to be on wrong side of the black civil rights movement. He felt the need to support Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad; and belittle other black fighters without his view.

Ali did great things, and his passion help define a war, but also may of held back the civil rights movement, by putting doubt in certain people's mind, who would of been natural King supporters.

That shaggy dog of history will define him in due course, I just think without emotions history will not be that kind to Ali.

As COULDHAVEBEEN said, I was not there in the 60s and as such have to look into the subject using books and other people's opinions to draw to my conclusion.....

And if a simpleton like me figures that out, and struggles to respect the politics of Ali, then history is unlikely to do him many favours, when better minds look back a century down the road.

 

Ali. Nothing but praise whenever his name is mentioned.

 

So you think they would have beaten him in late 68? At his rate he would be at that number by then

 

This bio of Louis I think should put this to rest. President Regan even waived the burial requirements for Arlington National Cemetery to allow Joe Louis to be buried there.

How do you top that?

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April 13, 1981
OBITUARY
Joe Louis, 66, Heavyweight King Who Reigned 12 Years, Is Dead
Joe Louis, who held the heavyweight boxing championship of the world for almost 12 years and the affection of the American public for most of his adult life, died yesterday of cardiac arrest in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was 66 years old.

Mr. Louis, who was champion from 1937 until 1949, collapsed in the bathroom of his home at approximately 9:30 A.M. (P.S.T.). Efforts by Noel Larimer, his personal therapist, and by paramedics to revive Mr. Louis were unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead at Desert Springs Hospital at 10:05 A.M. His wife, Martha, was with him at the hospital.

Defended Title 25 Times


Schmeling Blitzed

The most spectacular victim of Louis's robust punches was Max Schmeling, the German fighter who was personally hailed by Adolf Hitler as a paragon of Teutonic manhood. Schmeling, who had knocked out Louis in 12 rounds in 1936, was given a return bout on June 22, 1938, in Yankee Stadium. He was knocked out in 2 minutes 4 seconds of the first round.

Describing the bout in The New York Times, John Kieran wrote: ''Well, of all things! It's on and it's over. Just as Joe promised. He stepped in and started a lightning attack. Lefts and rights - Bang! Bang! Bang! Schmeling reeled into the ropes on the first-base side of the ring and clung like a shipwrecked soldier to a lifeline.

''Swaying on the ropes, Max peered out in a bewildered manner. He pushed himself off and Louis struck like dark lightning again. A ripping left and a smashing right. The right was the crusher. Schmeling went down. He was up again and then, under another fusillade, down again. Once more, and barely able to stand, and then down for the third and final time.''

Not all of Louis's fights were so savage. Many of his adversaries entered the ring already quaking and his task of finishing them off was thus a matter of a half dozen solid punches at the proper moment.

A Considerate Man

There was no Joe Louis behind any facade. He was the same slowspoken, considerate person in a close social group as he was to the vast crowds that surged in on him to clutch his every word when he was at the apogee of the boxing world.

A simple dignity was characteristic of Louis, who never pretended that his sharecropper origins in Alabama were more than humble. Louis was born Joseph Louis Barrow on May 13, 1914, in the cottonfield country near Lafayette, Alabama, the eighth child of Munn and Lilly Barrow. His boyhood was one of want and little schooling.

On June 19, 1936, Louis had his first meeting with Schmeling in New York and suffered his first professional defeat, a 12th-round knockout.

Schmeling told reporters before the bout that he had seen faults in Louis's style. After the bout, Schmeling disclosed that Louis had a habit of lowering his left shoulder and arm, leaving his chin open for a right-hand counter punch.

Floored in Fourth Round

Schmeling floored Louis with that weapon in the fourth round, and finally knocked him out with more of the right-hand blows in the 12th.

Schmeling was promised a title bout against Braddock after he stopped Louis, but Mr. Jacobs wanted Louis to get the chance. After stalling Schmeling, Braddock agreed to meet Louis.

They fought in Chicago and Louis knocked out Braddock in the eighth round to win the heavyweight title. In 1938 the new champion had only three bouts, but one of those was his second against Schmeling. Germany was then expounding its superman propaganda to the world, and Hitler had made it known that Schmeling was one of those supermen.

Schmeling made the mistake of believing Hitler and made some disparaging remarks about Americans in general and blacks in particular.

Champion in a Rage

When Louis and the challenger met on June 22, 1938, in New York, the champion was in a rage. Louis cut his opponent down with terrific head and body punches. Schmeling went to a local hospital to recuperate before he returned to Germany.

The 2-minute-4-second time span was a record for turning back a challenger in a heavyweight title bout. The bout was the first million-dollar gate Louis attracted during his career.

After that Louis had things pretty much his own way in the ring. Tony Galento had him on the canvas briefly in 1939, Arturo Godoy's crouching nose-to-the-floor tactics puzzled Louis the full 15 rounds in 1940, and Buddy Baer, brother of Max, knocked Louis out of the ring for a nine-count in 1941 before losing.

That last event came during Louis's so-called ''bum-of-the-month campaign.'' During it, beginning in December 1940, he met challengers at the rate of one a month, a performance that no other heavyweight champion ever attempted.


Traveled Widely in Army

As a soldier, Louis traveled more than 21,000 miles and staged 96 boxing exhibitions before two million soldiers. Louis came out of the Army on Oct. 1, 1945, and shortly after signed to defend his title against Conn. The bout was the second million-dollar gate Louis drew and earned him the largest purse of his career, $625,916.44. The champion stopped Conn in the eighth round at Yankee Stadium on June 19, 1946.


Although he made a lot of money, it passed through his fingers quickly - and without the sort of accounting that the Internal Revenue Service expects. As a result, the Government calculated that his delinquent taxes - after penalties and interest - amounted to $1.25 million, a sum that Louis found staggering. ''I liked the good life,'' Louis said. ''I just don't know where the money went. I wish I did. I got 50 percent of each purse and all kinds of expenses came out of my cut.'' In the mid-1960's, an accommodation was reached with the Government and the boxer was able to pay off his obligations.

In 1965, Dana Latham, the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, informed Congress: ''We have gotten all we could possibly get from Mr. Louis, leaving him with some hope that he can live. His earning days are over.''

Louis was not officially forgiven by the tax collectors, but attempts at getting the money he owed ceased, according to a close friend of the boxer.

Joe Louis was more than just a boxing champion. He also had a role in the social history of the United States. In a 1970 article about Louis in Ebony magazine, Chester Higgins wrote: ''He gave inspiration to downtrodden and despised people. When Joe Louis fought, blacks in ghettos across the land were indoors glued to their radios, and when Louis won, as he nearly always did, they hit the streets whooping and hollering in celebration. For Joe's victory was their victory, a means of striking back at an oppressive and hateful environment. Louis was the black Atlas on whose broad shoulders blacks were lifted, for in those days, there were few authentic black heroes.''



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Born in Lexington, Alabama, May 13, 1914, he was the World Heavyweight Champion of the world from 1937 to 1949. He served with the Army in World War II, mostly performing in boxing matches at military installations around the world in a morale-improving program. After losing his boxing title, he served as a greeter at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.
He did not technically qualify for burial in Arlington National Cemtery, but President Ronald Reagan waived the requirements and he was buried in Section 7-A, near the Tomb of the Unknowns, following his death on April 12, 1981.

Martha Jefferson Louis



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Statement By President Ronald Reagan on the Death of Former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Joe Louis April 13, 1981
I was privileged and will always be grateful to have had Joe Louis as my friend.

The son of an Alabama sharecropper, Joe Louis fought his way to the top of professional boxing and into the hearts of millions of Americans. Out of the ring, he was a considerate and soft-spoken man; inside the ring, his courage, strength, and consummate skill wrote a unique and unforgettable chapter in sports history.

But Joe Louis was more than a sports legend -- his career was an indictment of racial bigotry and a source of pride and inspiration to millions of white and black people around the world.

All of America mourns his loss, and we convey our sympathy to his family and friends. But we also share their pride in his professional achievements, his service to his country, and his strength of heart and spirit.

Note: On April 16 the White House announced that at the request of Mrs. Louis, the President waived the burial requirements for Arlington National Cemetery to allow Joe Louis to be buried there.

 

The US respected him so much, his government hounded him for years for Tax, and was left to pimp himself at Vegas, whilst friends called in favours to try and help him.

Louis did not need an American President to waiver a technicality to get him in Arlington; he needed a President and a country to recognize what he was, and find a way to put a value on the work he did in World War II to cancel out technical taxes.

 

Nice avatar mate. I'd lick her ass like a trooper. :nut

 

VANBOXINGFUN - Excellent post... well chosen words about a great champion.

The section below demonstrates the backdrop that Jesse Owens was confronted with when he competed as a black American at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. History shows that Owens shocked the world, won 4 gold medals, and removed the smurk from Hitler's face.

....Max Schmeling, the German fighter who was personally hailed by Adolf Hitler as a paragon of Teutonic manhood....

 

Fair call. But if he changes his avatar your post above might look a bit silly in future!

 

Joe Louis, SR Robinson, & Joe Gans.

 

Ali is a good choice because of the way he transcended the sport. However, he had a lot of people who disliked him (and some still do), too.

Floyd Patterson and Joe Louis, from what I see, are pretty much loved by everybody. They may not have the world-wide fanbase that Ali does... but they don't have his haters, either.

 

When asking which fighter is most respected, I am assuming it means the fighter respected by the most people. Most people are more familiar with heavyweights, so I'm going to say boxing most respected fighter is a heavyweight.

Here's my list of top 10 heavyweights:

Ali
Louis
Johnson
Holmes
Lewis
Marciano
Foreman
Frazier
Holyfield
Tyson

Make some negative threads about each of those fighters, and see what fighter gets the most support. We have a diverse forum here. I don't know if polling this forum would paint an accurate international perspective, but I like the chances.

I'll say Ali is the most respected. Start a thread questioning his greatness, suggest someone would defeat him, or question his character. See what happens.