Should Louis' record title reign come with an asterisk due to WWII inactivity?

"Your granddad wins in 1948 but doesn't compete again until 1992"

But this means nothing unless he wins. If he wins in 1992 and had won in 1948, this would be pretty remarkable whether anybody is competing in between or not.

Let's try another sports analogy. The British Open in golf was not held from 1940 to 1945 because of WW2. Suppose a golfer won the British Open in 1937 and again in 1950. Is this a lesser achievement than it would be if he won in 1947 and 1960 because there was no competition in the war years. I don't see that.

Your analogies would be relevant if Louis had just stopped fighting and never came back after the war. It might be relevant with Dempsey who comes back after a long layoff and loses. But Louis came back and successfully defended his title four times.

I really think this critique is more applicable to such as Corbett or Dempsey who laid off for years and then lost when they finally fought. Should they be credited with the full time spans of their reigns? Or just over the period when they made successful defenses, after being given a reasonable grace period after the last successful defense?

 

Chris Pontius

The difference is that it seems to me that other titles are for that event and that year. The championship is something to achieve but not exactly something to hold, as in boxing. For example, if golfer A wins the 1965 British open but can't break 90 in 1966, there is still going to be a British open and some one will win it. The same with the World Cup, I think. A team is the champion the year they win it, but that doesn't give them a leg up the next time. That team has to earn its way back to the World Cup. The NFL is the same way. New England is the 2016 champion and will be called the defending champion, but really they start in 2017 in the same position as every other team. They have to win their way into the playoffs and then on to the Super Bowl. If they don't, they'll out, but there will be a Super Bowl whether New England is part of it or not.

Boxing is, or at least was in Louis' day, different. The champion carries the championship within him. You can't be champion w/o fighting and beating the champion. It seems to be an older, primitive concept. To become King you must kill the King.

In other sports you win a tournament. In boxing you slay the King.

"Foreman"

I agree. Foreman had a fantastic span of being champion (24 years), with only Ali I think having a span even half that long. But he was quite possibly never the best heavyweight, losing badly to Ali and Young in the 1970's, and to Holyfield and Morrison in the 1990's. Each will make what he will out of this unique achievement.

 

good point Franklin! I think you might add about 200+ homers to Ted's resume during that period. What would that put him at? 721? With the batting average? Maybe another .400 season? Traditionally boxing/baseball have always been my two fav sports! I've p I s s e d off boxing for reasons I've already mentioned previously.

 

After what unkle sam did to Joe Louis his war years should count.

 

What did Uncle Sam do?

 

Go read a boxing history book and find out

 

It seems that a number of people try to nitpick aspects of Joe Louis's boxing career and championship reign. Keep in mind that Louis was a formidable fighter during his entire career, even when he was past his peak after World War II ended.

- Chuck Johnston

 

From memory...
Louis donated a couple of fight purses to war-related charities. Army Relief and Navy Relief, maybe. He and / or his people neglected to pay the tax bill on these purses before making these donations. In Uncle Sam's - the U.S. Government - eyes that was income to Louis regardless of what he did with the money, and they wanted their share. As a result of this, Louis carried a heavy tax bill for many many years. He was forced to fight longer than he probably should have and was burdened with the stress that owing the IRS brings. It took a heavy toll on him when he was trying to do a good thing. Many (most?) feel that Uncle Sam was extremely unfair to Louis, an American hero and WWII veteran.