The main effect that Joe Louis had in terms of growing the sport, was to increase the participation of black fight fans, and their financial importance to the sport.
I debated Joe to myself and was tempted to put him in. I obviously know how great he was and his outstanding achievements, I probably like watching Joe Louis fights more than any other. I just wasn’t quite sure if he transcended the sport as much as the others. Damn you know something you’re right, Joe goes in there!
Thanks Janitor. I hadn't thought of that. You don't think he might have also affected the attitudes towards the participation of black boxers, and indeed sportsmen in other fields, among white sports fans in how he erased some of the memories of the rancour surrounding Jack Johnson? Or that his war effort may have changed a few opinions towards black people in general? I'm asking a question rather than trying to make a point rhetorically. I don't really know the answer to my own questions so I'm seeking a view rather than putting one forward.
I think Jack also changed the style of boxing making forward movement in a crouch, with bobbing and weaving, part of a fighter's repertoire of options. It was all a bit upright and put 'em up before, from what I see on film. After Jack, more fighters bent forward at the waist rather than back. (Just added that as I thought it made my point clearer and less pejorative to the old timers).
James Figg has to be mentioned for his own contributions, with his Amphitheater quite literally creating the stage for the sport and gaining the support of upper class patrons. Jack Broughton codified the first set of proper rules, with Broughton's rules changing boxing from something akin to a duel into more of a sporting contest. Daniel Mendoza evolved the sport with his scientific approach, paving the way for Jewish athletes as a whole and with The Art of Boxing, was the first to put his knowledge into the form of a book. Jem Mace followed along with Mendoza in the intellectual side of the sport, and had a strong influence on the burgeoning Australian scene which would provide many of the best of the late 1800s and early 1900s era. John L. Sullivan was an outright star, the transitional figure between the London Prize era and the early gloved era. Jack Johnson opened an essential door even as the societal backlash may have harmed many of his contemporaries. Jack Dempsey, with Tex Rickard's promotion, took boxing upward to dizzying heights, moneywise and in terms of public fascination. Joe Louis's rematch with Schmeling was a fight that surpassed the sport itself and his measured public persona absolutely did much to change public attitudes towards black fighters. Muhammad Ali was an international superstar, creating worldwide connections and opportunites and like few others, was bigger than boxing itself.
I think that he did all of these things, but the question was who did most to grow the sport. Louis was not drawing bigger gates than Dempsey, but he was drawing bigger gates than Max Baer, even before he became champion. The significant thing about Joe Louis, was not so much that he brought gates to previously unseen levels, but that black money became far more important in the sport.
Ali, Tyson, Bruno and Eubank are the big four in the United Kingdom Tyson and Eubank were often on the front and back pages of the then-heavily bought tabloid papers in the 90s. Bruno and Eubank rarely off our TV screens it seemed, when we had four channels. Especially Eubank. Controversy is good for the sport, as is personality.
