Would you really say Joe had the bum of the month club? he did fight the best of his generation, and he fought Charles and Marciano, etc, etc, so what do you think? the majority of his foes did have winning records.
He fought guys who had no chance at all of beating him, and he fought very frequently. The bum of the month club is an unfortunate expression, but like most of the tags handed out by the old-school writers, it contains a grain of truth. Johnny Paycheck was never beating him, for example. But of course he fought the best of his generation, I think he fought more past and future heavyweight champions than any other man, at least before this total chaos.
He fought the most #1 or #2 ranked contenders of all hw champs. That says enough. When you then take into account that he beat 4 former champs on his way up, avenged his sole loss in his prime against a former champ, beat a guy who would become champ later on his way out and had good fights with 2 other champs. I think they looked like bums because Louis made them look so. Perhaps Louis was too good for his own good. Ali had close fights with mediocre contenders in his era and so these guys are seen nowadays as greats if not for Ali/Frazier/Foreman, Louis beat contenders who were at least as good by outclassing them and so these guys are seen as bums.
All of Louis's defences were over fighters with winning records,though the quality of the wins was often at best "variable".Paychek for example had a41-4-1 record going into the fight ,but apart from wins overLevinsky and Ettore there was not really any "iron " on his record.Louis 's auto biography often mentions his exasperation at Jacobs insistance there isnt any viable opponent out there for him.The opponents weren't bums ,by and large they were the best available,especially given Louis 's schedule .Missing on Joe's resume are many fights against Black challengers ,but having said that apart for Ray and Franklin name some.
Muhamad Ali: I bet you are glad I wasnt around in your era Joe. Joe Louis: Well you see we had this thing called the bum of the month club. Muhamad Ali: You callin me a bum? Joe Louis (shrugs): You would have been on the tour. Now whether this is literaly true or not it prety much sums the situation up. The bum of the month club were good fighters in the wrong place at the wrong time and some would have been champions in other eras.
The bum of the month club was during a short period of Louis's reign when he fought some seven challengers just weeks or months apart. Among some of the names were Abe Simon, Buddy Baer, and Billy Conn. Baer was a 6'6" 245 Lbs younger brother of Max Baer, who had 45 KO's in 50 wins. Simon was a large fighter with a decent punch as well, but possesing limited skill. Conn was the current lightheavyweight champ. There were a few others, but those were probably the best of the B.O.M.C. Frankly I don't think that those guys were bums, and he did afterall destroy all of them. Conn gave him a bit of trouble but Louis got him in the end, and destroyed him years later in a rematch.
It was pretty much like this during that time: Joe Louis and everybody else. Anybody would be considered a bum compared to Louis in that era.
Unfortunately, you had unreasonably harsh critics during that period such as Nat Fleischer, who loathed the 1930's and 40's, and lived in a perpetual state of nostalgia since the Dempsey era ended.
It seems from what I've seen that a couple were genuine bums or C level fighters, the others were good if often limited contenders and B level fighters that had the misfortune of being outclassed by an ATG. Also, the speed with which Louis went from one fight to another probably made it look easier, (and therefore, his opponents look like lesses fighters) than was really the case.
Not all of them were bums. In fact few were. Most of them were quality joruneyman types that were ranked due to a very thin talent pool of the era, and World War II. Galento came close to a stunning upset over Louis. There was a few seconds there where Galento, if he landed if hook could have scored a stoppage win.
reading the reports of the fights, they weren't all mop ups, some had an element of excitement to them, but then louis would win.
Joe Louis was fortunate to be champion in an era with few legitimate challenges. He was near being stopped by an overweight Galento, and also nearly defeated by Aturo Godoy ( most thought Godoy won). When he did fight a great, he was defeated. ( Walcott 1 was a robbery) His claim to fame is the rematch fights with the greats, and those that gave him a tough fight. He fought often, and reached his record defenses of the title by fighting c and b level opponents while avoiding other black contenders. The bum of the month club was a good description of how Joe Louis successfully defended his title.
