Best contender that Joe Louis didn't fight.

Jimmy Bivins (not when Louis actually fought him)

 

Elmer Ray?

I consider the Bivins-Louis fight a missed chance due to the Second World War. Bivins was on the decline by the time Louis got back from the army.

 

Yeah, Elmer Ray was the first name that sprung to mind from my somewhat sketchy knowledge of the era.

 

A. Baer

B. Rosenbloom


Louis really didn't have a "murderer's row" though, that's really just a revisionist argument people use today to denigrate something that isn't really open to denigration. He fought at least one (sometimes more) #1 ranked challenger each year he was active as champ, and usually a few top 5 contenders as well. That's as much as you can expect from any champ.

 

I feel he fought everyone that deserved chance. 21 or 22 defenses is enough. It's impossible to have fought every active heavyweight in trhee eras. He fought guys from mid 1930's, 1940's, and late 1940's early 50's (In latter some were during comeback. ) He fought Walcott in last title bout, and Walcott was 1950's champ.

 

Has to be Elmer Ray or maybe Bivins

 

Elmer Ray or Lee Q Murray. Such a shame many do not know who Murray is. I dont blame them with all the limited information on him out there. Murray was simply put, a beast.

 

This content is protected

Cleveland Promoter Believes Murray Can Take Joe Louis


BY JACK CUDDY


NEW YORK, Dec. 7—(UP)—



Larry Atkins of Cleveland,
America's second ranking
prizefight promoter, believes
that Lee. Q. Murray, big Connecticut
negro, is the most dangerous potential threat to
Sgt. Joe Louis' heavyweight crown. "If the war wuz to end tomorrow,"says promoter Atkins, "I'd say the man most likely to lick Louis wuz Lee Q. Murray."
This Atkins' praise of Murray was so entirely unexpected
that a startled reporter inquired
of the visiting Cleveland entrepreneur
last night, "how come you boost, Murray, when he almost'ruined Jimmy Bivins,
your meal, ticket, last week?" Atkins, a youngish, broadshouldered, black-haired chap of 41, fixed the reporter with steely eyes, and remonstrated,
'In our Cleveland promotions, we have no meal tickets. We have cards. A Cleveland fighter is a card as long as he can lick anybody we bring in. When he loses to an outsider, the outsider becomes the card." In the case of Murray vs. "Card" Bivins of Cleveland, promoter Atkins was doubly
fortunate. Little Bivins won an unpopular 10-round decision
over Murray last Wednesday night, after Murray had the
Cleveland negro staggering about the ring and dripping with
gore. The fans booed the-decision so long, and so lustily that
a re-match was as necessary as if by royal command. They'll
tangle, again in late February — after both principals recover
from their wounds. Atkins, who in four short years changed Cleveland from
one of the country's worst fight cities into a promoter's paradise,
said, "I knew Murray was a good fighter before I matched
him'with Bivins. But during the first two rounds, I thought
Murray would ruin me. He never let loose with a punch.
Disgustedly, I left my seat at
the ringside, and walked to the
rear of the arena. But Murray
was just mouse-trapping his
man. He knew Bivins was a
cutie and he was sucking him
in. Bivins left himself open in
the third round, and Murray
hit him. Bivins rolled with that
right-hand punch to the chin;
but the force was so terrific
that Bivins wasn't the same for
the rest of the fight. This part still needs some cleaning up, as the background noise and whatnot on the paper registers as text when you copy off an old newspaper.
"Murray hit him so hard over
the left brow in the sixth round
that you could have stuck your
thumb in the cut; but Bivins is
not the duration heavyweight
.champ for nothing. He managed
to put-smark' Murray for the
distance; and I honestly thought he won the fight; although it.
didn't matter to me who won—
as I had Murray tied up on a contract, too."
Atkins, who drew" $360,000
with his Cleveland bouts'jn'1942,
and who has provided bouts
that drexv $413,000'this year, concluded,
"I don't .know whether
little Bivins, who '.weighs' only
about •• 187 ..pounds, or Murray, who has 200 on six. foot two.
frame, is 'the better fighter.
But Murray is the most' dangerous.
He's .the most" terrific
puncher I ever saw; he hits as
hard as. Louis. He's • still a little•
awkward —being, a converted'
Southpaw. But being a Convert-
ed Southpaw ' makes 'him': a
switch hitter, who .can, knock'
you dead with either'hand.'And he's only 23."
•Atkins, in New York on a business
trip, said it seemed
a dream that he — an under
study to Mike Jacobs — 'should
have the two best civilian
heavyweights in the world tied
up on contracts He hoped he
still had .a contract on Murray
.when Sergeant .Louis got out of
.the Army. .

 

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Elmer Ray Left hook lands on Ezzard Charles

 

I would like to make a claim that Lee Q Murrays 8th round stoppage over Dangerous Harry Bobo to win Duration Heavyweight Title by Maryland and Ohio Commisions is just as credible as the Alphabet Soup belts of modern times.


I will post an article on Murray-Bobo fight later