Did Joe Louis have a 26th title defense against Jimmy bivins in 1948?

A nice way of boosting a 6-round ND bout.

It was only the Cleveland Boxing Commission/NBA saying so, and who knows if even they would have enforced it.
I suspect most of the world would have continued to recognize Louis, and a 15-round championship contest between the two would have been arranged on the strength of it.

 

Might I ask where you found this?

 

This is extremely interesting. Is this legitimate? If the title can change hands reguardless of the rounds or rules it should be a title defense no matter what. Would love more information.

The only information Ive found on this is their fight in 51'? This is some pretty cool information if its real regardless of how it can be perceived as a title defense

 

Boxrec lists another fight like this during the war (Johnny Davis I think). An exhibition that could be recognized as a title fight because heavyweight champions don't do non title fights.

 

Joe Louis and Jimmy Bivins fought a six-round exhibition in Cleveland on Nov. 17, 1948. Nobody was stopped. Louis didn't officially relinquish his title until March 1949.

At the time, it was believed that every time a heavyweight champion stepping in the ring his title was on the line since heavyweights couldn't compete in over-the-weight bouts above their weight limit like the champs in lower divisions could.

However, exhibitions weren't typically considered sanctioned bouts.

But Cleveland was a member of the National Boxing Association. So, had Louis lost, I guess Cleveland could've recognized Bivins as champ. (Like a few states recognized Joe Frazier as champ when he beat Mathis.)

I don't know if any of the other members of the NBA would've followed Cleveland's lead. I think that's why they also mentioned that if Bivins won, there would be a rematch for the title.

Sounds like a member of the NBA "went rogue" for an exhibition match. But Joe Louis didn't get knocked out, so nobody paid any attention to it.

 

Exhibitions aren't typically title fights. Louis fought a lot of exhibitions while he was champ. If they all counted as title defenses, he'd have had about 100 defenses.

In that instance you mentioned, and the one with Bivins, I think the local state commission just decided the exhibition was going to be recognized as a title fight if the champ somehow got knocked out -- and labled it as such to help boost the gate -- but nobody else considered it an official title fight.

Boxrec is the only place I've ever seen that Davis exhibition listed as a title defense for Louis. They must've seen a flier or poster like the Bivins press release just posted. But it was just an exhibition.

Like the Tyson-Tillis exhibition in Chicago in 1987 wasn't considered a title defense for Tyson. But, had Tillis knocked him out, it would've caused shock waves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtoqGcqkawk