Joe Louis Fought Eight Black Fighters

Who was going to pay to see him fight those guys? Who would volunteer to put on the fight and take that financial risk?

 

Also, what would it have proved?

 

Who were the black fighters he should have fought? Ive seen Elmer Ray and Lem Franklin mentioned. Ray's record is so padded its ridiculous. He had zero worthwhile wins prior to the war which knocked Louis out of commission. Lem Franklin blew his opportunity by getting beaten by Pastor who had been beaten by both Louis and Conn. Its one thing to say fighter X Y and Z didnt get the breaks they MAYBE deserved which MIGHT have led them to a title shot but its entirely another to somehow draw the conclusion that they deserved a title shot without having gotten those supposed breaks.

 

Take Louis out of the equation. The question of why they werent getting ranked is an interesting one but like the case of Ray who people today seem fascinated with for some reason, he simply didnt have the wins to really be able to claim he should have been rated higher. He typically lost to the best fighters he faced. Most of those guys were that way. A large part of the reason is because experienced trainers, black and white, didnt want to take on black fighters because they didnt earn. Even Blackburn had to be talked into taking over Louis. So these guys didnt develop under the same level of experience. Then they didnt get opportunities, for a variety of reasons, not just because of the color of their skin. Another reason they didnt which is rarely ever talked about is that when these black fighters fought on the chitlin circuit they often had to fight the same opponent numerous times. This lead to a level of familiarity between the fighters and they would often fall into more of a song and dance routine/sparring match than actual battle. This gave black fighters a bad reputation and made it harder to promote them. You can see this play out at least as far back as Langford/McVey/Jeanette and maybe even further.

 

I thought he just fought whoever the worthy top contender happened to be.

 

Louis fought Roscoe Toles on April 27th 1935 and knocked him out in 6 rounds. By all accounts this was a professional fight. However, due some contract stipulation with Primo Carnera’s camp (Primo ended up being Louis’s next official opponent) Louis was not allowed to box professionally from the point of his previous bout before Toles until he met Carnera. At the point of the Carnera fight Louis was fighting weekly - then their is a two month space until he challenges the Preem. That space is where he fought and dominated Toles. For many years that fight was listed in various books as a professional win for Louis. Then it just seemed to vanish.

 

Blackburn had seen and could remember the way Jack Johnson was treated.

 

Good insight. An example of the sparring or familiar aspect maybe Williams/Burly in the lighter class. It would have appealed to fans on a narrow scope.

 

Yes that was part of it but it was more about the fallout and chance of a black fighter getting a decent shot to make $. Blackburn seemed to blame Johnson for it. They were not friends.

 

I'm sure I read that Chappie fought Sam Langford on several occaisions. Do you know if he fought Johnson ? I was guessing he might have, even though Blackburn was only a Welter.

 

No but legend has it that Blackburn embarrassed Johnson in a sparring session. He was that good. I don't think Johnson ever forgave him

 

Louis fought 3 exhibitions with Elmer ray. He got the better of him all three times and improved each time. Had him out on the ropes in second match and knocked him cold in final match. Doubt Ray would of done any better in official match.

 

Ray beat Hall of fame fighters and contenders ( Charles, and Walcott ) and also had wins over Savold and Walker so his record wasn't just padded. He proved it by being quality and was ranked as high as #2 or #3 ( I'd have to check ).

Franklin won something like 18 fights in a row, I guess if you wait long enough everybody losses, or retires, which is when the excuses for why he never fought so and so is made. One could say Joe Louis blew his chance at a title shot by losing to Schmeling with that type of thinking. Franklin didn't blow his chance, he earned his and never got one.

Look at it this way, are you saying that just two of Louis title defense were vs. African Americans because the rest of them were not better than the bum of the month types Louis often fought? The answer is clearly no. Louis should have been the champion to do away with the color line. We have already been over rate gates for the Walcott fight were higher than what he made in most other fights, so it wasn't a money thing.