Joe Louis. The 8 black men who got away.

I think I will try a tier list of possible Louis challengers who did not get a title shot:

Tier one--Elmer Ray (would definitely rate among Louis' top ten title challengers, and I would put him in the top five, but behind Schmeling, Walcott, and Conn. He could have gotten a shot in 1947 and would have enhanced Louis' resume some. He lost that year to Walcott and Walcott fairly got the title shot)

Tier two--Jimmy Bivins, Melio Bettina, Joe Baksi (all three peaked during the war. Bivins lost 3 fights every year from 1946 to 1949 and faded from the top. Bettina was hanging in the ratings as he aged, but got blown out by Gus Lesnevich in 59 seconds in 1947 which finished him as a contender. Baksi did get a few wins after the war, including over Mills and Woodcock, and would have gotten a title shot but lost an unnecessary warm up fight against Tandberg. Charles stopped him in 1948 in an elimination. The problem with all three is that they did their best work during the depleted war years, when vast numbers of young men of fighting age were in the military. None were nearly as effective after the war. Considering just their post-war careers, I wouldn't put any in the top ten of Louis challengers nor in the top 15 of his defenses.)

Tier three--Lem Franklin, Turkey Thompson, Lee Savold (all were dangerous punchers who came up short. Franklin had a run but then was stopped several times. He obviously had a weak jaw. Thompson and Savold lost often to the better, and some of the not so better, men. None of these three would be among Louis' top ten challengers or 15 top defenses. Thompson and Savold peaked during he war.)

Tier four--the pick names out of a hat crowd. (Gains, who was a generation earlier and faded when Louis came on the scene. Ditto Godfrey. Walker had stats, but few big wins and was losing in Europe to the likes of an aged Gains and Jack London. Haynes and Trammell came and went quickly. Murray had his moments but lost to Walcott and faded fast after the war. Sheppard had a so so record despite a rep as a big puncher.)

Tier five--Roscoe Toles (one of the contenders who hung in there longer than most, but was in fact stopped by Louis in 1935. Would have been a decent challenger. A fringe top ten man? Possibly. He was better than Godoy and Lovell.)

 

I’ve narrowed it down to salivation (he drooled too much), calculation (Joe was busy doing math) and impregnation (he was having a baby?).

 

Pig = hog

Mentation = mental activity

So … smart hogs.

Got it.

I’m not sure what it has to do with Louis’ choice of title challengers but when it comes to hogs, I say the smarter the better.

 

Thompson was ranked as high as #3 in the very end of 1942. Joe Louis signed up for the army in January of 1942. His last fight before his hiatus during the war was in March 1942, months before Thompson was anywhere near the top 5. Thompson fell out of the top ten long before Louis was out of the army. Thompson was a nobody. Period.

Im not sure where you are getting your "facts" from but Melio Bettina was never Louis' number one contender. The highest ranking at HW he ever got was that he was briefly rated #2 a couple of times, right behind Billy Conn, the guy who had twice beaten him. Nobody would have stood for Bettina getting a shot over Conn considering the Louis-Conn rematch was the biggest fight on everyones mind for four years.

Apparently math isnt your strong suit.

Im sure Louis was terrified of a relatively light hitting light heavyweight who had a nearly five inch height disadvantage and a six inch reach disadvantage who had suffered nearly half of his defeats at that point at the hands of Louis victims...

 

Didn’t read every post but people aren’t aware it seems for the reason for all this. Not publicized but it has been written about. These guys didn’t get title shots cause there was a color line. Hard to understand cause you see a Louis and Armstrong but these guys were rare exceptions. The country began to integrate after WW ll. Look at all the other sports. Boxing was much the same. Funny Louis never fought a serious black contender till after the war and then lost to the first 2 he faught. We re fed that Louis was a Superman not that the black competition he should have had was blocked. Louis was great but there were other potentially great black fighters not developed because mangers knew they werent getting title shots. So they took fights on short notice were forced to take dives worked second and third jobs with little time to train properly. The services during WW ll were a vehicle for integration that exploded after the war. Didn’t take more then a few years of this new opportunity and blacks totally dominated the rankings. If you think about it’s so clear.

 

I already did give a top ten list in a previous post which apparently you didn't read. But here it is again, in order of challenge:

Tommy Farr
Max Schmeling
Tony Galento
Bob Pastor
Arturo Godoy
Buddy Baer
Billy Conn
Lou Nova
Tami Mauriello
Jersey Joe Walcott

Here are my top five that did not get a shot, first ignoring World War 2 and just where they rated at their peaks.

1---Elmer Ray
2---Jimmy Bivins
3---Melio Bettina
4---Joe Baksi
5---Turkey Thompson
*6--Lee Savold

Here is the realistic top five of those who did not get a shot, taken into account that Louis was in the army between 1942 to 1945 and so were top contenders when he could have fought them:

1---Elmer Ray
2---Joe Baksi
3---Melio Bettina
4---Roscoe Toles
5---Lem Franklin

Here is my top ten actual and potential challengers for the periods when Louis was realistically free to defend his title:

1--Max Schmeling
2--Jersey Joe Walcott
3--Billy Conn
4--Elmer Ray
5--Bob Pastor
6--Lou Nova
7--Tommy Farr
8--Tami Mauriello
9--Tony Galento
10-Buddy Baer

Be interested in any feedback.

* I give Thompson the edge over Savold because of his KO of Ray in 1943. Ray blew out Savold in 1946. But it is possible Ray had improved a lot. Savold was rated among the top ten heavyweights years before Thompson and was still rated after Thompson fell out of the ratings. Both men were erratic, but beat a lot of second-tier guys. Savold had overall the better and deeper resume, Ray aside.

 

Here are the top five National Boxing Association end of year ratings during Louis' active reign. * black contender

1937
c--Joe Louis
1--Max Schmeling
2--Tommy Farr
3--Tony Galento
4--Nathan Mann
5--Alberto Lovell*

1938
c--Joe Louis
1--Tony Galento
2--Lou Nova
3--Max Baer
4--Willie Reddish*
5--Roscoe Toles*

1939
c-Joe Louis
1--Tony Galento
2--Bob Pastor
3--Lou Nova
4--Tommy Farr
5--Max Baer

1940
c-Joe Louis
1--Max Baer
2--Red Burman
3--Arturo Godoy
4--Lou Nova
5--Pat Comiskey

1941
c-Joe Louis
1--Billy Conn
2--Lem Franklin*
3--Buddy Baer
4--Bob Pastor
5--Melio Bettina

1945 (Louis leaving service)
c--Joe Louis
1--Billy Conn
2--Tami Mauriello
3--Jimmy Bivins*
4--Melio Bettina
5--Lee Oma

1946
c--Joe Louis
1--Elmer Ray*
2--Tami Mauriello
3--Bruce Woodcock
4--Jersey Joe Walcott*
5--Joe Baksi

1947
c-Joe Louis
1--Jersey Joe Walcott*
2--Ole Tandberg
3--Elmer Ray*
4--Joe Baksi
5--Joey Maxim

1948
c-Joe Louis
1--Jersey Joe Walcott*
2--Ezzard Charles*
3--Lee Savold
4--Billy Conn
5--Joey Maxim

Domination by black contenders not as strong as you imply while Louis was champion. Franklin was the only one to break the top three before the war. Ray is the only top man missed.

 

Just to carry on after the Louis era

1949
c--Ezzard Charles
1--Jersey Joe Walcott*
2--Lee Savold
3--Bruce Woodcock
4--Lee Oma
5--Turkey Thompson**

1950
c-Ezzard Charles
1--Joe Louis*
2--Lee Savold
3--Rex Layne
4--Jersey Joe Walcott*
5--Lee Oma

1951
c-Jersey Joe Walcott
1--Rocky Marciano
2--Ezzard Charles*
3--Clarence Henry*
4--Joe Louis*
5--Hein Ten Hoff
6--Rex Layne

1952
c-Rocky Marciano
1--Jersey Joe Walcott*
2--Ezzard Charles*
3--Rex Layne
4--Roland LaStarza
5--Clarence Henry*

1953
c-Rocky Marciano
1--Ezzard Charles*
2--Nino Valdes*
3--Dan Bucceroni
4--Roland LaStarza

1954
c--Rocky Marciano
1--Nino Valdes*
2--Ezzard Charles*
3--Don Cockell
4--Bob Baker*
5--Hurricane Jackson*

1955
c-Rocky Marciano
1--Bob Baker*
2--Nino Valdes*
3--Hurricane Jackson*
4--John Holman*
5--Willie Pastrano

So we see increasing domination by black challengers during he Marciano era. For 1951 I added Layne as Louis was really retired and I don't know why he was rated. The NBA not rating Archie Moore at heavyweight allowed Pastrano to slip into the ratings in 1955. The NBA only rated four contenders in 1953.

 

I might go further and say that there was only one with an overwhelming case for a title shot.

 

Its comical how you speak in absolutes when its been repeatedly pointed out to you that A. Louis didnt duck anyone, B. the timelines you keep giving for people like Ray, Fox, and Bettina dont line up and certainly dont align with your claims that Louis ducked these guys, and C. Bettina was never Louis' #1 contender. Its just blatantly obvious you have an agenda and its the same agenda you had/have against Johnson in that you want to discredit him, largely because of the color of his skin. Its pathetic how you cling to these ideas that arent supported by facts in order to not face the reality of the fact that the men you attempt to tear down were great.