Joe Louis vs Lem Franklin- Early 1942

Louis ko 3 over Franklin in a one sided encounter.

 

Louis was instrumental in Jackie Robinson's success ,and the integration of black candidates into the officers training, course of which Robinson was just one.

Louis was directly responsible for the integration of US troop audiences for his exhibitions in Europe after he refused to box in front of segregated troops.
Louis financed a black team that toured the US, gave handouts to many, many black troops and we can only ponder how many aspiring black youngsters he inspired and encouraged.
Louis also smashed the colour bar at golf courses.
For giving countless exhibitions in different theatres of war,raising untold $$$ in War Bonds,defending his title twice for nothing for the Army and Naval relief funds, as a patriot Louis stands as a giant.
By his public behaviour and actions, no black celebrity did more to advance the cause of equality and acceptance for black people,[ until MLK came along,] than did Joseph Louis Barrow.imo.

 

This seems to indisputably close the case.

 

You're board retirement didn't last very long...as predicted. I do not disagree with what you wrote. My point is Louis if he wanted to could have advanced boxing by giving more African Americans title shots.

 

I think when we look at the record of Joe Louis is detail the Brown Bomber is at the top of the pack along with Marciano and Ali as fighting the best. Its funny how certain guys give Holmes a pass for having many defenses but don't look close at the people he avoided or by passed using the WBC politics to his advantage. Its odd because Dempsey is often mentioned and I certainly can understand Wills and Greb but lets remember Dempsey was also inactive for 3 years and did fight Greb conqueror Tunney and Wills conqueror Sharkey

Louis fought Joe Walcott who had quite a climb over tough black fighters on his way up and Tony Galento also had some good wins over dangerous black fighters. I think Joe Louis did very well fighting all kinds, sizes and colors and was a champion in every sense of the word

 

He had a small window of opportunity had he been more consistent he might have received a shot.

 

My take is that the only world to describe this criticism of Louis is captious.

Louis defended his title seven times in 1941, more than I believe Dempsey did in his whole title reign.

Three of those, Burman, Simon, and Baer, were ranked above Franklin at the beginning of the year and probably when Louis fought them.

Conn and Nova were the number one contenders following big wins in early 1941.

The other two "weak" contenders were Tony Musto, who held a win over Franklin at that point, and Dorazio, who would later defeat Franklin.

Franklin had a great year and was coming on but the broken hand made an immediate shot at Louis out of the question. It appears he was being built up for a big money summer title shot but it all went south when he was KO'd by Pastor and went on a losing streak of 8 of 10 with 7 KO defeats.

Give Louis a break here. It wasn't exactly like he was sitting on the title having 10 defenses in 16 months.

There have been endless threads on Wills and Greb concerning Dempsey, but what about Jack Renault. Yes, he had a bad defeat in 1922 to Miske, but Franklin had bad early defeats also. Renault, like Franklin, went on a run with KO's of Fulton, Johnson and young Godfrey. He was highly rated in 1924 and 1925. Dempsey could have defended against him. I think he was a reasonable challenger. And Dempsey wasn't fighting anyone.

Louis was fighting opponents ranked above Franklin as well as the supposed easy touches.

 

How long was Lem Franklin a contender? Was it seven or eight months starting when he stopped Jimmy Bivins and ending when he was stopped by Bob Pastor and Henry Bobo? We aren't talking about another Harry Wills here, someone who was a top contender for about ten years and still didn't get a world heavyweight title shot.

- Chuck Johnston

 

Franklin was rated as high as #2. Many of Louis' bum of the month types didn't achieve a rank this high and failed to be on an 18 fight winning streak.

With 25+ title defense, Joe Louis only fought two black men. Surely Franklin was better than say half of the people Louis gave title shots too.

Franklin obviously wasn't on top as long as Wills was. No one is saying that. I would have been nice if Franklin got his title shot.

 

Good post! Renault was some how by- passed.A good fighter with some sterling wins on his sheet.

 

This 18 fight winning streak.
The names on it are Sheppard 13-8-0 he had won 1 of his last 3 fights.
Bivins, who was a light heavy.
Simon who had won 2 of his last 4 .
Hardly awe inspiring.

 

In the case of Wills, we can say that he would have been an excellent choice of title defence, in place of any of Dempsey’s opponents.

In Franklin’s case it is hard to slide him in anywhere specific.

 

The fighters, who drew the colour line, have indirectly brought about something of a historical overcorrection.

We have a situation now, where any talented black contender who didn’t get a title shot, is being built up into another Peter Jackson or Sam Langford.

At the same time, some talented white contenders who didn’t get a shot, are completely overlooked.

Where is the thread asking whether Joe Louis should have defended his title against Melio Bettina?

 

This.:good