One of the greatest fighters ,who licked alltime greats...Lou Ambers is now a non entity, and it is a shame...I have him at lightweight primes giving Roberto Duran all he could handle..Six losses in 100 bouts against the best little men of his time...Shame,again....
great post. lou gets lost in the shuffle becomes he was in probably the most stacked era of all time. he beat two of the best all time in canzoneri (admittedly past prime) and armstrong (pretty much) prime and only seemed to lose to the best. skilled, one of the all time best chins the only thing he seemed to be missing was the big punch. his loss to lew jenkins was shocking when looking back but ambers should be remembered for what he was: one of the best all time, fighting in possibly the best era ever
Good ol' Lightning Lou! Great fighter in of course a loaded era. I have nothing else to say becaus Jorodz pretty much nailed it.
A sidenote about Ambers...My father ,a great fight fan and cab driver,picked up Lou Ambers, at MSg after being Ko'd the second time by Lew Jenkins...While in the cab,Ambers declared to my dad" I aint got it no more". Ambers though only 28 years ,had 100's of "bootleg amateur" fights before turning pro in 1932...One of the great "infighters" of all time was Ambers...
Ambers was that other great hurricane of the Golden Era. He was absolute proof of Armstrong's greatness. I am utterly convinced that after there first battle, Hurricane Henry left not a little of himself in that ring.
Armstrong could have lost the welterweight title after the rematch with Ambers if Lou had sought to claim it. Imagine how history would have changed then. Ross took a beating in relinquishing that championship. By contrast, Lou put Hank through a bloody vomit inducing hell in giving up that third divisional crown. One of the most inspiring and uplifting images in all of boxing (or sport in general) is of Armstrong and Ross, arms around shoulders, beaming at each other with respect and admiration while waiting for the official decision. In direct contrast to this, Hank's arm being raised as a triple crown winner may be perhaps the ugliest coronation scene that exists in the sport, not excepting Schmeling's acquisition of heavyweight honors. Armstrong looks like he's about to keel over and die, as he later looked when Zivic made him a former champion for the final time. That picture of Henry's grotesquely swollen and battered face at the greatest moment of his immortal boxing life is all I need to understand what Ambers was made of.
Great posts guys...A little tidbit...In about 1981 or two,or thereabouts my father before he passed away, called me from a pier telephone...He was playing cards with his cronies,as he did every day..He phoned me and said come to the pier because "lou Ambers,was in the card game"..I. the hero worshiper scooted over and sure enough there was an elderly,Ambers,in town at the time,playing cards with the seniors...I respected his privacy,as did the card players....As fate would have it, my dad had Ambers in his cab, Feb 1941,when he drove Ambers from MSG, after Lew Jenkins, ko'd him the second time...Glad Ambers never recognized my dad,playing cards 20 years or so later...Ambers certainly was an alltime great.....
He's not forgotten, i've always had him and out of my top ten at the weight consistently. Can't remember if he was in last time i did it.
