Should Louis have fought more than two black men in his 26 title defenses?

Upon beating Abe Simon for the second and final time in February of 1942, Joe Louis went inactive from defending his title for the next 2 years and 9 months, due to his involvement in the military. He enlisted as a private the day after he beat Buddy Baer in January of 1942 just two months before fighting his last bout of the year against Simon and one month before Franklin fought Pastor. Louis's promoter Jacobs never had any intention of Louis fighting Franklin, knowing that Joe's absence from the sport was eminent. So all these claims that Jacobs was planning a september meeting between Louis and Franklin contingent upon Franklin beating Pastor was a scandalous lie. Franklin was never going to get a shot at Louis no matter WHO he beat...

 

The difference is the ranking lightheavyweights Louis defended against were both champions and had beaten very good heavyweights.
Conn= Pastor,Dorazio,Savold,Barlund
.McCoy,Knox.

,Lewis=Adamick,Risko,Ettore,Berry,Perroni, Ray,etc

Bivins .had beaten no one who was anybody at heavyweight at the time.

The bottom line is the scalps Franklin beat during his run meant nothing at the time he beat them,apart from Simon, who was a previous Louis ko victim.

 

Both of those guys were heavily thought of as being dead meat, even by there own Mothers. If that's the only thing out of all that you're going to attempt to refute then are we finally in agreement that I was right about what I said? or that at least you see my perspective on some of this?

EDIT: Never mind... I see you edited your post after some thought and added more.

 

See my addition to my previous post.
And I think you are fundamentally wrong.

 

No he hadn't.. But he was still a high ranking light heavy and light heavys stepping up to fight heavyweights has hardly been uncommon in the past century or more.. It was still a good win.

I think a few of them meant quite a bit and have already given my reasons why.. Your simply dismissing them without any counter argument doesn't change my position on that or for that matter some of the sports writers at the time. And your comment " apart from Simon" Isn't the reality... The man had received two undeserved title fights when he had previously lost twice to the man we've been arguing for pages about, one of those occasions coming just five months before getting his second opportunity at Louis.

 

I have and have so responded.

Well I wasn't keeping my fingers crossed.

 

This is your own interpretation on this and is backed up by exactly zero proof.

Here is some interesting information.

"In the meantime Ellwood Rigby a Pittsburgh promoter offered me a$450,000 guarantee to meet John Henry Lewis I would get $100,000 up front as soon as I signed the contract plus $1000 training expense moneyThe deal looke awfully good to me,but Mike nixed it.He said two black fighters wouldn't draw a big enough gate I didn't believe this because in 1936 Lewis and Al Gainer drew a big crowd in Pittsburgh.
I figured we'd do well in either Pittsburgh,Chicago,or New York.
As a result of Mike's thinking that way ,it threw out the possibility of me fighting Tiger Jack Fox,Eddie Blunt or Leroy Haynes."
Joe Louis.

 

So what does his manager's feelings about this have anything to do with Franklin being under qualified or Jacob's claims that he was planning on a Louis vs Franklin fight for September of 1942 ( which we now know was never going to happen?) This doesn't address anything that I was talking about.. And BTW I find it interesting that you'd quote an article mentioning Eddie Blunt as a one time possible contender for Louis after you just got through Sh--ting all over him.

 

Very wise:good

 

I didn't **** all over Blunt or any of the others, I merely presented their resumes at the time Franklin beat them. Facts are facts.
I thought you might find Louis's comments interesting ,my mistake.

 

Common.. Do you really think that Louis's own PROMOTER didn't know that his man's career as a champion was going to be put on hold after he enlisted to serve in a WORLD WAR??? If I were in Jacob's shoes I wouldn't have a problem promising someone the moon if I also knew that I were in the comfortable position of never having to deliver it..

 

Common.. If facts are facts then why did you only point out him winning only 1 of his last 3 when you knew damn well that there was more to his credentials which didn't suit your argument.. That's called cheer leading against the other team, or as I prefer to call it Sh--ting on someone....

Oh it is interesting and thanks for posting it... But also irrelevant.

 

I put together a timeline of events with newspaper clippings from the New York Times ... so people could keep the timeline of events in perspective.

Joe Louis knocks out Lou Nova in New York (Sept 29, 1941)
Newspaper coverage on Sept. 30, 1941
http://postimg.org/image/kdmqxvovb/ (part 1)
http://i.imgur.com/vcol9HD.jpg (part 2)

Lem Franklin’s team wants title shot if Franklin stops Abe Simon (Oct. 11, 1941)
Newspaper coverage on Oct. 12, 1941
http://postimg.org/image/snz4bcj8b/

Lem Franklin stops Abe Simon in Cleveland (Oct. 20, 1941)
Newspaper coverage on Oct. 21, 1941
http://postimg.org/image/8pju2ncf7/

Lem Franklin’s team asks the National Boxing Association for the number-one ranking (Oct. 21, 1941)
Newspaper coverage on Oct. 22, 1941
http://postimg.org/image/k3jkped7f/

Joe Louis announces he’ll defend his title in a rematch with Buddy Baer and donate his purse to the Navy Relief Fund (Nov. 12, 1941)
Newspaper coverage on Nov. 13, 1941
http://postimg.org/image/ds5ouh5bd/

Joe Louis says the best contenders for his title are Billy Conn and Buddy Baer Nov. 19, 1941
Newspaper coverage on Nov. 20, 1941
http://postimg.org/image/oogatqohb/

December 7, 1941 – Japan attacks Pearl Harbor
December 8, 1941 – President Roosevelt asks Congress to declare total war on Japan (U.S. enters WWII)
The President’s declaration of war speech is printed in the New York Times (Dec. 9, 1941)
http://i.imgur.com/SQmMEhs.jpg

In the same issue, Buddy Baer arrives to train for the Louis fight – it’s reported he’s giving only 2% of his purse to Navy Relief (really bad PR for him – since the Navy was just attacked by Japan). In the article, it also says Lem Franklin was offered a fight with Melio Bettina, but he declined. (Dec. 9, 1941)
http://postimg.org/image/nrspn7nfz/

Joe Louis and Buddy Baer sign to fight (Dec. 16, 1941)
Newspaper coverage of the signing (Dec. 17, 1941)
http://i.imgur.com/ISXlH8K.jpg

In the same issue, the U.S. Navy asks other top boxers (including Lem Franklin and Turkey Thompson) to fight on a card to support the Navy Relief Fund to aid the dependents of those who died in the Pearl Harbor attack. Franklin declines. (Dec. 16, 1941)
Newspaper coverage of the request (Dec. 17, 1941)
http://postimg.org/image/7xdpwaapl/

Joe Louis is named Fighter of the Year by Ring Magazine (Dec. 29, 1941)
http://postimg.org/image/f2cheg4nn/

The National Boxing Association lists Billy Conn, Lem Franklin and Buddy Baer as “logical contenders” for Joe Louis’ title (Jan. 2, 1942)
Newspaper coverage (Jan. 3, 1942)
http://postimg.org/image/pu2gamqqj/

Joe Louis destroys Buddy Baer in their rematch “for charity” according to the headline (Jan. 9, 1942)
http://i.imgur.com/uZBysDM.jpg

The day after beating Baer, Joe Louis takes the oath and enters the U.S. Army (Jan. 10, 1942)
http://i.imgur.com/chBdVph.jpg

Times Editorial on possible Louis opponents (Jan. 30, 1942)
http://postimg.org/image/aubld4jxp/

Billy Conn looks unimpressive defeating Tony Zale in Conn’s last fight before entering the military (Feb. 13, 1942)
http://i.imgur.com/wJqhdfd.jpg

Lem Franklin favored to beat Bob Pastor in Cleveland (Feb. 23, 1942)
http://postimg.org/image/s5ni4fdrn/

Bob Pastor stops Lem Franklin (Feb. 24, 1942)
http://postimg.org/image/i4y3k84m3/

Three days later, Joe Louis announces he’s going to defend against Abe Simon and donate his entire purse to the Army (which he’s now a soldier in) Emergency Fund. (Feb. 26, 1942)
http://postimg.org/image/z80vfqlaz/

A month after getting upset, Lem Franklin returns and is knocked out again, this time in one round, by Harry Bobo (March 31, 1942) Three months later, he returned to the ring again and was knocked out in one round again – this time by Joe Muscato.
http://postimg.org/image/xxbhq6ltp/

All the links are fixed.

 

So it looks like the only fight Louis agreed to after Franklin defeated Simon was the Buddy Baer rematch for charity.

Louis didn't sign to fight Abe Simon until Pastor knocked out Franklin.

Just so you know.

 

Fair enough..