The brown bomber's baptism of fire

He was in better shape than Sharkey put it that way.

 

Incidentally, I heard Foreman fought a few fights prior to the Lyle fight, but they were billed as "exhibitions".
Not just the 5 man thing in 1975, but a few others in the months before the Lyle fight.
I dont know if they were real fights with real gloves or not.

 

Yeah, he fought a few 'cans': Charley Polite, Boone Kirkman, etc. Gloves n'all, but just exhibitions.

 

Sharkey had been Schmeling's ring nemesis in the early '30s and they were pretty evenly matched during that time. Even though it had been an unpopular decision, Sharkey had taken the championship from Schmeling in 1932. By 1936 Sharkey was far past his prime but at least in theory was capable of duplicating Schmeling's upset victory. A Louis win over Sharkey would be a major confidence re-builder, whereas a loss to Sharkey would be devastating. It was a bold move, not without risks, and it paid off!

 

I always look at Who was Who, these fighters were Good, Very Good and Great fighters in Boxing's Overall Greatest Period!

People forget that and write a lot of these people off just because they don't know about them or give no thought too the particular period in boxing a fighter fought in.

Top men are Top men and in some periods vs others, they were truely amazing. Try fighting Champions, Top Contenders and Fringe Contenders, multiplied by dozens and hundreds of fights every 3, 5 and 6 weeks...

these men are Legend and set in Stone forever more!

 

Louis was matched unbelievably optimistically,I can think of only one heavyweight champion who was more precocious. Jim Jeffries.