The Joe Louis Era?

Heh Fergy, it's not one of the longest reigns in history, at 12-years it's both the longest lineal reign and contains the most successful lineal defences at 25, of any weight division, in all of history.

Whilst other fighters beat greater boxers, Louis is simply the most dominant champion in all of boxing history, from all weight divisions.

 

Joe Louis' reign would have been even more impressive if he had not participated in WW2.
P.S. with a PURELY SPORTS way of looking at it.

 

I find Louis the GOAT (HW).. and to tell you the truth, he may be my favorite fighter of all time... to be consistent and dominant is, IMO, sometimes, better and harder than beat a great fighter here, and then you lose to another guy there and you go on with your career like this...

Consistency, not swinging all over the place, is what make you go places in life...

 

No apology necessary mate, my post was intended to add to, not contradict, yours.
Wlad's standing has increased since he retired and I suspect it will continue to do so over the next decade or two, but I can't imagine he'll even get close to breaking to the consensus top 2 of Ali and Louis.

 

He was the Lineal Heavyweight Champion for longer than Margaret Thatcher was the British Prime Minister.

That basically spans peoples childhoods.

 

I think his reign was very solid. It was unfortunately disrupted by Louis having to serve during war time but that was just the nature of things at that time. He fought all comers, gave rematches when warranted and had some outstanding performances. I still think it was the best title reign in history but that doesn’t take anything away from the tenures of Larry Holmes or Wladimir Klitschko. All were great champions

 

He was the greatest champion of all time! even Ali was only defending his belt against so-so fighters before he became more of a leading contender… say what you will of Louis’s opposition but he was busy and dominant over the contenders of his time.

 

Give Wlad some credit, all champions are still talk about YEARS after retirement. Hell even today we are talking about the likes of Hart and Burns and Wlad is not in that level of being champ. 100 years from now Wlad will still be in the talk as Louis, Marciano, Dempsey and others are today.

 

No one beat greater fighters

 

Louis beat the best during boxing's Golden Age when even some non-title fights drew enough fans to pack stadiums and ballparks. His championship reign has never been equaled. He fought mostly bums? Baer, Carnera, Braddock, Farr, Godoy, Pastor, Lewis, Conn, Nova, Mauriello, Walcott, Charles, Bivins, Marciano . . . even Galento. For gosh sakes, these men were not bums. Louis was so great that he could make some of them look like bums.

 

apart from the perceived 70's greatest HW Era, I'd say Louis' reign was excellent...

people forget these men were Fighters, Top men and in many cases worthy & capable opponents, there are too many retrograde analyses often suggesting otherwise.

it will never be beaten and very few fighters will ever compare, stats wise.

 

Of course they did. Some fighters beat SRR, as one example of many.