What if Joe Louis never became a boxer? Who'd have been champ?

So, if I'm piecing one of your timelines together, you can see:

* Braddock beating Baer.
* Schmeling beating Braddock to become the first two-time champ.
* Baer regaining the title from Schmeling, to become the second two-time champ.
* Lou Nova beats Baer for the title
* Two-Ton Tony Galento beats Nova for the title
* Buddy Baer beats Galento for the title
* Tommy Farr beats Buddy for the title and holds it thru the war.
* Then Walcott beats Farr for the title.

That's an interesting one.

Lots of title changes.

Thanks.

Any more scenarios? Any where the champ makes several defenses (or a lot of defenses)?

 

It took some shrewd management to get Louis a title shot. He had to beat a handful of former world heavyweight champions. He had to take a lot of abuse from fans. He had to not brag over his opponents. He had to play up his role as the quiet, docile, non-threatening (outside the ring) black man. And he had to give the champion (Braddock) 10 percent of all his purses for the rest of his title reign.

Nobody just handed him a title shot. He earned one, and then, when he lost to Schmeling, he bribed the champ to fight him. And had to pay off the bribe for a decade.

Walcott was a dandy in the ring. If Louis hadn't been champ for a decade, I don't know how well he'd have been welcomed challenging for the title. But, who knows.

 

Yeah. I agree.

I was going to do some research into who all the top 10 contenders were during these eras.

I like the idea that someone unknown - say a Lee Ramage - might have popped up if he hadn't been destroyed twice by Louis before Joe became champ.

After all, Louis destroyed a number of guys who actually were champs.

But it also helps to see who beat who in the ring. Then again, motivation plays a role. If someone lost a 10-rounder against a guy when Louis was the champ, maybe the outcome would've been different if there was no Louis, and the title was at stake instead of it being just another 10-rounder.

There are tons of variables.

I could also see Carnera regaining the title from Braddock.

I could also see a light heavy like Rosenbloom beating Braddock.

It's crazy when you think about it.

 

Exactly.

I wonder how many of the black heavyweights of the 1930s, 40s and 50s had white girlfriends and how adept they were at keeping that quiet?

It took some effort for Louis to become palpable to most of the American public when he first came up. On the radio broadcast for the Louis-Max Baer fight, the announcer even tells the crowd to be respectful (in the event Louis won) because they were afraid of a race riot breaking out.

I don't know how many black contenders during that era could've filled that role.

 

I always picture that back hand when I think of that fight.

A rematch - for the title - would've been wild.

 

I don't know how close they got.

Couldn't have been much worse than having to kick back 10 percent of the purses for 25 title defenses, though.

Wouldn't be surprised if they helped The Cinderella Man collect his cut.

:roll:atsch

 

Baer and Schmeling are clearly in the running for being the first to regain the title - with Braddock as champ.

But so is Carnera. He may have become the number-one contender in 1935 after Hamas (the only guy rated above Primo) was upset by Schmeling.

I really can't envision Braddock beating Carnera.

Braddock is the wild card. The first guy he fought had a legit shot at upending him. Anyone in the top 10 could've knocked him off. So could a number of light heavyweights.

The plausible scenarios skew wildly. And any one of them could've easily happened.

I agree, the color line would've remained in tact for a while longer. Not sure who would've been the one to crack it.

Moore and Walcott weren't above showing up opponents. Both may have been too flashy. Bivins didn't serve. Neither did Charles. (Or Moore or Walcott.)

Maybe the title heads to Europe in the 1930s and doesn't return until Marciano's arrival.

That could've happened, too, if you got a Carnera, Schmeling, Farr, deal going, and it veered off from there. Maybe some as of yet named Brit wins it after them.

Maybe Argentina snags it with Godoy.

Lots of possibilities.