Biography boxer joe louis

1. Early Life and Beginnings
2. Amateur Career and Transition to Professionalism
3. Early Professional Career and First Loss

Early Life and Beginnings

Joseph Louis Barrow, better known as Joe Louis, was born on May 13, 1914, in Lafayette, Alabama, to a large African-American family. His father, Monroe Barrow, had white ancestry, while his mother was half Native American, leading the press to describe his skin color as "coffee with double cream" later in his career.

In 1926, the family moved to Detroit, Michigan, where young Joe worked at the Ford plant. He also delivered ice to African-American neighborhoods during the summer months. These jobs demanded physical labor, gradually developing Joseph's physique.

From an early age, Joseph had a speech impediment, which contributed to his reputation as the most taciturn boxing champion in history. This impediment also influenced his education, as he briefly attended the Bronson School for the Mentally Disabled. (Adding to this, his father was committed to an asylum for the insane in 1916.) Joseph disliked school and eventually dropped out.

Amateur Career and Transition to Professionalism

To keep her son off the streets, Joseph's mother, Lilli, gave him money hoping he would learn to play the violin. However, Joseph used the funds to pursue boxing instead. It would have been a comical sight to witness the kind-hearted, rotund Lilli opening her son's violin case and finding boxing gloves inside.

Joseph began his amateur boxing career in 1932, just before his 18th birthday. To prevent his mother from learning about his sport, he shortened his name and dropped the surname "Barrow." (One tale suggests that the abbreviation was due to Louis's large handwriting, who, having barely mastered literacy, could not fit his full name and surname into the standard form completed before a fight.) From then on, he became known as Joe Louis.

Louis's athletic prowess caught the attention of John Roxborough, a black bookie with Semitic features, who smelled dollars and offered his services as a manager. Together with another bookie named Julian Black as promoter, they found Joe Louis a trainer in the renowned boxer Jack Blackburn, known not only for his exploits in the lightweight division but also for his volatile temper.

Born black, Blackburn had the audacity to defeat white opponents, a highly unpopular feat at the time. Boxing lacked the liberalism of chess, where black pieces have every right to win, and Blackburn was deliberately held back. As a result, Jack's character grew deeply flawed, and he even served time for murder. Moreover, Jack was a misanthropic drunkard. Nevertheless, as a trainer, Blackburn was excellent.

Joe Louis transitioned from amateur to professional boxing with a record of 50 wins (43 by knockout) against 4 losses. His professional career started with similar success: in the second half of 1934 alone, Joe scored 12 victories, 10 of them by knockout. Notable opponents knocked out included Stanley Poreda and California champion Lee Ramage. The following year, Louis recorded 11 wins (9 by knockout). He remained undefeated during these years, never even being knocked down.

Early Professional Career and First Loss

The earliest surviving footage of a Joe Louis fight is his rematch with Lee Ramage on February 21, 1935. It is astonishing to witness the ease with which the twenty-year-old Joe dispatched Ramage: already in the second round, the Californian favorite was laid out by Louis in the pose of the untimely deceased.

Joe and his team did not seek out weak opponents. Four months later, Louis faced former world champion Primo Carnera, knocking out the Italian giant in the sixth round. Carnera became the first of six boxers Louis KO'd who had once held a heavyweight title.

After Carnera, Joe sent King Levinsky crashing down in the first round, a man ranked third on Jack Dempsey's January 15, 1934, list of "Best Heavyweights," behind only Primo Carnera and Max Baer. It was then Max Baer's turn.

Despite losing his championship title, Baer was still considered one of the best boxers, if not the best. But this did not deter Louis: Max was knocked out in the fourth round. Baer later wittingly remarked that Joe punched so intensely, it felt like there were dozens of little Louises in the ring, and while he, Max, dealt with the one in the center, the other Louises were driving him nuts.

The next opponent was the human punching bag Paulino Uzcudun. Not only was the Spaniard knocked out by Louis—a first in his twelve-year boxing career—but his front teeth were knocked out as well, leading him to retire from professional boxing in dejection.

Charlie Retzlaff was next: a renowned KO artist in his own right, he was knocked out by Louis less than a minute into the match. Thus, by June 1936, Joe had 24 wins (20 by knockout). It was then that he seemed to relax. Instead of preparing for his upcoming fight with Max Schmeling, Louis took up golf, began neglecting his training, and piled on the pounds. The one person who could have whipped Joe into shape was himself on a binge: yes, Jack Blackburn was sick and drinking heavily.

Schmeling, on the other hand, approached his match with utmost responsibility. And it must be said, the German discovered a chink in the American's defenses, sending Louis crashing down in the 12th round on June 19, 1936. This was Joe's first professional boxing defeat (the other two would come in the twilight of his career).

Remarkably, it did not break the "Brown Bomber." Joe drew the necessary lessons and immediately embarked on a new streak of astounding victories two months later.