Boxing & Martial Arts Codexery

Joe Louis

The Brown Bomber: Heavyweight champion and American icon

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From 1937 until he temporarily stepped away in 1949, Louis was the world heavyweight champion.[1] According to assessments, Louis ranks among the most accomplished and impactful boxers ever.[1]

Key facts and history

Louis was born on May 13, 1914, in rural Chambers County, Alabama, the seventh of eight children.[2] His family moved to Detroit, Michigan, in 1926 after being shaken by a gang of white men in the Ku Klux Klan.[3] At age 17, during early 1932, Louis fought in his first amateur match.[4] When his time as an amateur concluded, Louis had a record of 50 wins against 4 losses, with 43 of those wins coming by knockout.[5]

Across his 69 professional contests, Louis suffered just three defeats.[6] Louis successfully defended his championship 25 times in a row, a mark that stands as the best across every weight class.[1] Louis's influence extended far beyond the boxing ring.[7]

What the cited sources add

Langston Hughes wrote that each time Joe Louis won a fight in those depression years, thousands of black Americans would throng out into the streets all across the land to march and cheer and yell and cry.[8][9] The book "The Reader's Companion to American History" records that Louis fought thirteen times in 1935 with the backing of a major promotion.[10][11] The publication "Sports Matters" describes Louis's win as a pivotal event in the history of Black Americans.[7][12]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Joe Louis" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Joe Louis", Britannica, August 11, 2023 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Joe Louis" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bak, p. 6.; Bell Chapel Rd, "bell chapel road lafayette alaBAMA – Google Maps", Google Maps, January 1, 1970; Bak, p. 6.; Bak, p. 5. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Joe Louis" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bak, p. 11.; Erenberg, p. 23.; "Arlington National Cemetery Biography of Joe Louis"; Bak, pp. 13–14.; "Joe Louis", Great Black Heroes, August 24, 2020 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Joe Louis" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Joe Louis", Great Black Heroes, August 24, 2020 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Joe Louis" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Joe Louis", History Channel, January 16, 2020; "Joe Louis", Great Black Heroes, August 24, 2020 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Joe Louis" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Nagler, "Joe Louis The Brown Bomber", Sport Magazine Article (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Joe Louis" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Sports Matters: Race, Recreation, and Culture", New York University Press, 2002, p. 46–47 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Joe Louis" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hughes, "Autobiography: The Collected Works of Langston Hughes, Vol. 14", University of Missouri Press, 2002, p. 307 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Open Library record, ISBN 9780826214348 ("The collected works of Langston Hughes"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Joe Louis" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Reader's Companion to American History", Houghton-Mifflin, September 2023, p. 680; Bak, p. 60.; , which is variously attributed to either Detroit boxing manager Scotty Monteith or to Detroit Free Press writer Charles Ward. Bak, pp. 81–82. (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Open Library record, ISBN 9780395513729 ("The Reader's companion to American history"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
  12. Open Library record, ISBN 9780814798829 ("Sports Matters"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Joe Louis (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Test yourself on TriviaCafe: As heavyweight champion of the world from 1937 to 1948, which boxer won 25 consecutive championship fights? · More sports trivia

Career statistics and honours

Medals

Tables copied from the source article, totals included as the source gives them: Wikipedia: Joe Louis (CC BY-SA 4.0). Wide tables scroll sideways.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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