During the time when Joe Louis was coming into to the American sports arena as a professional the two most popular sports were baseball and boxing. Louis started his career out in 1934 completely dominating his opponents with his power and unpredictable combinations. In the Year 1935 Louis had beat two well known boxers and earned $370,000 in the process of winning. The year after all this success a huge fight was scheduled for Louis to fight Schmeling of Germany. The fight went down on June 19th, 1936 and in the 12th round Schmeling knocked Louis out giving him his first Defeat. Reports had it that Louis was not in shape for the fight, the implications behind the loss were linked directly to that.

After being defeated Joe Louis stood as the boxing Heavyweight Champion of the world for over a decade from 1937 to 1949. One of the highlights during this time period was the fact that Joe Louis would get another shot at Schmeling. On June 22nd, 1938 Louis would get the rematch, but this time the stakes were even higher. With Scheming being a German native and being associated with Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler, the recognition of each powerful nation involved became the focal point of the rivalry. Joe Louis was well prepared for the bout as he would knock Scheming out in the first round to win the fight.

The brown bomber as Joe Louis was nicknamed had another side to him that is a bit unusual for such the powerful bruising boxer. Through all the brute Strength there was a soft spoken, humble, professional, and perfect person to be the heavyweight champion of the world. Joe Louis did everything right; he spoke at events to raise funds for troops. Louis gave liberally to the government for all the money that his family had borrowed being on government aid. He was just extremely generous to his family members, purchasing things such as cars and homes for them. Joe Louis later in his career would retire but would return to boxing because of his financial issues with Uncle Sam. Hall of Famer and famous fight promoter Michael Strauss Jacobs would be Joe Louis’s “trusted handler”. He was Handling Joe financially for sure. Joe Louis made 4.6 million dollars but would only see $800,000 of it. Sometimes in this life your greatest strength can also be your greatest weakness. Joe Louis was unselfish.

Editor’s Note: This article first published on February 20, 2020