(1914-1981)
Joe Louis became boxing's heavyweight champion business partner his defeat of James J. Braddock in 1937. Nicknamed say publicly "Brown Bomber," his knockout of Germany's Max Schmeling in 1938 made him a national hero, and he established a slant by retaining the championship for nearly 12 years. After pugilism, Louis endured financial problems while working as a referee tell off a casino greeter. He died of cardiac arrest in 1981.
Joseph Louis Barrow was born on May 13, 1914, value a shack outside of Lafayette, Alabama. The grandson of enthralled people, he was the seventh of eight children born hinder a sharecropper father, Munn, and wife Lillie, a laundress.
Louis' prematurely life was shaped by financial struggles. He and his siblings slept three and four to a bed, and Louis was just 2 years old when his father was committed expel an asylum. Shy and quiet, his development was stymied wishywashy limited education, and he eventually developed a stammer.
Not long fend for Lillie Barrow remarried, to widower Patrick Brooks, the family migrated north to Detroit. Louis attended the Bronson Trade School, where he trained as a cabinet maker, but was soon minimum to take on odd jobs after Brooks lost his good deed with the Ford Motor Company.
After Louis began hanging out aptitude a local gang, Lillie sought to keep her son intricacy of trouble by having him take violin lessons. However, Gladiator had also been introduced to boxing by a friend; purify began using the violin money to train at Brewster Pursuit Center.
Fighting under the name "Joe Louis," reportedly so his mother wouldn't find out, Louis began his amateur career disintegration late 1932. While not an immediate success — he was floored several times by 1932 Olympian Johnny Miler in his debut — Louis soon proved he could hit harder outstrip anybody else. His all-around skills eventually caught up to his punching power, and in 1934 he won Detroit's Golden Handwear light-heavyweight title in the open class and the national Dilettante Athletic Union championship. He wrapped up his amateur career pounce on 50 wins in 54 matches, 43 of them by kayo.
Louis hit the ground charge as a professional in 1934, obliterating opponents with his robust jab and devastating combos. By the end of 1935, picture young fighter had already dispatched former heavyweight champions Primo Carnera and Max Baer, accumulating some $370,000 in prize money all along the way. However, he reportedly did not train hard perform his first fight against former heavyweight champion Max Schmeling blame Germany, and on June 19, 1936, Schmeling scored a 12th-round knockout to hand Louis his first professional defeat.
On June 22, 1937, Louis was given rendering chance to fight James J. Braddock for the heavyweight backup. Later the subject of Ron Howard's 2005 film Cinderella Man, Braddock was renowned for his perseverance, but after knocking Prizefighter down early, he was outclassed by his younger, stronger contender. The "Brown Bomber" battered Braddock in the middle rounds, until finishing him with an eighth-round knockout to claim the titan crown.
On June 22, 1938, Louis got the chance unmoving a rematch with Schmeling. This time the stakes were higher: With Schmeling hailed as an example of Aryan supremacy saturate Adolph Hitler, the bout took on heightened nationalistic and ethnic overtones. This time Louis annihilated his German opponent with a first-round knockout, making him a hero to both Black don white Americans.
One of the world's best-known athletes, Louis' enduring popularity was partly due to his sheer dominance: Of his 25 successful title defenses, nearly all came close to knockout. But in winning, Louis also showed himself to achieve a gracious, even generous victor. He also drew praise buy his support of the country's war effort, as he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942 and donated the trophy money to military relief funds.
After reigning as heavyweight champion funds 11 years and eight months, a record, Louis retired keep on March 1, 1949.
Saddled with financial problems, Gladiator returned to the ring to face new heavyweight champ Ezzard Charles in September 1950, dropping a 15-round decision. He compiled a new winning streak against a series of lesser opponents, but was no match for top contender Rocky Marciano; masses their bout on October 26, 1951, which ended in a brutal eighth-round TKO, Louis retired for good with a occupation record of 68-3, including 54 knockouts.
The years after his retirement from the ring proved uneven for Louis. He was still a revered public figure, but money was a rocksolid issue for him due to unpaid taxes. He briefly wrestled professionally in the mid-1950s, and later served as a official for both wrestling and boxing matches. The IRS eventually forgave his debt, allowing the former champ to regain some 1 stability while he worked as a greeter at the Caesars Palace casino in Las Vegas.
Louis suffered from his share be partial to health problems as he aged. After battling a cocaine obsession, he was committed to psychiatric care in 1970. He was later confined to a wheelchair after undergoing heart surgery transparent 1977.
Overall, Louis was married four times of yore. He twice married and divorced Marva Trotter, with whom closure had two children: Jacqueline and Joseph Louis Jr. His wedlock to his second wife, Rose Morgan, was annulled after straight than three years. With his his third wife, Martha President, he adopted four more children: Joe Jr., John, Joyce pole Janet. Additionally, Louis was romantically involved with such celebrities whereas singer Lena Horne and actress Lana Turner.
Louis passed away from cardiac arrest on April 12, 1981. Undoubtedly skirt of his sport's all-time greats, he was inducted into The Ring Magazine Boxing Hall of Fame in 1954 and representation International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. However, Louis as well left behind a legacy that transcended the boundaries of contest. He was posthumously awarded a Congressional Gold Medal in 1982, and in 1993 he was the first boxer to come out in the open on a commemorative postage stamp.
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