Today is the 75th anniversary of Joe Louis vs Max Schmeling before 70K+ fans in Yankee Stadium...
...called "The greatest sporting event of the 20th century", it was actually so very much more than just that.
It was also the second bout between the two heavyweights, with the first one being won by the former defending heavyweight champion of the world Schmeling with a 12th round KO of Louis two years before...
...Louis had been undefeated as a professional (27-0) until he faced the German for the first time.
Louis would go on to win the heavyweight championship in a crookedly-staged bout over reigning champ "Cinderella Man" James J. Braddock in 1937, a title match-up Schmeling actually earned by beating Louis...
...so, when Louis and Schmeling met for the 2nd time, geopolitical and racial circumstances - to say the least - were much, much more seriously in play.
Read this outstanding piece by Nigel Collins for more insight and coverage of the great event...
http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/9404398/more-just-fight
...and then watch the "Brown Bomber" begin his march as the #1 heavyweight of all-time (International Boxing Research Organization, 2005) in this epic broadcast/recap of the famous fight itself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJGOADcmwS4
Joseph Louis Barrow held the Heavyweight Championship of the World for 140 consecutive months (11.66 years) by defending his title 25 times - a record no other heavyweight has ever come close to...
...Louis only ceded his heavyweight title when he announced his retirement from boxing in 1949.
...called "The greatest sporting event of the 20th century", it was actually so very much more than just that.
It was also the second bout between the two heavyweights, with the first one being won by the former defending heavyweight champion of the world Schmeling with a 12th round KO of Louis two years before...
...Louis had been undefeated as a professional (27-0) until he faced the German for the first time.
Louis would go on to win the heavyweight championship in a crookedly-staged bout over reigning champ "Cinderella Man" James J. Braddock in 1937, a title match-up Schmeling actually earned by beating Louis...
...so, when Louis and Schmeling met for the 2nd time, geopolitical and racial circumstances - to say the least - were much, much more seriously in play.
Read this outstanding piece by Nigel Collins for more insight and coverage of the great event...
http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/9404398/more-just-fight
...and then watch the "Brown Bomber" begin his march as the #1 heavyweight of all-time (International Boxing Research Organization, 2005) in this epic broadcast/recap of the famous fight itself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJGOADcmwS4
Joseph Louis Barrow held the Heavyweight Championship of the World for 140 consecutive months (11.66 years) by defending his title 25 times - a record no other heavyweight has ever come close to...
...Louis only ceded his heavyweight title when he announced his retirement from boxing in 1949.
