Boxing History: September 18, 1946 Joe Louis KO 1 Tami Mauriello, Bronx, NY. Retains World Heavyweight Title.
Born on May 13, 1914 in Lafayette, Alabama, Joe Lewis went on to become the heavyweight champion of the world.
Twenty-five consecutive title defenses. A world record. Twelve consecutive years as a world champion. Another world record. Three consecutive first-round knockouts in title defenses. Ten victories over world champions. Only one loss in his first sixty-two fights. Any way one looks at it, Joe Louis is an all-time great in the sport of boxing and a deserving hall-of-famer. But the legacy and importance of Louis exists beyond the realm of statistics. In an era when blacks were shut out of most opportunities for social equality or upward mobility, Louis succeeded in gaining the richest prize in sports, opening doors and minds like no other athlete before him. His overwhelming abilities and skills inside the ropes got him to the championship, but his sportsmanship and soft-spoken dignity made him an idol to millions. In his private life, Louis was far from a role model, but in public he was a symbol of values larger than himself. Americans of all colors, sexes, and creeds saw in him the ideals of freedom, competition, and patriotism that made him the perfect symbol of national pride during the troubled years of the Great Depression and then World War II. He may have been the greatest heavyweight in history, but much more importantly, he was a hero to an entire generation.
A compilation of Joe Louis Knockouts. Part 1
A compilation of Joe Louis Knockouts. Part 2
