Joseph Louis Barrow is an American Boxer, born on May 13th of 1914 in Lafayette located in Alabama. He is widely recognized as Joe Louis and the Brown Bomber. He was an American Icon and owned the title for Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World during 1937 up to 1949. Nobody can beat him during his reign. He was even the very first African American to garner an honour with the same level as of a national hero in United States. Joe Louis was considered as one of the greatest boxers in the heavyweight division in the history of boxing. He established a reputation of being a honest, strong-willed and hardworking boxer during the time where sports were dominated by unlikely interests of gambling.
Louis’s family suffered a lot of depression due to unfortunate events that they have gone through. When his family moved to Detroit, Louis started to spend his time at a local youth recreation center located also in Detroit at 637 Brewster Street. It was also said that he tried to hide his boxing aspirations from his mother by placing his boxing gloves inside a violin case.
His first debut as a boxer, although still amateur, was during 1932 as he became a light heavyweight boxer at the mere age of 17. Legends also tell that the reason why he was called Joe Louis and not having included his last name “Barrow” was because of his being less literate. He wrote his name largely that his last name was not able to fit in the space. “Joe Louis” was clearly a reminder for him of his boxing career.
Joe Louis won many amateur boxing bouts and thus later on won the club championship of Brewster Street Recreation Center. Brewster Street Recreation Center is also said to be the home of aspiring Golden Gloves Boxing champs. Louis won the light heavyweight Novice Division Golden Gloves championship of the Detroit area. He beat Joe Biskey for the title; hence he lost afterwards to championship for the Chicago Golden Gloves Tournament.
The following year, Joe Louis proved himself by winning the Open Division of the Golden Gloves and likewise the Chicago Tournament of Champions. At the end of his amateur boxing career, Joe Louis was able to make a record of 50 wins of 43 knockouts and just 4 lost.
As a professional, the Brown Bomber, showcased his boxing talent by maintaining to be undefeated in his fight while only acquiring one legitimate loss which was with a German named Max Schmeling.
Joe Louis was considered by most boxing enthusiasts as a symbol of the national pride most especially by African American. During the time where there is widely racial inequality, Joe Louis proved to everybody that he was larger than boxing itself. He fights were dedicated to many purposes and during his fights; one will see people in the streets exploding of joy for his victories.
He suffered 3 losses that came after his era. Though he was before a great boxer who symbolizes patriotism, he also suffered with taxes and debt. Still, he donated most of his money to charities.
Joe Louis was forced to continue fighting to pay for his debt. And although he had difficulty, he still won some of his fight because of his unbeatable skill. Hence, he experienced a very terrible knockout lost to the starter Rocky Marciano. Nonetheless, he was still regarded as one of the greatest boxer and will forever be remembered as a patriotic boxer named Joe Louis.
