Has anyone ever wondered why, what made the tough Joe Louis join the sport of boxing? Before Louis held the heavyweight title for almost 12 years, Louis only had little schooling because his mother noticed he wasn’t strong at it, so she wanted him to have a musical career and had him play the violin. One day during his violin lesson, a friend of his recommended him to try out the sport of boxing because he was so muscular and tall. Ever since that day Louis hid his boxing gloves in his violin case; spending his afternoons in the gym rather than practicing the violin and became the great man he is today. Joe Louis is a rebel because he has improved the culture for all Americans and shaped their independence and character.
Joe Louis changed
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the attitudes of African Americans through his character of being self-made. Among the African American communities, Louis changed their attitudes through his publicity as a boxer. “His position at the top of his sport, his celebrity status, and his public image helped bolster the confidence of a people whose heroes were rarely accorded white attention or respect” (Joe). Louis demonstrated that as African American he came from nothing and he made it to the top position of his sport, and he lifted the spirits of the black masses. Also, demonstrating that as an African American you can do whatever you put your mind too. Louis is a representation of a self-made man and displays some characteristics that African American men will follow. “Joe Louis was another edition of the American myth of the self-made man-that anyone who is industrious, patriotic, and moral can rise from the very bottom to the top of society where wealth, power, and fame await him” (Joe). Because of Louis’ high status of being famous, all African American men will follow his footsteps from the bottom to the top of society where wealth, power, and fame awaits for them. Not only did Louis change the attitudes of African Americans but he also started good sportsmanship in sports. Louis developed the image of being a good sportsman player throughout his whole career of boxing.
Joe Louis was said to be the most gracious and generous fighter. “He proved that a good man and great athlete can exist in the same person” (The). After the first fight with Max Schmeling, Adolf Hitler praised Schmeling for winning, disrespected Louis and bragged about it, which wasn’t sportsmanship at all. After the second match between Louis vs. Schmeling, Louis didn't show boat or parade at all, after the fight Louis helped Schmeling up and gave him a hug after the fight. He showed America how to really be a great sport player. After fights Louis never taunted or put himself above anyone which was something fans loved about him. “Part of it could be chalked up to the sheer fact that fans loved a winner. Of Louis' 25 title defenses, only three went the full 15 rounds. But in winning, Louis also showed himself to be a gracious, even generous victor” (Joe). This shows how all throughout Louis’ career how good of a sport player he was against his opponents. Not everyone can 25 title defenses and not parade about it. As well as Louis being a gracious and generous fighter, Louis was just put on a pedestal in the fellow eyes of
Americans. Louis always kept the reputation of prominence throughout his boxing career. Joe Louis was said to be revered as an American figure. “Louis was recognized as a national hero. He held the heavyweight title longer than any fighter - 11 years, 10 months” (The). There weren't any black celebrities at this time so many African Americans were inspired and looked up to him for being a black fighter and keeping the heavyweight title as long as he did. Also many Caucasian Americans admired him for winning the Germany vs. U.S. boxing match. Louis was one of the most popular of all Americans. “Joe Louis, during his reign as heavyweight champion of the world from 1937 to 1949, stood as a shining symbol of mythical and real American traits like racial unity, national strength, and unlimited opportunity” (Joe). This shows with the American obsession with sports, and his symbol as the heavyweight boxing champion, Louis became the most popular black icon in America and one of the most popular of all Americans. Joe Louis will forever subversive due to his improvement of the American culture today with contribution of being a self-made man. Louis proved that blacks and whites can coexist and change attitudes of African Americans. He started good sportsmanship throughout his career of boxing. Then, he overstated his impact on being revered as an American figure. Being the world’s heavyweight champion for several years, Joe Louis was the only boxer to the change the attitudes of people and also demonstrating the character of being a great human being.
After a friend introduced Joseph to boxing at Brewster's East Side Gymnasium, he fell in love with it. To keep his mom from finding out about his boxing, he shortened his name to Joe Louis, eventually she found out. A couple years later with his success in the amatuer boxing scene, Joseph met John Roxborough who became his lifelong manager. As a result of joining forces with John Roxborough, Julian Black was hired as a fight promoter and Jack Blackburn as Joseph’s trainer. His first fight was scheduled on July 4, 1934, where he kayoed his opponent Jack Kracken. Hereafter until the end of 1935, Joseph had already been in 14 fights. Those 14 fights helped Joseph rack up nearly $370,000 in prize money.
“The 1910 Jeffries-Johnson Fight and Its Impact” was by far my favorite reading from the text this semester, which is the main reason for my choosing of this topic. Throughout this article, I found it to be incredibly intriguing how detailed it was on the struggles that Johnson went through. Discussing the difficult experiences he had as a rising black athlete and then to end up with a white woman who, to many, could or could not have been considered a prostitute. All of the events during Johnson’s life make him such an amazing person and a very interesting athlete to learn more about.
Ali proved to be a strong-willed individual that did leave a huge impact on America, but what impact had increased as time continued and his faults have been somewhat forgotten. Those believing that Muhammad was more of a hero than Jackie Robinson most likely feel that Ali’s action of standing up against the United States government, when he was drafted, was an act of courage and bravery. The main reason why Ali didn 't wish to go to war in Vietnam was because he believed he shouldn 't be fighting for a country that ultimately didn 't support his own people within its own borders. Ali has developed into a figure of courage after the time that his happened. In the 1960s when this originally happened, Ali had more enemies as a result of his religious and social views and ideas than fans. Today we see that what he did may be considered heroic, but back when it actually occurred, Ali was seen as a nuisance to America. He was spreading word and influencing people to act against their own country in a time of war. Since Muhammad Ali’s retirement from boxing the course of time has faded criticism of Ali and left mostly just the positive parts of his life and career. As a society we’ve buried the controversial side of Ali’s existence in our minds and history simply remembers his greatness as an athlete. Robinson had an impact on
This was a time when blacks were being discriminated against, the military was segregated, blacks were not allowed to play Major League Baseball. When he started boxing early in the 1930's hero worship was not achievable in any professional sports, there were none that were able to command the attention away from whites, however that would all change. Joe Louis began his boxing career at the Brewster Recreation Center. In his first amateur bout, Louis was knocked down 7 times, but he rapidly improved over the years, he captured the 1934 National AAU Lightweight Crown and turned to the professional level later in that same year. Louis won his first 27 fights, 23 of them by knockout, beating people of fame like Primo Carnera and Max Baer. His first defeat was against Max Scheming at Yankee Stadium, he was knocked out in the 12th round. This was Louis greatest defeat, and the start of his greatest challenge.
Boxing in the 1920’s? You better believe it! Jack Dempsey was considered one of the very best in the sport of boxing. He possessed the aggression of a grizzly bear in the ring but the gentle spirit of a teddy bear outside the ring. This drew him into the hearts of many. Due to his extreme popularity he opened the door to public radio. For these reasons, Jack Dempsey was influential to the 1920’s and even to this very day.
Remnick does not shy away from discussing the shadowy history of the boxing world (no pun intended). It's well known boxing has been affiliated with the 'mob,' but perhaps what is lesser known is Clay's absolute refusal to be in any way associated with the Mafia.
The Life of Billy Joel Billy Joel was born on May 9, 1949 in Bronx, New York. He moved at the age of four to a small town on Long Island. This is where at the ripe age of four he discovered the art of music. Originally a classical music fan, Billy Joel honed his skills with classical piano training. This undoubtedly has had a major influence on his life and certainly his music.
In the 1930s America was "the undisputed center of world boxing," its popularity was immense and this opened the doors to many including Hispanics and African- Americans. The popularity of boxing was seen in the film through the immense amount of crowds that would place bets on fighters and the groups of people that listened to it on the radio. This popularity is seen when James J. Braddock has his biggest fight and his wife goes to pray for him at the church, but the church is already full of people who are there to pray for him. The immensity of the popularity is seen clearly throughout the scene in the background. As the scenes of fights are filled to the brim with ...
Dempsey went on to defend his title five times in the following years. His run as champion was one of the greatest in the history of boxing. However, at the time people didn’t look upon Dempsey with such kind eyes. Many viewed Dempsey as a “draft dodger” because he didn’t fight in the war during world war 1. But Dempsey didn’t achieve major popularity until he lost his championship status in his fight against Gene Tunney in 1926. Dempsey became cemented in history when he returned to his hotel and told his wife, “I forgot to
When he was sixteen, his mother would give him money for violin lessons, which he would turn around and use to rent a locker at an amateur boxing club. Although not happy when she found out what he had been using the violin lesson money on, Lillie simply encouraged Joe to do his best. His abbreviated name of Joe Louis began when he filled out his first set of paperwork to fight and did not have enough room for Barrow. Thus, Joe Louis became a legend instead of Joe Louis Barrow.
For the second honors component, I chose option two. The person I decided to research is Hank Williams Jr. The reason for my decision is that I was neighbors with Hank for about ten years, but I never knew much about him. I would like to know more about what he did, and how he personally contributed to Paris.
Shortly after winning the Gold Medal, Ali started looking for better opportunities by saying, “that was my last amateur fight, I’m turning pro, but I don’t know exactly how. I want a good contract with a good manager.” Ali felt that he was on top of the world after winning in the Olympics and felt confident that people of the U.S. would be proud of his accomplishment as he brought home the “Gold”. What Ali would return to find wasn’t anything like he had expected.
The sport of boxing is known worldwide; a sport where men and women duke it out with their opponents to prove who is the toughest. Though-out the decades there have been many fighters and many fights, but few known quite as well as Cassius Clay, also known as Muhammad Ali. The fighter that referred to himself as, “the greatest” (biography.com) and a man that could, “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” (about.com). From the beginning of his career, which was started after a police officer told him he might want to learn to fight, he was known as an underdog. He took on the Olympics in 1960 at the age of 18 and won the gold medal. Yet being a gold medalist wouldn’t help persuade the public view of him as a serious contender for the world heavy weight contender. Ali would fight as the challenger for the light-heavy weight world title against Sonny Liston on February, 25 1964. Clay would shock the world into no longer doubting him as serious opponent with a technical knock-out and continue to shock them with an announcement a day later.
Everyone loves to win. According to Hamill’s passage (1983, p 26), it points out that the loss of Joe Frazier to Muhammad Ali in the boxing ring was an incident that Frazier should be proud of because Frazier’s loss had turned Ali into the legend in the boxing ring. Hamill intended to show that winning is not everything; losing can also be an honorable act. However, I disagree with this statement because Frazier did not lose deliberately just to raise Ali’s fame. Both of them came to the tournament to win but not to lose. Hamill’s statement will most probably be an insult to both of the boxers, especially Frazier, as the desire to win is innate in every human. The triumph of defeating the opponent is indeed satisfying and euphoric. Under normal circumstances, humans will use everything (some may cheat) just to achieve success without considering how weak they are because winnin...
When 12 year old Cassius Clay had the misfortune to have his bike stolen in Louisville, Kentucky, he took up the ‘sweet science’ of boxing so he could beat down – or as would say - ‘whoop’ whoever stole it. Soon Clay would become an outstanding amateur fighter and picked up a gold at the Olympic Games in Rome, 1960.