President Trump may soon pardon boxing great Joe Louis
BANGKOK, Thailand – President Trump has received a petition from the WBC to pardon former heavyweight champion Joe Louis over past tax debts, along with a recommendation to present Louis posthumously with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
At a Wednesday general session meeting at the WBC Convention here, a close friend of the late Louis and his family, Frank Garza, detailed the sad fate that befell Louis following his uplifting 1938 first-round knockout victory over Germany’s Max Schmeling at Yankee Stadium preceding World War II with Nazi Germany.
Although Detroit’s Louis, the “Brown Bomber,” wound up donating some entire fight purses to American charities while supporting family and friends, he lost sight of the tax repercussions of his earnings, learning later in the 1940s that his spiraling IRS tax bill was in excess of a staggering $500,000.
“It became virtually unpayable,” Garza told BoxingScene.
Louis wound up participating in fights beyond his announced retirement, losing in some of the more lucrative events, to Ezzard Charles and Rocky Marciano – the knockout that ended his career for good in 1951.
Garza claimed the IRS collection pursuit was so onerous that Louis was required to turn over every dollar he earned until his debt was settled.
It was a fate that continued until Louis’ final years, when Frank Sinatra helped land the proud champion a job as a greeter at Caesars Palace, a position he maintained before his 1981 death in Las Vegas.
Louis’ son, Joe Louis Barrow, is still living.
WBC attorney Robert Lenhardt, advocating for Louis, said when it’s considered how the heavyweight champion helped to segregate sports in America both through his own success and his counsel to the great Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball’s color barrier, has also positioned him for the highest honor given to an American civilian, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman convinced Trump during his first term to pardon former heavyweight champion Jack Johnson for his former crime of crossing state lines with a white woman he’d married.
Lenhardt said the sanctioning body is “hopeful to receive a signed document shortly” from the White House informing the WBC and Louis family that the requests for pardon, remission (forgiveness) of the debt and the award will be honored by Trump.
“We are very much looking forward to this great moment of justice,” Sulaiman said.
Lance Pugmire has been a full-time boxing writer for nearly 20 years, serving now as BoxingScene’s U.S. Senior Writer and assistant producer for ProBoxTV’s “BoxingScene Today.” Pugmire capped a near 20-year career at the Los Angeles Times (sports investigations, NHL/MLB beat work, law enforcement/courts and boxing/UFC) to join The Athletic, and then USA Today. Pugmire’s stint at The Times started with the first Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez fight and the Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jnr then-record pay-per-view, leading through a slew of ringside assignments at major bouts, including Mayweather-Pacquiao, Mayweather-Canelo and the Canelo-Golovkin trilogy. Lance’s appreciation for boxing is rooted in his admiration and appreciation for the fighters, gladiators who have proven to be the most forthcoming and candid of all the athletes he has interviewed over a career dating to 1990. Lance was honored to be named the 2022 winner of the Boxing Writers Association of America Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence and he’s collected many BWAA writing awards in categories ranging from breaking news to deep-dive long features.