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Its time. Time to dissect Joe Louis' legendary 25 title defenses.
Of Joe Louis' 25 defenses, 8 came against opponents coming off of a loss.
2 of his opponents had lost 2 fights in a row before getting their title shot at Joe Louis.
3 of his opponents, not counting those comming off of loses had lost atleast once in their previous two bouts.
Louis defended twice against Godoy, who had lost 2 of his last 4 as of their first fight, and 3 of his last 5 as of their rematch.
Louis defended his title twice against Abe Simon. Both fights took place with Simon coming off of a loss.
Louis defended twice against Buddy Baer who had lost 1 of his last two fights before their first fight, and was coming off of a loss for their rematch.
One defense came against Tony Musto, who had lost 4 of his last 6 fights prior to his title fight.
One defense came against Harry Thomas, a man who was 2 for 4 of his last fights.
So could it be that a resume does not define the fighter? Or could it be that Joe Louis was an over hyped champion who fought a string of hand picked bums?
I'm going with the first option.
The resume does not define the fighter, the fighter defines the fighter. Ranking a fighter based purely on his resume (cough cough Harry Greb) is insane.
Of Joe Louis' 25 defenses, 8 came against opponents coming off of a loss.
2 of his opponents had lost 2 fights in a row before getting their title shot at Joe Louis.
3 of his opponents, not counting those comming off of loses had lost atleast once in their previous two bouts.
Louis defended twice against Godoy, who had lost 2 of his last 4 as of their first fight, and 3 of his last 5 as of their rematch.
Louis defended his title twice against Abe Simon. Both fights took place with Simon coming off of a loss.
Louis defended twice against Buddy Baer who had lost 1 of his last two fights before their first fight, and was coming off of a loss for their rematch.
One defense came against Tony Musto, who had lost 4 of his last 6 fights prior to his title fight.
One defense came against Harry Thomas, a man who was 2 for 4 of his last fights.
So could it be that a resume does not define the fighter? Or could it be that Joe Louis was an over hyped champion who fought a string of hand picked bums?
I'm going with the first option.
The resume does not define the fighter, the fighter defines the fighter. Ranking a fighter based purely on his resume (cough cough Harry Greb) is insane.