PExactly 85 years ago, one of the most feared heavyweight boxers of all time stunk a joint. Joe Louis was in the midst of the “Bum of the Month Club,” which saw him rack up an astonishing 13 world title defenses in 29 months against a variety of hard-nosed men, wild men, and colorful characters. And when he arrived in Boston on December 16, 1940, most people believed that Al McCoy would soon become the next victim. However, it didn’t turn out that way.
A correspondent for the New York Times wrote, “McCoy was expected to crumble at the first punch Louis threw at him.” “Instead, the crafty New England veteran made Louis look funny at times. McCoy, adopting a crouching, swaying, weaving style, was an elusive target for the titleholder’s paralyzed fists.” A flurry of jeers erupted when the closely contested bout was called off after the fifth inning. Louis won, but it only increased his bank balance.
So, back to the freak show that’s happening this Friday along the East Coast. Former heavyweight champion and Olympic gold medalist Anthony Joshua will take on influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul in Miami. Let’s face it, this fight makes Lewis vs. McCoy look like the Rumble in the jungle. Whatever happens, it will tarnish Joshua’s reputation and tarnish the reputation of his sport.
How could it not be, considering Paul is a 13-fight novice who has only boxed above the cruiserweight limit (14 pounds, 4 pounds) once, and looked slow and mechanical in defeating 58-year-old Mike Tyson? No matter how much he slips up, Joshua still has a strong right and a pedigree honed through 13 world title fights.
It’s surprising that any governing body would sanction that, considering the fact that Joshua is likely to step into the ring about three stone heavier.
If we believe the promise of Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn that the fight will not be “managed” to make things easier on his opponent, the best we can hope for is that Paul is not seriously injured.
But the truth is, Joshua and Netflix should know better. And sports should be the same.
Because when it comes to boxing, there is an implicit social contract at work. We understand the risks. In fact, they are even more severe given recent research on the dangers of subconcussive impacts to the brain. However, these risks are partially offset by the discipline and social benefits that boxing provides, especially in disadvantaged areas.
This battle tears the contraction into thousands of pieces. And spit on it.
Some would say that Paul should be praised for being a little outside the box and bringing a new audience to boxing, not just for his trash talk. perhaps. But history teaches that there is really nothing new under the sun.
One of Louis’s opponents, Tony Gallento, also known as ‘Two Tone’, who is just 5ft 8in tall but weighs well over 16 stone and has fought bears and kangaroos to promote his fights, told journalists before the meeting that he was going to ‘tease his ass’. All of this makes Paul’s antics seem pretty benign.
“He was a saloonkeeper, and from the looks of it, he must have been drinking with every customer,” Louis wrote. He was injured in the first, knocked down in the third, and punched his opponent in the fourth. It probably did not help his performance that Louis, who was married, spent much of this period flirting with women. “It was a terrible time. I was going through what an alcoholic would do when he fell off the wagon,” he later wrote in his autobiography. “I got drunk with beautiful and exciting women.”
Another opponent, Chile’s Arturo Godoy, kissed Rui profusely on the lips after the first fight was narrowly decided in the American’s favor. “It was the worst match ever,” Louis admitted in the ring. “I’ve never been kissed on the mouth by a grown man before.”
And then there was Lou Nova, who claimed to have developed a secret weapon from a yoga trainer, the “Cosmic Punch”, before fighting Lewis. Add in the fact that Nova was a vegetarian, and by 1941 standards, he was seriously vegetarian.
“I wondered what the hell Space Punch was, and what the hell yoga was,” Louis said later. “When the press asked me, I said I didn’t care about his cosmic punch. I was going to knock him out with a regular right punch and a left hook. I didn’t like the incomprehensible shit he was talking about.”
Of course, there’s nothing mysterious about Friday’s fight. Joshua and Paul signed up because they could earn around £70m each. Meanwhile, Netflix believes it can surpass the record 65 million concurrent streams it achieved with Paul vs. Tyson and add even more subscribers.
The rest of us don’t have to play along. The truth is, Paul is no better than any of the 13 members of the Bum of the Month Club. And he’s not even close to getting in the ring with Joshua.
Incidentally, Louis insisted he was not concerned about the derogatory names given to his long-time victims or the criticism he received. “A friend of mine told me that Alexander the Great began to cry when there were no more worlds to conquer,” he wrote. “I didn’t mean to cry. I had to make money…but the guys I fought weren’t assholes.”
It’s hard to argue with that, especially considering Louis was also being chased by the taxman. What is Joshua’s excuse?
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