Joe Luis african american boxer

A champion in the ring.

Childhood

In Joe's younger years he lived in a four room farm house and was the seventh of eight children and was born in May 13 1914. His father worked hard on the farm but just couldn't take it so he was brought to the colored insane and lived their for the rest of his life. Soon his mother remarried and her and her new husband lived in Detroit. In Detroit his friend Thurston McKinney took Joe to a gymnasium too see real boxers and Joe wanted to try it out for himself. He knocked someone down during a sparring match and that's when he realized he developed a love for boxing.

Boxing

Later after he found out that he loves boxing he signed up for his first real amateur fight. His first fight was against Johnny Miller he knocked Joe down seven times and won. His mother cried when she saw his face all cut up and she told him to stay away from boxing. Joe left boxing alone for a little while but loved boxing too much that he wouldn't give it up and trained to become a better boxer. he won his next fourteen fights and after he won fifty fights he had his first professional fight. For his first fight he was going to fight Jack Kracken and it lasted ten rounds. Joe won all twelve of his fights in 1934 and people started to notice him they said he was a punching machine and they nicknamed him the brown bomber. He was pretty much famous and was a hero to African Americans everywhere people would scrounge around to find a radio just to cheer him on. He kept fighting and winning until his next opponent came Max Schmeling after that fight he lost his first fight and was devastated. He still kept fighting until he finally got a rematch with Max and he won and his fans cheered him on.

Joe Luis

After his fight from Max Joe had Joined the army. The Axis powers led by Germany were at war with the allies led first by England. His quote he said, "was we can't lose because we're on God's side." Joe Luis had two title fights while he was in the army He won both of them and gave all of his earnings to the army relief funds. In 1949 Joe retired from boxing but not for long. In 1950 Joe returned to boxing at the age of thirty six he knew he was too old to be a boxer but he missed the excitement of the ring and wanted to be a champion again. He lost one of his fights against Ezzard Charles he won his next eight fights the lost again in 1951 to Rocky Marciano.

A hero retires

After Joe started losing he retired this time for good. He later died on April 12 1981 people everywhere wanted to meet Joe Luis but he died before they could meet him. He is still remembered by many Americans today as the greatest heavyweight champion ever.

Adler, David A., and Terry Widener. Joe Louis: America's Fighter. Orlando: Gulliver, 2005. Print.

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