Quote Originally Posted by raleights
Quote Originally Posted by Britkid
Quote Originally Posted by bilbo
Louis was an overrated bum. Knocked on his a** by Two Ton Galento, a man who if he had existed in the present era would have been fighting 4 rounders with Butterbean.

He only just beat Billy Conn who he outweighed by about 30 lbs.

He should have lost to Jersey Joe Walcott, the 40' and 50's version of Frank Bruno.

He was famously flat footed, his wooden performances in the ring matched only by his dark mahogany varnished wooden acting career.

They called him the Brown Bomber, truth is he just bombed.
To my mind he was an underrated boxer (due mainly to the excellent Jackie Blackburn), with fast, heavy hands.

But what truly defines his Greatness, is that he was a figurehead who IMO (sorry Paul Robeson, you were merely #2), did more than anyone before Martin Luther King to unify the Black and White people of the USA (in the 20th Century).
As much as I think bilbo's post was racially driven, I have to agree with him. We're not talking about what he did for his fellow man, but what he was capable of in the ring Mr. Britkid
Normally I would agree with your statement, but there are a few exceptions, (normally at Heavyweight) when a fighter becomes an icon of his era and his Greatness increases because of his iconic status. In my opinion Joe Louis is a classic example of this.