15 Seconds with Joe Louis

[Mars_ax]

A couple things I noticed in the video, Jack Dempsey was in Baer's corner before the fight. For years Dempsey had predicted that whoever Joe's opponent was, was going to knock him out or win. Finally one night when Louis was told that Dempsey was in his opponents corner, and backing him to win, Louis responded sarcastically: "I don't have to fight Dempsey do I?".

I didn't realize that Louis was only 21 when he fought Max Baer, fucking amazing. After the fight, Maxie, ever the comedian and good sport said something like: "I got hit so hard I thought I saw 20 Louis's, and I wasn't sure about which one to hit back, it looked like all of Harlem was there".

In re: Jack Blackburn, yup, he was a great trainer for Louis, without Blackburn, I doubt that Louis would have had near the success that he enjoyed. I'd also agree that Louis was a great student, neither Louis or Ali had much formal education, but they were both geniuses inside that ring.