The Brown Bomber (Joe Louis), the Manassa Mauler (Jack Dempsey), Cinderella Man (Jimmy Braddock). Rocky Marciano, "Smokin' Joe" Frazier, Muhammad Ali. I remember them all, though I never heard a Jack Dempsey fight.
Max Baer (Sr.) said the only way he could have beaten Joe Louis was with a baseball bat. Max's brother Buddy also boxed, and played the giant in the film "Quo Vadis."
Max Schmeling was denounced by the Nazis after he lost the championship to an American. After WWII, a story was revealed in which he risked his life to save Jewish children from the Nazis.
A recent online "health" article stated that violent sports, especially football and boxing, are connected to Alzheimer's disease, dementia and early death. But some who survived the ring lived on and on. Jack Dempsey died age 87, and Max Schmeling lived to be 99.
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| Firpo knoxking Jack Dempsey out of the ring - Painting by George Bellows |
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I also remember smaller champs: Bobo Olson, Sugar Ray Robinson. And a little flyweight fellow whose name I forget.
3 comments:
I love that painting. I'm not a big fan of boxing, but I like the movies.
I have often wondered if the ring contributed to Ali's Parkinson's. But then few opponents were ever able to lay a glove on him.
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