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Show "SPORTS I By ROBERT McSHANE ; I ' RtUaitd by WUrn Nwipapr Union j fI EA VYWEIGHT Champion Joe Louis' brutal conquest of Buddy Bud-dy Baer removed any lingering doubt concerning the champ's claim to top honors in modern boxing history. his-tory. Not since the time he almost tore Max Schmellng apart has Joe looked as good in the ring. And it must be remembered that Buddy was bigger, younger and stronger than the German. Joe couldn't miss. Baer might just as well have tangled tan-gled with a bolt of lightning. In fact, it would be hard to convince the younger of the boxing Baer brothers that bis opponent was a mere mortal. From John L. Sullivan to Joe Louis there have been 15 heavyweight heavy-weight champions. As champ, Joe has risked his title more often than any man since the days of John L. Since winning the belt from Jim Braddock in 1937, Louis has knocked out 18 men and defeated two others by decision. By way of comparison, Jack Dempsey knocked out four of the six men whom he as champion faced. He won one other fight by decision I before losing to Gene Tunney. Jack Johnson knocked out only two contenders con-tenders for his title, winning one other fieht by decision and fightinz otner light by decision and fighting one draw. It's customary for many die-hards to belittle Joe's opposition. In some instances such an attitude isn't far from wrong. But it isn't stretching the truth to say that Louis has faced as tough or tougher competition than either Dempsey or Johnson. Dempsey fought Bill Brennan, Billy Miske, Georges Carpentfer, Luis Firpo, Tom Gibbons and Tunney. Tun-ney. Brennan never was particularly particular-ly dangerous. Miske was In poor health, Carpentier lacked the weight, Firpo lacked speed and Gibbons Gib-bons had been whipped decisively prior to the championship match. Tunney won the title. All this doesn't reflect on Dempsey Demp-sey the most spectacular heavyweight heavy-weight of the lot and the top showman. show-man. It wasn't Dempsey's fault that his competition like Louis' left something to be desired. Johnson, as champion, outpointed Jim Flynn, knocked out A. Spoul in Paris, fought an eight-round draw with Jim Johnson, won in 20 rounds from Frank Moran and lost the title to Jess Willard. Joe's knockout record is impressive. impres-sive. In his 56 professional fights he has stopped 48 opponents. Including In-cluding his 37 knockouts as aa amateur, ama-teur, the champ has knocked out a total of 83 opponents in 100 fights a percentage of .850. |