Show brown bomber well on way to second S million by ROBERT mcshane heavyweight TIT heavyweight EAVY WEIGHT champion joe JL L louis the lad who has been forced through lack ot of opponents to fight has beens and second raters since winning the crown from jimmy braddock in 1937 is well on his way to the fi financial nanci I 1 heights attained by jack dempsey and gene tunney the brown bomber a golden gloves champion turned professional in 1934 since that time he has earned a grand total of by knocking out 37 opponents gaining decisions over 6 and being knocked out by one jack dempsey still has a comfortable lead in all time ring earnings however lo wever the manassa mauler fil as 1 1 LIGHTNING JOE LOUIS earned the amazing total of 2 2712 in nine fights thus completely dimming louis record Demp record Demp fight by fight ring earnings are worth listing present day conditions are not conducive to gates but as a means of comparison here are the totals as compiled by frank G menke an outstanding sports authority figures represent Demp cut of the receipts for nine battles year opponent total 1919 jess willard 1920 billy 1920 bill brennan 1921 geo carpentier 1923 tom gibbons 1923 luis firpo 0 0 1926 gene tunney 8 68 1927 jack sharkey 1927 gene tunney total it must b be e remembered that Demp era was the halycon days of boxing on september 22 1927 the tunney dempsey bout in chicago drew an attendance of people who paid at 0 A 4 ab JACK DEMPSEY the box office louis biggest share of any gate amounted to when he knocked out Sch tunney retires gene tunney earned in the ring his fortune was made in the short space of three years dating from his first victory over dempsey in 1926 until he retired in 1928 tunney won the championship from dempsey in Phila philadelphia delp hia september 23 1926 on a 10 round decision ile he gave dempsey a return match in 1927 and retained his crown by again winning a 10 round decision on july 21 1923 tunney scored a technical knockout over tom heeney an australian fighter fi 9 liter and announced his retirement it is extremely unlikely that louis will ever reach Demp all time total Demp liu huge c income was increased by his personality one of bowings box ings most colorful characters he com commanded mandeLl big prices for exhibition tours and from all extracurricular activities louis cant do that ile he the showmanship and perhaps the inclination on april 1 1938 1933 after he had annexed the heavyweight crown louis earned by knocking out harry thomas in the fifth round theres more than one reason for such a small championship purse to begin with money as plentiful as it was back in the twenties perhaps the major reason is that louis had a good match for far ar too long |