Boxing Through The Years

Name

Senior English

Ms. Ecke

3/27/08

“BOXING THROUGH THE YEARS”

Through the years there have been many champions in the sport of boxing. Many athletes have tried to make themselves legends of the sport and have failed, only to become stepping stones in another mans career. The few supreme athletes, who accomplished the impossible to become legends of the ring, have changed the world of boxing. Throughout the decades there have been a number of fighters who have revolutionized the sport of boxing by bringing their own styles and techniques into the ring.

One fighter who revolutionized the sport of boxing is Joe Louis. In 1938 undefeated boxing prodigy, Joe Louis AKA “the Brown Bomber” faced world heavyweight champion the Cinderella Man James J Braddock.( http://www.cmgww.com/sports/louis/bio.htm)The fight was action packed for 8 rounds. In the eighth round Louis knocked out Braddock to become the heavyweight champion of the world.

On June 22, 1938, Boxing Heavyweight champion Joe Louis took on German fighter Max Schmeling. (http://www.cmgww.com/sports/louis/bio.htm paragraph 5 line 1) Schmeling was the only opponent who had ever beaten Louis, up to this point. The fight was a rematch to a previous bout where Schmeling had knocked out the Brown Bomber in the 12th round, and Louis was not going to let this fight turn out like the last. The fight took place during a pre world war 2 time period; in which there was a great deal of tension between the US and Germany, so Louis was not only fighting for himself, but for his country.

The fight went on for only two minutes before the brown bomber landed two vicious left hooks on his opponent sending him down for the count. The result of the fight was that Joe Louis had won by way of knockout in the very 1st round. This was an enormous victory for Louis and for the United States.

In the sport of boxing champions are not born they are made. In this sport it does not matter if you’re at the very bottom because you can always fight your way back to the top. James Braddock AKA the “Cinderella Man” was a man who showed this throughout his entire career.

In June 1934, world heavyweight champion Primo Carnera was matched up against challenger Max Baer to defend his title. (http://www.eastsideboxing.com/JamesBraddock.html, James J. Braddock, The Cinderella Man

by B. R. Bearden paragraph 11)

At this Point in Braddock’s career he was considered a bum to many people due to the fact that he had lost one third of all of his fights, but he fought on because he had a family to feed and during this depression era work was not easy to come across.

Braddock’s promoter worked very hard to get Braddock a fight in front of the large crowd that would be attending the Carnera, Baer fight. Luckily for Braddock, he did. Braddock won his fight convincingly as did Baer and after a few more victories Braddock was given a title shot of his own against Max Baer.

On June 13th 1935 James Braddock and Max Baer were to fight for the title of heavyweight champion of the world.( http://www.eastsideboxing.com/JamesBraddock.html, James J. Braddock, The Cinderella Man

by B. R )The fight was scheduled for 15 rounds. From the very 1st round it was clear that Braddock had come to fight. The champion Max Baer had taken his opponent lightly and had trained very little for the fight. At the end of the fifteenth round, it was clear who the winner of the fight was, James Braddock the 10 to 1 underdog was The Heavyweight champion of the world.

James Braddock’s boxing career impacted the sport of boxing and the country by showing people that they should never give up no matter how hard things may get.

While the nineteen thirties was a very interesting decade in the world of boxing and the world in general, it was not the only decade in which history was made. Throughout the sixties and seventies there was a new era of boxing to be recognized. It was the era of Muhammad Ali. Ali revolutionized the sport of boxing by bringing his own style into the ring. Ali shuffled his feet and danced around his opponents leaving them clueless as to where a punch was coming from. This style of boxing was very confusing as opposed to the traditional style in which a fighter would point his feet towards his opponent and punches would only be coming from the front.

In 1964 the twenty two year old Olympic gold medalist Cassius Clay was training to fight the ferocious heavyweight champion Sonny Liston. While in training for the fight the young man met a nation of Islam spokesperson Malcolm X. The two men bonded on a spiritual level and Malcolm brought Clay into the nation of Islam. Clay knocked Liston out in the seventh round and became the heavyweight champion of the world. Soon after the fight, Cassius Clay took on the name Muhammad Ali to truly become part of the nation of Islam.

In 1967, during the heat of the Vietnam War, Ali was called up for induction into the United States armed services. Ali refused to fight in the war and was stripped of his boxing license, passport and his heavyweight title. Ali did not fight for three and a half years. During those