By Ken Hissner: Joe “The Brown Bomber,” Louis defended his title 25 times and has been considered the best heavyweight of all time over the years. Others called Muhammad “The Greatest” Ali as the best of all time. This writer wants to compare which should be considered the best heavyweight of all time.
Louis, 66-3 with 52 knockouts out of Detroit, MI, has one of the highest knockout percentages of all in his division. Ali, 56-5 with 37 knockouts of Louisville, KY, was known for being the fastest of hand and foot in his division. Louis served in the US Army and fought many exhibitions to raise bonds for the military. Ali rejected taking the oath to be inducted. The government turned on both. Louis had to pay back taxes for all the charity work he did. Ali had his license to make a living suspended for some 3 ½ years. He was not the same boxer coming back where he was much easier to hit upon his return. While NFL quarterback Joe “Broadway Joe” Namath refused induction, saying he had bad knees yet was allowed to continue to play in the brutal sport of football.
Louis was humble and not a good spokesman. On the other hand, Ali toured many colleges and lectured students being an excellent speaker, especially when self-promoting being the “Greatest of All Time!” Louis, with 25 defenses, was the tops in all of boxing while Ali had 19 defenses but was the first 3-time champion.
From June of 1937 to March of 1949, Louis held the title. He defeated 8 former world champions, including Primo Carnera, Max Baer, Max Schmeling, Jack Sharkey, Jim Braddock, John Henry Lewis, Bill Conn (twice), and Jersey Joe Walcott (twice). His losses were to Schmeling, Ezzard Charles, and Rocky Marciano. As an amateur, he was 24-3 with 16 knockouts. He was the AAU and Golden Gloves champion in 1934. He was inducted into the IBHOF in 1990. From March of 1942 to June of 1946, Louis was inactive being in the US Army.
Ali, in February of 1984, won the world title, stopping Sonny Liston twice. He had 9 defenses until March of 1967, when he was stripped of his title. Upon his return, in October of 1970, he defeated Jerry Quarry and Oscar Bonavena before facing world champion “Smokin” Joe Frazier, losing a 15 round decision. He would go onto win 10 straight before losing to Ken Norton, having his jaw broke in March of 1973 by a split decision.
This writer would meet him in center city Philadelphia shortly after that while he was in a crowd. This old man said to Ali, “next time you fight Norton, be a man, not a boy!” Ali replied, “did you call me Roy?” We all laughed, but the old man who repeated it again and Ali replied, “play with him like a toy; did you call me Roy?” Two weeks later, I saw in the Philadelphia Daily News pictures of his old house at 70th & Overbrook in West Philadelphia and his new house in Cherry Hill, NJ. I traveled over there though not writing and knocked on the door where his second wife Belinda answered, and I asked her if I could talk to the champ. She closed the door and came back, inviting me in. Ali appeared, and I asked him, “why didn’t you give Doug Jones a rematch, Ron Lyle a rematch, and didn’t Louie Rodriguez, your stablemate, teach you everything you knew?” He came back at me like a buzzsaw and told me to come back and sit down. Ali was funny and genuine.
Ali defeated Norton in a rematch along with Rudi Lubbers before defeating Frazier in their second fight in defense of his NABF title he won from Norton. In his next fight in October of 1974, he traveled to Zaire, Africa, and defeated world champion “Big” George Foreman in “The Rumble in the Jungle!” Four fights later, he defeated Frazier in the third encounter, “The Thrilla in Manila” in the Philippines. He would go onto win 6 more fights before losing his title to Leon Spinks in February of 1978. In September, he won the title back for the third time defeating Spinks in the rematch. In June of 1979, Ali announced his retirement. This is when he should have stayed retired. Even his long-time cut-man, Dr. Ferdie Pacheco, said he would never work his corner again while his trainer Angelo Dundee stayed with him.
In October of 1980, Ali made an ill-advised return to the ring to face champion Larry “The Easton Assassin” Holmes. This writer visited Ali’s training camp in Deer Lake, PA, and upon seeing Ali sitting in a chair, asked, “look at the shape you are in. You and Max Baer had the greatest physics of the champs; why would you take this fight? He patted his fat stomach and said, “I like my ice cream!” Ali would lose all 10 rounds before not leaving his corner for the only time in his professional career he was stopped. In December of 1981, he had his final bout losing to future world champion Trevor Berbick by a 10 round decision in Nassau, the Bahamas.
Ali’s amateur record was said to be 100-5, 118-5, 127-5, 134-7, 137-7, and 99-8. The record shows 7 of his losses. He was the AAU Light heavyweight champ and the Golden Gloves heavyweight champion. He lost in the Pan Am Games trials to southpaw Amos Johnson. He would lose to Percy Price in the Olympic heavyweight trials but went onto the Olympics as a light heavyweight winning the Gold Medal. He was inducted into the IBHOF in 1990.
So, now you have it, who was the greatest heavyweight champion in the history of boxing? You be the judge!