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EVENING STANDARD THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 1938 JOE LOUIS vs MAX SCHMELING

LOUIS the Sphinx- More of a Ring Mechanic Than a Demon Fighter

JOE LOUIS 24 years old, an inch over six feet, is no showman. he is talk shy, says Ben Bennison, and has to be prodded into speech. He was born in a cabin in the Alabama Mountains, where his parents worked in the cotton fields in his few earliest years.  If he had not achieved the world cham- pionship as a boxer he might have been a baseball player of some distinction. Indeed, his ambition always has been to own his own baseball team. They can do that in America.  He is magnificently built on greyhound lines. He has balance which is essential for men who aim at the top in any sort of sport- physical and mental balance. He is a dreamer, out of the ring, a Sphinx; his mother wanted hiom to play the violin for a living: he perfered to fight: but it was not until 1933 that he became a paid pugi- list. Since then his chief critics have been his own people. They say he is too superior, holds his head high and disdain- fully and does not mix. For Two Reasons  Perhaps they are right. I found him during my visits to his camp at Pompton Lakes, a dull, silent, unemotional man, per- plexed to know how he had got to the top of his world. Perhaps my analysis did him an injustice.  My newspaper friend, Bill Coram, attri- buted the sensation al rise of Louis to fame to two reasons. One that he is Joe Louis, two because of the attitude of the American public towards him. Says Coram:  "Louis is to be commended because he has asked to be taken holly on his merits as a fighter. He has not gone into vaudeville, pictures or radio, has made few appearances at banquets and other public functions, has not blossomed forth as a writer, has been in no trouble or the central figure in an un- fortunate incident. in the ring he has been guilty of no low punches, back hands, thumbs in eyes, wrestling, heeling, holding, or hitting after the bell.  "There are those," Coram will have it, "who think that Louis's Sphinx attitude is a pose. If that is so he was born posing. Nobody seems to remember him any other way. If it is a pose, it is one he never drops. it is my idea that it would take a smarter fellow that Joe Louis to maintain a pose day in and day out." He is Rich  Louis confided in me in a chat we had that he craved for no riches. He is rich despite himself. It is estimated that he is worth more than £100,000.  Louis began boxing as an amateur, and did so well against heavier and older men in tournaments organized by a local news- paper that he became a professional as a matter of coarse.  He was fortunate to be taken over by John W. Roxborough, a coloured University student who, from the outset of his career has acted as his manager. He joined the paid ranks after having scored forty-three knockouts and only losing four of fifty-four bouts. A Clean Sweep  As an amateur Louis was runner-up in the National A.A.U. light-heavyweight championships at Boston and in the following year won the amateur cruiser title at St. Louis. A few months later he was launched as a professional, and made a clean sweep of each of several opponents found him, including such seasoned fighters as Stanley Poreda, Charlie Massera and Lee Ramage, and when in January, 1935, he outpointed Patsy Perroni he may be said to have definitely struck the high- way to fame and fortune.  He toppled over Roy Lazer in three rounds and on he went to triumphantly until June of that year when, answering a call from New York, he took the ring against Primo Carnera, whom he knocked out in the sixth round and left him more dead than alive.  King Levinsky was as child's play to him. In less than a round he stretched him out on the floor to cause him to wonder whether the roof had fallen upon him. then came what was voted to be the deciding test of him. He was put up against Max Baer, who had lost his title to James J. Braddock.  It is familiar history that Louis crashed the former world's champion into helpless- ness in the fourth round. He then pro- ceeded to knock out Paolini, the tough-as- teak Basque and gave the shortest shrift to several lesser known fighters. 'Gene Tun- ney, Jack Dempsey and American critics without exceptions hailed him as a greater coloured fighter than was Jack Johnson. The Odds Were Upset  And when two years ago he was matched against Max Schmeling tremendous odds were laid on his chances. The German, fighting the greatest fight of his career, knocked Louis out in the twelfth round. Schmeling, however, was denied a right he so well won to meet Braddock for the title, and Louis, after having accounted for Stanley Ketchell, a nobody, Bob Pastor and Natie Brown, was matched for the championship. He knocked out Braddock in the eighth round, and last August retained the title by outpointing Tommy Farr. Since when he has defeated Nathan Mann and Harry Thomas.  The impression I formed of Louis as he was in his fight with Farr was that he was more of a mechanic than a demon fighter as represented by his record. He is built on powerful lines, has more than average speed, and when free to attack makes it difficult to fault him. His left hand is his most formidable weapon. He employs it straight so as to make room for his right which loosened to the full, is a winner from the moment of impact.