On this day in Alabama history: Joe Louis knocked out German boxer Max Schmeling
Joe Louis looks for an opening during boxing match with Max Schmeling, 1936. (New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)
June 22, 1938
LaFayette native Joe Louis knocked out German boxer Max Schmeling in one of the most famous boxing matches of all time, vividly refuting Adolf Hitler’s belief in white supremacy. The world heavyweight champion, Louis won his title exactly one year before his match with Schmeling. He held the championship for a record 140 months, successfully defending it 26 times. Louis ended his boxing career with a record of 68 wins and 3 losses, with 54 wins by knockout. He was inducted into the inaugural class of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1969, the inaugural class of the Alabama Boxing Hall of Fame this year and an eight-foot bronze statue of Louis was unveiled in LaFayette in 2010.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
Portrait of Joe Louis, 1941. (Carl Van Vechten Estate, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.
