Fans have favorites, and in this article, two of them are Joe ‘Brown Bomber’ Louis, former heavyweight champion, and multi-division world champion Manny ‘Pac Man’ Pacquaio.
Former heavyweight champion Joe ‘The Brown Bomber’ Louis had 25 successful title defenses, a heavyweight record.
Louis had an outstanding record of 66-3 with 52 stoppages. He held the title from June 1937 to March 1949.
In June 1941, Louis, defending against Light Heavyweight champion Billy Conn, 54-9-1, stopped him in the fourteenth round, behind on points after 13 rounds by scores of 7-5, 7-4, and 6-6, at the Polo Grounds in New York.
“This is easy; I can take this son of a bitch out next round,” he told his trainer Johnny Ray. Conn came rushing out, getting into a slugfest with Louis when a right hand from Louis dropped him. Upon rising, Conn had not beat the count of ten, forcing the referee to wave the fight off.
They wouldn’t have a rematch for five years before Louis made defenses in September of 1941, stopping Lou Nova, 26-2-4, in round six at the Polo Grounds in New York before a crowd of 56,000.
On January 8th, 1942, Louis enlisted in the US Army and a day later stopped Buddy Baer, 59-6, at Madison Square Garden, New York.
Then, in March, Louis stopped Abe Simon, 36-9-1, again at Madison Square Garden, New York.
While entering the US Army, Louis made many exhibitions until his honorable discharge in October 1945. In June 1946, he got behind on paying his taxes due to his manager’s neglect.
In the rematch in June of 1946 with Conn, 61-10-1, at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York, it turned out to be a ‘dud’ stopping Conn in eight rounds. Louis had predicted “he can run but he can’t hide!”
In September, Louis stopped Tami Mauriello, 66-7-1, at Yankee Stadium before 38,000 were in attendance. In December, he was fortunate to win a split decision over “Jersey” Joe Walcott, 42-13-1, being on the canvas in the first and fourth rounds at Madison Square Garden.
In June 1948, Louis stopped Walcott in the tenth round at Yankee Stadium. Louis had been dropped in the third round for a no-count. In March 1949, Louis announced his retirement.
Louis returned to the ring in September of 1950, not the same fighter, losing a lopsided decision to former champion Ezzard Charles, 66-5-1, at Yankee Stadium. He would win his next eight fights before facing Rocky Marciano, 37-0, being knocked down twice in the eighth round, the second putting him through the ropes and forcing referee Rudy Goldstein to call a halt. He was behind by scores of 4-2, 5-2 and 4-3.
After the match, Marciano cried because he had stopped his hero. Louis never fought again. It was a sad ending for one of the most popular heavyweight champions of all time.
Louis would go on to work as a referee and, thanks to Frank Sinatra, become a doorman, helping him out of a large debt he had incurred.
Let’s take a look at one of the most popular boxers of modern times: Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao, from the Philippines. He was champion at six different weight classes, including his first in December 1998, when he stopped WBC Flyweight champion Chatchai Sasakul, 32-1-1, of Thailand, in eight rounds in the champ’s home country.
In PacMan’s second defense, he came in a pound over the weight and was stopped in three rounds by Boonsai Sangsurat, 18-0, in Thailand.
PacMan would win his next six fights before winning his second division world title in June 2001. He stopped IBF Super Bantam champ Lehlo Ledwaba, 33-1-1, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, making his USA debut and immediately becoming a hit with American fans.
PacMan made five defenses, including a technical draw in his first defense with Agapito Sanchez, 31-9-2, in San Francisco, California. He would move up in weight after stopping Marco Antonio Barrera, 57-3, in eleven rounds in San Antonio, Texas.
In May 2004, PacMan fought to a draw with IBF featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez, 43-2, in Las Vegas. In March 2008, in a rematch with Marquez, 48-3-1, holding the WBC Super Feather title, he won a split decision.
In PacMan’s next fight, he moved to Lightweight. In June, he stopped WBC champ David Diaz, 34-1-1, in nine rounds in Las Vegas. In non-title bouts, he defeated Oscar De La Hoya, 39-5, in eight rounds in Las Vegas and knocked out Ricky Hatton, 45-1, for the IBO Super Light title in May in Vegas.
In November 2009, PacMan moved to welterweight, winning the vacant WBO title by stopping Miguel Cotto, 34-1, in Vegas. He made four defenses, all by decision wins, over Joshua Clottey, 35-3, Antonio Margarito, 38-6, “Sugar” Shane Mosley, 46-6-1, and Marquez, 53-5-1, in November 2011.
In June 2012, PacMan lost a disputed split decision to Timothy Bradley, Jr., 28-0.
In what would be PacMan’s most significant loss in his next fight, he was knocked out by Marquez, 54-6-1, in Vegas in December. In April of 2014, he re-won the title in a rematch, defeating Bradley, 31-0.
In a unification match with WBA, WBC champ Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Jr., 47-0, Pac Man lost. In April of 2016, in a third match with Bradley, 33-1-1, he won the WBO International title, earning a title fight with WBO Welter champ Jesse Vargas, 37-1, in November 2016.
In July 2017, PacMan lost another disputed decision, this time to Jeff Horn, who was 16-0-1, in his home country of Australia. In his next fight, he won the WBA title, stopping Lucas Martin Matthysse, 39-4—next a winning defense over Adrian Broner, 33-3-1.
Then PacMan moved up and defeated WBA Super Welter champ Keith “One Time” Thurman, 29-0, in July 2019 for his sixth division title. In his next and final fight, he lost to Yordenis Ugas, 26-4.
PacMan’s final record was 62-8-2 with 39 stoppages.
There you have it, two of the most popular champions of all time: Joe “The Brown Bomber” Louis and Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao.
Read the full article here
