Boxing, Joe Louis Barrow: from the ring to the battle for integration

Joseph Louis Barrowalias Joe, Black Bomber or 'The People's Champ'. All 'synonyms' for People's Champ. So many ways to call one of the greatest boxers of all time, the best heavyweight of any era according to the International Boxing Research Organisation, the first African-American to be awarded the status of national hero, a reference point for the anti-Nazi sentiment that led to the Second World War. Honesty in and out of the ring, fascinating stories have been told about him, he who wrote history to the sound of his fists: a placid appearance that concealed power, technique, speed and pure strength.

The boxing of Joseph Louis Barrow resided in that attack that left the opponent's defences no chance, a boulder-like gait, an unprecedentedly talented fighting style at a time when, among other things, dark skin colour was an obstacle. Joe was World Champion for almost 12 years, a title strenuously defended from 1937 to 1949, with 27 matches won in that year, a record that remains unbeaten in his category to this day. But his most important match was perhaps the one for integration, for breaking those racial barriers in the sport of an America that was not yet ready to go that far.

A career that began at a very young age, when at only 17 he boxed to stay off the streets, hiding his gloves in his violin case so that his mother would not know that his passion for the ring was greater than his passion for music. The 'amateur' period ended for him in 1934, with exceptional results: 50 victories, 43 by KO and only 4 defeats.

From then on, an unprecedented climb and many champions beaten in the fateful square: Primo Carnera, Jack Sharkey, James J. Braddock, Max Baer, Jersey Joe Walcott and Max Schmeling. With the latter, a memorable match, on 22 June 1938, at the Yankee Stadium in New York, a symbolic clash between the USA on one side and Germany on the other, a prelude to what was to happen shortly afterwards with much bloodier results.

Months of hammering propaganda by the two nations until the day of the match, a clash of two cultures, two political visions, two ideologies. But what was called the match of the century soon had its outcome. Max Schmeling, the black Ulan of the Rhine, as he was also called, heavyweight champion in 1930, suffered his heaviest defeat. The bout lasted little more than two minutes, overwhelmed by the overwhelming power of Black Bomber, who knocked out the 'Aryan' German with a resounding KO. Schmeling was transported to hospital with cracked ribs and was subsequently dumped by the Regime that had cheered him so much.

Yet, like the most famous boxers in cinema, Rocky and Apollo Creed, Joe and Max from then on became great friends, a relationship that lasted a lifetime. The great battle between America and Europe, between black and white, between Nazism and the culture of law, which had left and would continue to leave its aftermath on other fields, ended in that 1938 match, with a great sporting spectacle and a winning example of friendship, as well as humanity from an absolute champion. Because sport is above all this.