Louis, Joe

1914-1981 · Contribution: 1938

Boxer

Defeated German boxer Max Schmeling in a fight widely seen as a symbolic rebuke of Nazi ideology

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Sports & Athletics

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Quick facts

Born
1914, LaFayette, Alabama
Active since
1934
Category
Sports & Athletics
Best known for
Heavyweight champion who defeated Max Schmeling

Impact on the world

Louis carried the hopes of a nation into the ring against Schmeling, and his victory, two years after Jesse Owens' Berlin triumph, became one of the most symbolically charged moments in sports history.

An alternative history

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Sources

  1. Book or scholarly work

    Encyclopædia Britannica

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