Joe Louis The Wrestler

[Robert in NYC]

How extensive was the wrestling career of Joe Louis? Also, is there any information available about his training sessions with Buddy Rogers?

[raylawpc]

As a Joe Louis admirer, I try to avoid thinking about his wrestling career.

[TheOneIsHere2008]

As a Joe Louis admirer, I try to avoid thinking about his wrestling career.

Didn't Walcott wrestle also...

[raylawpc]

As a Joe Louis admirer, I try to avoid thinking about his wrestling career.

Didn't Walcott wrestle also...

No idea. In truth, I try to avoid thinking about ANY former heavyweight champion who may have been forced, by financial circumstances, to engage in pro wrestling.

[TheOneIsHere2008]

As a Joe Louis admirer, I try to avoid thinking about his wrestling career.

Didn't Walcott wrestle also...

No idea. In truth, I try to avoid thinking about ANY former heavyweight champion who may have been forced, by financial circumstances, to engage in pro wrestling.

In 1963 Walcott engaged in a boxer vs. wrestler match with legendary wrestling champion Lou Thesz. Thesz pinned Walcott in the fifth round, but has stated that Walcott knocked him (Thesz) down and most likely out in that fifth round. As he fell to the floor, he relied on instinct, grabbing Walcotts knees, taking him down with him and stretching him out for the pin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Joe_Walcott



Do you put PBF v Big Show in that category?

I really don't because PBF didn't do it because he was broke and needed money...

[raylawpc]

I don't think about PBF at all.

[delisa]

Here is something that forms part of
The (Nearly) Complete Joe Louis Record

I am trying to compile amateur, exhibitions, wrestling and referee appearances for ALL heavyweight champs -- if you ahve anything let me know! Write to [email protected]

Wrestling Matches
1956
16 Mar Don "Cowboy Rocky" Lee Washington, DC W 11 min.
(Jersey Joe Walcott, referee)

Apr Charro Aztee --- W
May Opponent St. Petersburg, FL W
May Don "Cowboy Rocky" Lee Philadelphia, Pa W
Jun Don "Cowboy Rocky" Lee Columbus, OH W
Jul 16 Bozo Brown Round Lake, IL W
Jul Ali Pasha Richmond, IN W
(Louis's last wrestling bout; Louis denied a license on July 23 by IL commission which found taht Louis had a damaged heart (apparently from wrestling.)

[Jaclem]

rod serling lived in cincinnati when joe louis came there as a wrestler, and serling was so distressed at seeing him in that situation that it was the inspiration for his tv play and movie..requiem for a heavyweight.


ezzard charles..i am sad to say....had a turn at wrestling, but it was very brief.

[pound per pound]

I was told not to watch it, but I did. It was a mistake. Don't watch Louis as a wrestler. He's very bad, and its sort of sad that he had to do this to make a living.

[Poncey]

The Ali v Inoki was the worst, followed by Ali v Jay.

[TheOneIsHere2008]

The Ali v Inoki was the worst, followed by Ali v Jay.

It goes back to the Floyd Mayweather v Big Show example...

Floyd Mayweather and Muhammad Ali fought Big Show and Antonio Inoki because they wanted to and not because they had to...

[Cap]

Hate to break this news to all you fans of Pro Wrasslin. Pro Wrasslin is not a competitive sport. Pro wrasslin is a scripted entertainment like a play or tv show, and should no more be included in a fighter's record than his guest appearances on a tv sitcom.

[TheOneIsHere2008]

Hate to break this news to all you fans of Pro Wrasslin. Pro Wrasslin is not a competitive sport. Pro wrasslin is a scripted entertainment like a play or tv show, and should no more be included in a fighter's record than his guest appearances on a tv sitcom.

You mean a 5'8'' 145 pound Mayweather didn't beat up a 7'2'' 440 pound Big Show in a legit no holds barred match...

I'm devastated...

[oliverfennell]

Yeah, thanks Cap. Next thing, you're gonna tell me soap operas aren't real either.


Emerson, what was Ali v Jay?

[TheOneIsHere2008]

Yeah, thanks Cap. Next thing, you're gonna tell me soap operas aren't real either.


Emerson, what was Ali v Jay?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y1Cx0ysQiM

Dumb and pointless...This must be around 76/77...

[oliverfennell]

Yeah, thanks Cap. Next thing, you're gonna tell me soap operas aren't real either.


Emerson, what was Ali v Jay?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y1Cx0ysQiM

Dumb and pointless...This must be around 76/77...

That actually had the look of a shoot until Jay over-sold the knockout.

[Gary Digital Williams]

Joe Frazier refereed an NWA title bout between Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes in 1984.

And he seconded Mr. T in a boxing bout with Roddy Piper, who was "trained" by Lou Duva.

[HomicideHenry]

Carnera was the most successful, in my mind, former champion of boxing to make it in wrestling. Sure people point out that Mayweather made $5 million or w/e it was for his Wrestlemaina appearance, but nonetheless, there has never been a quote on quote "boxer turn wrestler" who was a huge success except for Carnera, but even then he died without a nickel to his name.

Jack Dempsey made some good forays into wrestling too, mostly in boxer vs wrestler contests, though no wrestling was involved, was all boxing...[Luttrell-Dempsey is worth a look-see]

[Ambling Alp]

Paul Berlanbach was sort of the opposite. Ins tead of being a boxer turned wrestler, he was a wrestler turned boxer. He was a great Amateur wrestler before becoming a boxer. I thought I heard once that he also wrestled professionally but I'm not sure about that.

Ali referreed at Wrestlemania I. I believe he did the match between Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff vs Mr. T. and Hulk Hogan.

Someone else posted the Youtube "boxing match" between Gorilla Monsoon and Andre the Giant. Jersey Joe Walcott was the referee.

Buster Douglas was the ref in a WWF match when he was the champ. I remember that "things got out of control" and he "knocked out" Randy Savage.

Scott LeDoux was an AWA referee for awhile in the 1980's.

[p4p1]

its sad when a boxer has to turn to wwf wrestling

[oliverfennell]

its sad when a boxer has to turn to wwf wrestling

Positively heartbreaking.

[raylawpc]

Paul Berlanbach was sort of the opposite. Ins tead of being a boxer turned wrestler, he was a wrestler turned boxer. He was a great Amateur wrestler before becoming a boxer. I thought I heard once that he also wrestled professionally but I'm not sure about that.

Ali referreed at Wrestlemania I. I believe he did the match between Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff vs Mr. T. and Hulk Hogan.

Someone else posted the Youtube "boxing match" between Gorilla Monsoon and Andre the Giant. Jersey Joe Walcott was the referee.

Buster Douglas was the ref in a WWF match when he was the champ. I remember that "things got out of control" and he "knocked out" Randy Savage.

Scott LeDoux was an AWA referee for awhile in the 1980's.

Berlenbach wrestled professionally for a brief period after he retired from boxing for the first time in 1928. After his pro wrestling career failed to take off, he made a short lived boxing comeback in 1931. I don't recall that he did anything as an athlete after 1933.

[HomicideHenry]

In terms of real athleticism, the best boxer turn wrestler, least in my mind, was Danny Hodge. Hodge was a two-time Olympic wrestler and Golden Gloves heavyweight champion before he went into both professional boxing and pro rasslin'. He was very talented, and his last boxing match was against the "giant" Cuban Nino Valdes, whom he lost to by kayo in the later rounds. As a rassler, though, he became an ATG in the business, having "wars" with such men as Lou Thesz who claimed that Hodge had the greatest tendon strength he had ever seen.

[raylawpc]

In terms of real athleticism, the best boxer turn wrestler, least in my mind, was Danny Hodge. Hodge was a two-time Olympic wrestler and Golden Gloves heavyweight champion before he went into both professional boxing and pro rasslin'. He was very talented, and his last boxing match was against the "giant" Cuban Nino Valdes, whom he lost to by kayo in the later rounds. As a rassler, though, he became an ATG in the business, having "wars" with such men as Lou Thesz who claimed that Hodge had the greatest tendon strength he had ever seen.

Danny Hodge wrestled out of Oklahoma City at the Stockyard Coliseum when I was a kid growing up in OKC, and had almost a folk-hero status there. He had incredible hand strength. One of his stunts was to take an ordinary pair of pliers, and squeeze the handles together until they touched.

I never saw Hodge box, but I was told by folks from Oklahoma who did that he was actually a very ordinary boxer.

[HomicideHenry]

http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?hu ... &cat=boxer

^^^Hodge's boxing record, am sure it is probably incomplete, as some of the data doesn't seem to make much sense. He also had matches against his fellow wrestlers, such as Ronnie Garvin, whom he knocked out in three rounds of a scheduled 15 or so. Garvin I believe was an amateur boxer at one time.