Joe Louis vs Charlie Retzlaff

[granberry]

Joe Louis vs Charlie Retzlaff

When Louis catches Retzlaff on the ropes it looks EXACTLY like Louis-Schmeling II.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUl656wK ... re=related

see from 3:25 on

and in slow motion from 6:14 on.

[TheGreatA]

Great use of the left uppercut, a very unorthodox punch but it worked well for Louis here.

In the slow motion replay you can also see that Louis started his punch when Retzlaff was already throwing and he still landed it. One of the shortest left hooks you'll ever see, yet still packing all the power of a Joe Louis punch.

[granberry]

Retzlaff had a record of 52 KO's out of his 59 wins.. He lost 8 fights out of 72 total bouts..

He stopped Tom Heeney, Art Lasky (twice), Al Ettore, and Jack Roper.

He decisioned Johnny Risko (twice) and Jimmy Braddock.

[granberry]

Great use of the left uppercut, a very unorthodox punch but it worked well for Louis here.

In the slow motion replay you can also see that Louis started his punch when Retzlaff was already throwing and he still landed it. One of the shortest left hooks you'll ever see, yet still packing all the power of a Joe Louis punch.

By the way, thanks for posting that on youtube, A.

You can see Retzlaff was a right hand puncher, and he was in there from the start to KO Louis. He landed at least one good right hand, when Louis had his back on the ropes.

That left hook by Louis was a beauty.

Few fighters in history had reflexes like that.

[Brutu]

Charley Retzlaff
aka the Duluth Dynamiter.
He was long and lean but with "dreadnaught" arms.
At one time he was a real contender.
In 1931 when his record was 32-0(28 by KO),
In fact in 1931 ,Max Schmeling picked him to be the next heavyweight champion of the world.
He is was sort of a Dempsey/Sharkey type,aggressive and with a dead-pan scowl.
He got into boxing when he was young to a train to a town that had a carnival there ,
he got out of the audience and knocked out the featured touring boxer that was taking on all comers.

[granberry]

I think Retzlaff got rattled by a Louis right hand just before the first knockdown.

As a result he threw a right hand at Louis from much too far away, reaching much too much and leaving himself open.

The way Louis took advantage of that was masterful.

That was a real 'collision,' because Retzlaff's own force coming forward plus Louis' left hook both combined to clobber him.

When he went down he was really hurt, as can be seen by his reactions before he made it up.

The fight was over at that point, even though it continued from there to the actal KO.

Despite his awesome offense, Louis was trained as a counter puncher by Blackburn (something Jack Johnson criticized Blackburn for).

When you are fighting someone trained as a pure counterpuncher like Louis you don't want to leave an opening like Retlaff did.

I would say this is an example of Louis at his absolute best.

[Brutu]

Charley Retzlaff went into the Louis fight in 1936 with a 57-7-2 record.
He had been knocked out 3 times already.
By Isidora Gastanga in 1 round in 1932,
by Kingfish Levinsky in 1 in 1933
and by Hank Hankinson in second round in 1935.

So it would appear he was subseptable to an early knockout.
Perhaps he never warmed up properly?

[Brutu]

It looks like Retzlaff never saw that left hook it was so close and tight.

That punch to Retzlaff's back while he was on the ropes wasnt called for tho.
Didnt look like a wayward punch to me.

[Robinson]

I was only watching some of the early Louis fights I have on DVd
the other day. It amazes me at how 'clean' Joe punched and how
much power he would generate with little 'swing' just by throwing
the shot almost perfect. Always balanced and in good form, he is
certainly some one to watch if you want to learn how to punch.

Charley Retzlaff is a guy I would like to see more off, but it is
unfortunate for him that he is remembered as a Louis opponent.

I agree lads that uppercut was nice, I think if Retzlaff had of
been coming forward and not going back he would have gone
down on it.

Thanks again for another video you have uploaded GreatA !

[-KOKid-]

Retzlaff was the no. 4 rated heavyweight by The Ring at the time he fought Louis.

In fact, here is a run down of all Louis top 10 rated opponets throughout his career, and their exact rating when they stepped in against Louis:

1934
Lee Rampage - No. 10

1935
Patsy Perroni - No. 6
Natie Brown - No. 10
Primo Carnera - No. 4
King Levinsky - No. 10
Max Baer - No. 1

1936
Charley Retzlaff - No. 4
Max Schmeling - No. 2 - LOSS
Jack Sharkey - No. 4
Al Ettore - No. 3
James Braddock - WORLD CHAMP
Tommy Farr - No. 3

1938
Nathan Mann - No. 3
Max Schmeling - No. 1

1939
John Henry Lewis - WORLD CHAMP LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT
Tony Galento - No. 3
Bob Pastor - No. 2

1940
Johnny Paychek - No. 5
Arturo Godoy (2) - No. 1

1941
Red Burman - No. 4
Buddy Baer - No. 5
Billy Conn - WORLD CHAMP LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT
Lou Nova - No. 1

1942
Buddy Baer - No. 4
Abe Simon - No. 6

1946
Billy Conn - No. 1
Tami Mauriello - No. 1

1947
Jersey Joe Walcott - No. 1

1948
Jersey Joe Walcott - No. 1

1950
Ezzard Charles - WORLD CHAMP - LOSS

1951
Lee Savold - No. 4
Cesar Brion - No. 8
Rocky Marciano - No. 3 - LOSS


Overall record vs. top 10 opposition: 30-3

[Robinson]

Not a bad run :) to say with a hint of understatement.

[granberry]

Thanks for that, KOKid.

Concerning the very ending:
___________________________________________________________________________
1950
Ezzard Charles - WORLD CHAMP - LOSS

1951
Lee Savold - No. 4
Cesar Brion - No. 8
Rocky Marciano - No. 3 - LOSS

Overall record vs. top 10 opposition: 30-3
__________________________________________________________________________

This ending would read very differently (it would not exist) if the IRS hadn't forced a retired Joe Louis to come back to feed their sick vendetta against him.
They hounded Louis to the very end of his life.

When Joe Louis' mother died, she left her son Joe Louis $900. The IRS took it.

[Brutu]

When was Jouis Louis ranked for the first time and with each fight up to winning the hw championship?

[-KOKid-]

Let's see...
Here are Louis movements in The Ring ratings (dated).

I'll leave it up to you to see which results moved him up/down.
Keep in mind though that fighters sometimes move up/down by default, i.e. if someone else on in the ratings wins/loses/retires.

December 10, 1934: No. 9 (debut)
January 12, 1935: No. 5
March 10, 1935: No. 3
July 7, 1935: No. 2
October 6, 1935: No. 1
July 11, 1936: No. 2

Challenges Champion James Braddock as the no. 2 rated challenger (Max Schmeling was of course no. 1)

Louis was unrated when he challenged Ezzard Charles in 1950, but enters the ratings again at no. 1 following his unsuccessful titleshot.

October 15, 1950: No. 1
August 6, 1951: No. 2
November 1, 1951: No. 3
December 1, 1951: No. 5
February 1, 1952: No. 6 (last appearence in Ring ratings)

[Brutu]

In Joe Louis's 1948 autobigraphy he says that before the fight ,
Joe Triner the chairman of the Illinois State Athletic Commision,
told Charley Retzlaff that if he did not give a good sincere fight,that he would not get paid.
That was due to the big stinker that King Levinsky gave the previous August.
Retzlaff was paid 9 thousand dollars which he used to pay off the morgage on his hay farm in North Dakota.
(Levinsky got 35,000 dollars for his fight)

[Brutu]

BTW the same book states that Charley Retzlaff had once been trained by Jack Blackburn for a couple of years and was in his corner
when he fought Art Laskey for the first time.
He told Louis before the fight that Retzlaff had become a better boxer since then.

[Brutu]

Charlie Retzlaff took on wrestler Abe Kashey in a boxer vrs wrestler bout in Minneapolis MN October.9.1934.
Kashey pinned Retzlaff in the fourth round and won.

[Brutu]

Joe Louis vs Charlie Retzlaff

When Louis catches Retzlaff on the ropes it looks EXACTLY like Louis-Schmeling II.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUl656wK ... re=related

see from 3:25 on

and in slow motion from 6:14 on.

Is it my imagination or does it look like that now all the fights on youtube look like they are running at a faster speed?
The last time that I remember watching this clip a few months ago,it looked to be in real time.
Or maybe its my computer.

[Goodnight, Irene]

It really is a near-perfect replica (or fore-runner) to the Louis-Schmeling II ropes-scenario. Surprising.

[barry]

Retzlaff was one of the hardest hitters in heavyweight history. A true knockout artist with crippling power who pound-for-pound could stand up to just about any heavyweight in history in terms of knockout power. He wasn't Earnie Shavers, bgut he wasn't too far off that kind of punching power!

Some other heavyweights from that era, who are mostly forgotten now, that could cripple an opponent are Lee Q. Murray, Curtis Sheppard, Tommy Gomez and Lem Franklin. Some scribes during the era stated that Franklin had more punching-power than Joe Louis and many felt that Franklin would one day be champion!

[BoxBuzz]

He had been rocked earlier so that is probably his excuse, but getting into that corner, and the nearly turning his back on Louis, was an absolute disaster of a decision on his part........Obviously.

Notice in slow motion how right before the first KD Louis changes up his weight on his feet as Retzlaff comes in, all this in nano seconds.....can that be taught? Or is that just something he had instinctively? Never mind I think I answered my own question....no way could that be instinctive. His trainer was a genius. And I don't know the history of his training, but Louis had to have had the best mentoring in boxing history. When you watch his moves they seem robotic, yet perfectly responsive, like a computer driven precision automobile welding robot. His style is nearly identical from event to event, especially in the early days. He was truly a force of nature. And you can sure tell he was not intimidated by Retzlaff's power in any way.

[BrocktonBlockbuster49]

Barry,

Thanks for the great insight on Franklin. Do you happen to have any scribes in your files about Franklin having more power than Louis. Would love to see it. Thanks.

[barry]

Yeah, I have many newspaper clips on Lem Franklin, as well as blurbs and articles that were in The Ring magazine during the time he boxed! He was highly-touted coming out of the amateurs. I'll search out the clippings that mention his punching-power!

[Caractacus]

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