Joe Louis’ missing bouts

[dawudboxer]

In Joe Louis’ biography attached to his record it says the following

“Prior to his June 25, 1935, fight with Primo Carnera, Louis engaged in a series of six-round exhibitions, the results of which were:

1935-04-22 Louis (198) KO 1 Biff Bennett (200), Memorial Hall, Dayton, Ohio, United States

1935-04-25 Louis (200) KO 6 Roscoe Toles (193), IMA Auditorium, Flint, Michigan, United States

1935-05-03 Louis (199) KO 2 Willie Davies (193), Majestic Theatre, Peoria, Illinois, United States

1935-05-07 Louis (202) KO 3 Gene Stanton (215), Armory, Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States”

If this is the case then how come the Biff Bennett fight is on his record but the others arent’t? I think Joe was really 69-3 with 55 ko’s.

[wouter]

They really were exhibitions and the Biff Bennett bout should be taken out too.

[dawudboxer]

Or they should all be included. Boxrec used to have his record at 69-3

[jamamb]

exhbttons arent pro boxing matches are they? why would they be called exhibitions at all then?

[dawudboxer]

No but they were included before so why the change to exhibitions? Also if the Bennett fight is an exhibition why have they included it?

[wouter]

No but they were included before so why the change to exhibitions? Also if the Bennett fight is an exhibition why have they included it?

No, they were never included in his record here. The correct record should be 63-3 with the Bennett and Ketchell exhibitions and the Davis bout removed from his record.

[dawudboxer]

Nobody in history has claimed that Louis’ record is 63-3. Also, I’ve been coming on boxrec since it first started and at different times they have had his record at either 66-3, 68-3 or 69-3.

[DA1]

I wonder if you guys should just enlist a separate marker for exhibition bouts but have them included but indicated as such. But only so for pre-1970 fighters. Just for historic purposes.

Perhaps it only shows up for registered users to look through. Just an idea.

[Bob]

Not to further confuse the issue, but the Bennett, Toles, and Stanton fights were scheduled six-rounders, with Davies a scheduled "four-round no-decision" bout. Bennett and Stanton were labeled as exhibitions, but only in a very few papers...otherwise they were reported as being part of his overall record at the time. I could not find Toles listed as an exhibition anywhere, yet it obviously appears to be part of the same 'tour' of scheduled six-rounders leading up to the big June event.