Joshua v Paul makes Joe Louis’ ‘Bum of the Month’ look like the Rumble in the Jungle | Boxing

P.Precisely 85 years ago, one of the most formidable heavyweight boxers in history developed bad breath. Joe Louis was in the middle of his “Bum Club of the Month”: a staggering run of 13 world title defenses in 29 months against an assortment of stiffs, wild men and colorful characters. And when he arrived in Boston on December 16, 1940, most thought Al McCoy would quickly become his next victim. Only, it didn’t really happen that way.

“McCoy was expected to collapse under the first punch Louis threw,” the New York Times correspondent wrote. “Instead, the wily New England veteran made Louis look ridiculous at times. Adopting a crouching, hopping, weaving style, McCoy was an elusive target for the defending champion’s paralyzing fists.” After the messy contest was stopped late in the fifth, a storm of jeers erupted. Louis had won, but only his bank balance had improved.

Which brings us to the freak show unfolding further down the east coast this Friday, when former heavyweight champion and Olympic gold medalist Anthony Joshua takes on influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul in Miami. Let’s be honest: this fight makes Louis vs. McCoy look like the Rumble in the Jungle. Whatever happens, it will damage Joshua’s reputation – and that of his sport.

How could it not be otherwise, given that Paul is a 13-fight novice, who has only boxed above the cruising weight limit once (14st 4lbs) and looked plodding and mechanical in beating 58-year-old Mike Tyson? While Joshua, for all that he is on the slide, still has mass entitlement and a pedigree honed over 13 world title contests.

Add to that the fact that Joshua is likely to enter the ring around three stone heavier, and it’s staggering that any governing body would approve it.

If we are to believe promises from Joshua, and his promoter Eddie Hearn, that the fight will not be “managed” to spare his opponent, the best we can hope for is that Paul is not seriously injured.

But in reality, Joshua, as well as Netflix, should know better. And sport too.

Because when it comes to boxing, there is an unspoken social contract at stake. We know the risks. If anything, they are even more striking given recent research into the dangers of subconcussive impacts on the brain. Yet these dangers are partly offset by the discipline and societal benefits that boxing brings, particularly in more deprived areas.

This fight tears this contract into thousands of pieces. And then spit on it.

Some will say that Paul should be commended for bringing a new audience to boxing, not only with his trash talk, but also by thinking a little outside the box. Maybe. But history teaches us that there is really nothing new under the sun.

One of Louis’ opponents, ‘Two Ton’ Tony Galento, who was just 5ft 10in but weighed well over 16 stone, fought a bear and a kangaroo to promote his fights, and told reporters he was going to ‘wet his bum’ before their meeting. This all makes Paul’s antics seem rather tame.

“He was a saloon keeper, and from the looks of it he had to have a drink with every customer,” wrote Louis, who was wounded in the first and shot in the third, before hitting his opponent in the fourth. The fact that married Louis spent much of this period womanizing probably didn’t help his performance. “It was a bad time. I was experiencing something like what happens to an alcoholic when he falls off the wagon,” he later wrote in his autobiography. “I got drunk on all these beautiful and exciting women.”

Another opponent, Chilean Arturo Godoy, gave Louis a full-throated kiss on the lips after their first fight narrowly ended in the American’s favor. “That was my worst fight ever,” Louis later admitted in the ring. “I’ve never had a grown man kiss me on the mouth before.”

And then there was Lou Nova, who claimed to have developed a secret weapon, a “cosmic punch” from his yoga teacher, before fighting Louis. Add to that the fact that Nova was a vegetarian and, by 1941 standards, he was serious.

“I asked myself: what is a cosmic punch and what is yoga?” Louis said later. “When the press asked me about it, I told them I didn’t care about his cosmic punch; I was just going to give him my usual right on a left hook and knock him out. I didn’t like all this mystery bullshit he was talking about.”

There is, of course, nothing mysterious about Friday’s fight. Joshua and Paul have both entered as they will each take home around £70million. Netflix, for its part, believes it can surpass the 65 million simultaneous streams obtained for Paul vs. Tyson – a record – and further increase the number of subscribers.

The rest of us don’t have to play along. The truth is, Paul wouldn’t go near any of the 13 members of the Bum of the Month Club. And he shouldn’t be anywhere near a ring with Joshua either.

By the way, Louis insisted he didn’t care about the dismissive name given to his long line of victims – or the criticism he received. “A friend of mine told me that Alexander the Great began to cry when he had no more worlds to conquer,” he writes. “I wasn’t going to cry. I had to make money…but the guys I fought with weren’t bums.”

It is difficult to dispute all this, especially since Louis was also pursued by the tax authorities. What is Joshua’s excuse?

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