In so doing, Joe Louis called a halt to a heavyweight reign that remains unequaled in its number of consecutive defenses: 25 (or 26 if one includes a quasi-exhibition in 1944), over a span of 11 ...

"What my father did was enable white America to think of him as an American, not as a black," said his son, Joe Louis Jr. "By winning, he became white America's first black hero." Louis was ...