Fight Talk

For three days, Joe Louis lay low in Harlem. Then the champ, smoked out by the New York Post's Columnist Jimmy Cannon, talked for three hours about the fight* without once mentioning the name of his opponent, Jersey Joe Walcott. "He did so many wrong things," said Joe, "I saw every opening, but I couldn't go get him. ... I couldn't do a lot of things." The trouble was, said Joe, he was dehydrated. "I killed myself taking off four pounds. But that ain't no excuse."

Two days later Joe Louis showed up at the opening of a new Negro nightclub. He was now a partner in a publicity outfit, and the nightclub was one of his clients. Already the owner of a soft drink called "Joe Louis Punch," the champ was thinking of going into the beer business too. What about the next fight? To a gathering of reporters, Louis announced that there would be one more bout in June, but that was all. "I had enough. I been around a long time." Joe said he'd like to fight either Joe Walcott or Light-Heavyweight Gus Lesnevich. Nobody took the remark seriously: it was obviously part of the maneuvering to scale down Walcott's terms for a return match. At least there'd be an anguished outcry if Joe Louis fought anyone but Walcott. A reporter asked Louis: did he have enough money to retire? "Yeah." Then, with a grin: "I can always go back to the Ford plant. I'm on leave of absence."

*Correctly described by Franklin P. Adams as "a 15-round bout at fisticuffs between Mr. Barrow and Mr. Cream."

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