How fitting that Joe Louis, one of America’s greatest heroes, made his professional boxing debut on July 4, during one of the biggest holiday celebrations in the US, and it is such an significant date. Once upon a time, July 4 was also the day when the substantial fight would take place – think Jack Johnson, Jim Jeffries, Jack Dempsey, Jess Willard and others. And so it was on that great day in 1934 that 20-year-old Joseph Louis Barrow boxed for pay for the first time. The fight took place in Chicago, like many of Louis’ substantial fights.

Louis, trained by Jack Blackburn and mentored by John Roxborough and Julian Black, had established an amateur record of 50-4 (43) and was now ready to begin his march to the top. Usually, especially nowadays, a future star is quite poorly suited to make his professional debut (there are exceptions, of course: see Vasily Lomachenko and one or two other contemporary players). But Louis met a guy who had boxed about 48 times, winning 27 of those fights by KO.

But as it turned out, Jack Kracken, who was from Norway and fought in Washington, D.C., was smeared by the 181-pound “Brown Bomber.” Louis fired shots into the veteran’s body, forcing Kracken to lower his guard. Once he did, Louis unleashed a sweet left hook to the jaw that sent Kracken straight through the ropes and into the journalist. Bravely, perhaps on pure instinct, Kracken got up and returned to the ring with a 14 count (20 count). However, the referee saw enough and stopped the fight.

Louis’ debut lasted all of 2 minutes and he was indeed on his way to not only a world title, but true greatness. Over time, Louis became an almost undefeated champion, as well as a true fighting hero in every sense of the word. Legendary battles in the ring with Jimmy Braddock, Max Schmeling, Billy Conn, “Two Ton” Tony Galento, Jersey Joe Walcott and at the very end Rocky Marciano – all this awaited Louis. And for the whole world. Like a record (probably never broken) 25 world title defenses.

Louis may be the most beloved of all heavyweight world champions. How could we possibly cope with a man who today wore his crown with such grace and dignity.

Ecstatic independence day!

Yesterday was, if you know of course, the Fourth of July. Independence Day. An critical date in American history. And in the history of boxing. So, in an effort to both pay tribute and perhaps spark some passionate debate among fight fans, the Toe2Toe Sky Sports podcast asked boxing expert Gary Logan for his list of the top 5 American boxers of all time.

Hey, everyone loves lists, right? Especially a list like this. This particular task given to Logan was, of course, not an simple one. Could you create such a list without having to leave out one of your favorite players? As Logan himself said, “You can’t please everyone.”

No, you can not. But Logan gave him a chance – a pretty decent shot, you may agree (or not).

Here are the top five boxers in Logan history, in reverse order:

5: Floyd Mayweather

4: Marvelous Marvin Hagler

3: Sugar Ray Leonard

2: Muhammad Ali

1: Sugar Ray Robinson

Personally, I have no problem with Logan’s list. But what about you? Maybe you’re a huge Mike Tyson fan and you think “Iron Mike” should be somewhere in the top five. How about the incomparable Joe Louis if “The Brown Bomber” was among the absolute best American stars? How about “The Rock” by Rocky Marciano? And these are just heavyweights. Surely Henry Armstrong should be somewhere in the top five? And Ezzard Charles….. and you could/I could, we could go on. But which of Logan’s five picks should be elbowed to make way for Tyson, Louis, Marciano, Armstrong or Charles? You see what a complex task Logan faced.

Perhaps when making lists like these, the person placed in the “sizzling seat” should be given more space, perhaps in a room where the top 10 or maybe 20 can be displayed. Or maybe that would just make the task that much harder!

Logan’s top 5 is solid, with some clear and fairly obvious choices. But again, are you cheerful with it?