On October 26, 1951, a 37-year-old Joe Louis (66-2, 52 KOs) and a 28-year-old Rocky Marciano (37-0, 32 KOs) met in the ring.
Louis came in to the fight on a 8-fight win streak with a 76% KO rate, and was fighting after a gap of 2 months and 11 days. Marciano was on a 37-fight win streak with a 86% KO rate, and fighting after a layoff of 1 month and 29 days.
Rocky Marciano stopped Joe Louis via TKO in the 8th round. Marciano improves his record to 38-0 (33 KOs), while Louis adds a loss to his record at 66-3.
On September 27, 1950, a 36-year-old Joe Louis (58-1, 49 KOs) got a shot at the heavyweight The Ring title held by 29-year-old Ezzard Charles (66-5-1, 37 KOs).
Louis came in to the fight on a 34-fight win streak with a 83% KO rate, and was fighting after a gap of 2 years, 3 months, and 2 days. Charles was on a 19-fight win streak with a 51% KO rate, and fighting after a layoff of 1 month and 12 days.
Ezzard Charles defeated Joe Louis via unanimous decision and wins the The Ring title — in his first world-title fight. Charles improves his record to 67-5-1, while Louis adds a loss to his record at 58-2.
On June 19, 1936, a 22-year-old Joe Louis (24-0, 20 KOs) and a 30-year-old German boxer Max Schmeling (48-7-4, 33 KOs) met in the ring.
Louis came in to the fight on a 24-fight win streak with a 83% KO rate, and was fighting after a gap of 5 months and 2 days. Schmeling was on a 3-fight win streak with a 55% KO rate, and fighting after a layoff of 11 months and 12 days.
Max Schmeling stopped Joe Louis via KO in the 12th round. Schmeling improves his record to 49-7-4 (34 KOs), while Louis adds a loss to his record at 24-1.