Joshua v Paul makes Joe Louis’ ‘Bum of the Month’ look like the Rumble in the Jungle | Sean Ingle
Precisely 85 years ago, one of the most fearsome heavyweight boxers in history stunk out the joint.Joe Louis was in the midst of his “Bum of the Month club”: a staggering run of 13 world title defences in 29 months against an assortment of stiffs, wild men and colourful characters.And when he arrived in Boston on 16 December 1940, most believed that Al McCoy would rapidly become his next victim.Only it didn’t quite turn out that way.“McCoy was expected to crumple under the first punch Louis tossed in his direction,” the New York Times’ correspondent wrote.
“Instead, the wily New England veteran made Louis appear ludicrous at times.Adopting a crouching, bobbing, weaving style, McCoy was an elusive target for the paralysing fists of the titleholder.” After the messy contest was stopped at the end of the fifth, a storm of jeers rang out.Louis had won, but only his bank balance had been enhanced.Which brings us to the freak show taking place further along the eastern seaboard this Friday, when the former heavyweight champion and Olympic gold medallist Anthony Joshua faces the influencer turned boxer Jake Paul in Miami.
Let us be blunt: this fight makes Louis v McCoy look like the Rumble in the Jungle.Whatever happens, it will degrade Joshua’s reputation – and damage that of his sport.How can it not, given that Paul is a 13-fight novice, who has only boxed above the cruiserweight limit (14st 4lb) once and looked ploddy and mechanical in beating a 58-year-old Mike Tyson? While Joshua, for all he is on the slide, still has a sledgehammer right and a pedigree honed across 13 world title contests.Throw in the fact that Joshua is likely to come into the ring around three stone heavier, and it is staggering that any governing body would sanction it.If we believe the promises of Joshua, and his promoter Eddie Hearn, that the fight won’t be “managed” to take it easy on his opponent, the best we can hope for is that Paul does not get seriously hurt.
But really Joshua, as well as Netflix, should know better.And so should the sport.Because when it comes to boxing, there is an unspoken social contract at play.We know the risks.If anything, they are even starker given the recent research on the dangers of subconcussive impacts on the brain.
Yet those dangers are partly offset by the discipline and societal benefits boxing instils, especially in more disadvantaged areas.This fight rips that contract up into thousands of pieces.And then spits on it.Some will say that Paul should be lauded for bringing a new audience to boxing, not just with his trash-talking but by being a little out of the box.Perhaps.
But history teaches us that there really is nothing new under the sun.One of Louis’s opponents, “Two Ton” Tony Galento, who stood at just 5ft 8in but weighed well over 16 stone, fought a bear and a kangaroo to promote his fights, and told journalists that he was going to “moider the bum” before their meeting.All of which makes Paul’s antics look rather mild.“He was a saloon keeper, and from the looks of him, he must have had a drink with every customer,” wrote Louis, who was hurt in the first and put down in the third, before pummelling his opponent in the fourth.It probably didn’t help his performances that the married Louis was spending large parts of this period womanising.
“It was a bad period,I was going through something like what happens to an alcoholic when he falls off the wagon,” he later wrote in his autobiography,“I got drunk with all those beautiful, exciting women,”Another opponent, the Chilean Arturo Godoy, give Louis a full-throated kiss on the lips after their first fight was settled narrowly in the American’s favour,“It was my worstest fight ever,” Louis admitted in the ring afterwards.
“I ain’t never had no grown-up man kiss me on my mouth before.”And then there was Lou Nova, who claimed to have developed a secret weapon, a “cosmic punch” from his yoga trainer, before he fought Louis.Add in the fact that Nova was a vegetarian and, by 1941 standards, he was seriously out there.“I thought, what the hell is a cosmic punch and what the hell is yoga?” Louis said later.“When the press asked me, I told them I didn’t care about his cosmic punch; I was just going to give him my regular right over a left hook and knock him out.
I didn’t like all the mysterious shit he was talking about.”There is nothing mysterious about Friday’s fight, of course.Both Joshua and Paul have signed up because they will take home about £70m each.Netflix, meanwhile, believes it can top the 65 million concurrent streams it got for Paul v Tyson – a record – and further boost subscribers.The rest of us don’t have to play along.
The truth is that Paul would get nowhere near any of the 13 members of the Bum of the Month Club.And he should be nowhere near a ring with Joshua, either.Incidentally, Louis insisted that he didn’t care about the dismissive name given to his long line of victims – or the criticisms he received.“A friend of mine told me that Alexander the Great started crying when he had no more worlds to conquer,” he wrote.“I wasn’t gonna cry.
I had to make some money … but those guys I fought were not bums,”It is hard to argue with any of that, especially given that Louis also had the taxman chasing after him,What is Joshua’s excuse?Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here,
Alan Milburn launches major UK review into rising inactivity among young people
A major review into rising inactivity among Britain’s young people has been launched by the former health secretary Alan Milburn, with a promise not to shy away from “uncomfortable truths” or “radical” policy solutions.A panel of health, business and policy experts, including the former John Lewis boss Charlie Mayfield, ex-Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane and social welfare expert Dame Louise Casey, will help draw up recommendations.Milburn has also launched a call for evidence from young people and a wide range of experts to help shape the investigation, saying a “coalition of the concerned” must mobilise to save a generation not earning or learning.He is expected to examine the role of mental health issues and disability, after the number of 16- to 24-year-olds receiving health-related benefits soared, with more than a quarter of young people not in education, employment or training (Neet) now citing long-term sickness or disability.The risk of being Neet is more than double if you come from a disadvantaged background and have low qualifications
Officials fear NHS will be hit hard after resident doctors reject latest offer
Hospitals are cancelling tens of thousands of appointments and operations after resident doctors voted overwhelmingly to reject a last-ditch government offer to avoid this week’s strike.The health secretary, Wes Streeting, and the British Medical Association (BMA) are being urged to agree to see if an independent mediator can break the deadlock in the almost three-year-old pay and jobs dispute in England.NHS bosses are anxious about how hospital services will cope with what will be the 14th stoppage resident – formerly junior – doctors have staged since March 2023 when it is already struggling to cope with a fast-growing “flu-nami”. They have had to reschedule an estimated 38,500 outpatient appointments and treatments, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy for cancer.They also fear that consultant (senior) doctors will be too busy covering the work of their more junior colleagues during the strike to help hospitals undertake their traditional pre-Christmas clearout of patients who are well enough to leave, so they can give their beds to others who need to be admitted during the cold snap that usually causes problems during the festive season
The slow death of social housing – and its original purpose | Letters
Your editorial (The Guardian view on England’s social housing system: failing the very people it was built for, 10 December) claims that “social homes were supposed to be for those who couldn’t afford private rents”. That’s not so. Most council estates, such as Becontree and Harold Hill, were built following the first and second world wars to house ordinary working families when decent housing was in dire straits. Privately rented properties were often of poor quality and devoid of basic amenities.The governments then believed it imperative to house ordinary families in good-quality modern housing
Children need mental health care provided by humans, not chatbots | Letter
It is absolutely right that children “need a human, not a bot” for mental health support (‘I feel it’s a friend’: quarter of teenagers turn to AI chatbots for mental health support, 9 December). Overuse of AI for mental health support could well lead to the next public health emergency if the government does not take urgent action.We shouldn’t be surprised that teenagers are turning to tools such as ChatGPT in this way. NHS waiting lists are rising, and one in five young people are living with a mental health condition. It is unacceptable that young people who require support for their mental health are unable to access the services they need, before they reach crisis point
Resident doctors in England vote to go ahead with strike
Resident doctors in England will strike as planned this week after they voted to reject the government’s latest offer to end the long-running pay and jobs dispute.Resident doctors – formerly called junior doctors – will strike for five days starting on Wednesday after refusing to accept the deal in a survey by their union, the British Medical Association.The health secretary, Wes Streeting, had proposed the deal last week. It would have increased the number of training places to enable early-career doctors to start training in their chosen medical speciality but not increased their pay for the current financial year.Resident doctors overwhelmingly rejected the offer, by 83% to 17% on a 65% turnout
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