The Joe Louis Trophy

[Thomas Hearns]

December 20th 1973



Top Rank is proud to announce the creation of a new shootout tournament competition: "The Joe Louis Tournament"

The annual tournament will feature 16 of the worldÂ’s top fighters competing in two weight classes on 7 fight nights between January and December at top venues around the world for season one prize money of USD 20 million.

Bob Arum said:
"All other major sports have successful annual championships and it is time for boxing to have the same too the be and all competing for a prize named after one of the greatest of them all"

Jabir Herbert Muhammad said:

"This is a new and exciting approch to the sport of boxing, very soon we will anounce the divisions and the fighters involved on the tournament.But I can tell you that it will be a star-filled roster"

[zyberianwarrior]

nice keep it going

[Thomas Hearns]

December 23rd 1973


On a short press round Bob Arum said that the two divisions involved on the tournament will be : Heavyweights and Middleweights.
The rosters, seeds, match ups and venues will be announced on a big event on the forum the Inglewood at 6:00 pm of the last day of the year.

[Thomas Hearns]

January 1st 1974


Yesterday on the night on a very big event at the Forum of Inglewood with former world champion and all time great Joe Louis in attendance the official presentation of the "Joe Louis Trophy was made"

Here are the rosters:

Middleweights

#1 Carlos Monzon 81-3-9 (55) WBA & WBC MW champ.
#2 Tony Mundine 43-2-1 (38)
#3 Rodrigo Valdez 49-4-2 (33)
#4 Koichi Wajima 28-2-1 (24) Current unified JMW champ
Jean Claude Boutier 62-5-1 (41)
Tony Licata 38-0-3 (18)
Bennie Briscoe 48-12-1 (41)
Emile Griffith 77-15-1 (21) former WW champ.

Heavyweights

#1 George Foreman 39-0-0 (36) WBA & WBC HW champ
#2 Muhammad Ali 43-2-0 (31) former unified champion
#3 Joe Frazier 30-1-0 (25) former unified champ
#4 Ken Norton 30-2-0 (23)
Earnie Shavers 45-3-0 (44)
Oscar Bonavena 51-8-1 (40)
Ron Lyle 26-1-1 (19)
Jerry Quarry 48-6-4 (29)

Coming up....match ups, dates and venues.

[hamed2]

Hearns, so all those records of the fighters listed, you simmed all those fights?

[Thomas Hearns]

The match up.

Middleweights:

#1 Carlos Monzon selected young prosepect Tony LIcata as his rival, his long time trainer Amilcar Bruza thinks that Licata is still green and untested and that Carlos will overcame him easily.
#2 Tony Mundine selected Emile Griffith as his rival, the former welterweight champion is great but at 36 we don't now how much fuel he has in the tank.
#3 Rocky Valdez selected frenchman Jean Claude Boutier on a very intriguing match up.
So finally current jmw champion #4 Koichi Wajima will face Bennie Briscoe on a fight that promises big fireworks.

Heavyweights:

World champion #1 George Foreman selected argentine Oscar Bonavena as his first rival.
#2 Muhammad Ali told all of us his selection with a short rhyme: "I will fight this unknown man Ron Lyle and I will put him to sleep on the five".
#3 Joe Frazier will face Jerry Quarry in was it expected to be a ring war.
Finally the face of #4 Ken Norton doesn't show hapiness when he finds out that hard hitter Earnie Shavers will be his rival.

Dates and Venues

February 15th
Nippon Budokan, Japan

George Foreman vs Oscar Bonavena
15 rounds. WBA & WBC HW Title

Koichi Wajima vs Bennie Briscoe
12 Rounds

February 22nd
Convention Center, Las Vegas

Muhammad Ali vs Ron Lyle
12 Rounds

Tony Mundine Vs Emile Griffith
12 Rounds

March 1st
Madison Square Garden, New York

Joe Frazier vs Jerry Quarry
12 Rounds

Ken Norton vs Ernie Shavers
12 Rounds

March 8th
Stade Roland Garros, Paris

Carlos Monzon Vs Tony Licata
15 Rounds WBA & WBC MW Title

Rodrigo Valdez Vs Jean Claude Boutier
12 Rounds

[Thomas Hearns]

Originally Posted by hamed2

Hearns, so all those records of the fighters listed, you simmed all those fights?

Hi, these are real records of the fighters at the end of 1973.

[hamed2]

Originally Posted by Thomas Hearns

Hi, these are real records of the fighters at the end of 1973.

OK I got you - was thinking that's a lot of fights to sim!

[Thomas Hearns]

Febrauary 16th 1974


Foreman destroyed Bonavena!

On the kick off night of the JLT, unified heavyweight champion George Foreman 40-0-0 (37) scored a TKO2 vicotry against argentine Oscar Bonavena 51-9-1 (40) and easily retained his titles.
The first round was wild. Bonavena connected a huge right early on the fight and Foreman answered with a pair of bombs, but Bonavena stayed on the pocket and the action was great. The argentine fighter edged this first round. On the second round a big hook by George staggered Bonavena, then Foreman connected an uppercut and a huge left and Bonavena looked ready to go. Foreman continued merciless and after some more unanswered punches the referee stopped the fight.
Foreman advanced to the semifinals of the JLT and he will fight the winner of the Ken Norton vs Earnie Shavers fight.

Briscoe dropped and dominated Wajima!

Middleweight contender Bennie Briscoe 49-12-1 (41) dropped current JMW champion Koichi Wajima 28-3-1 (24) five times on his way to a very confortable UD12 win on an action packed fight.
The key of this fight was Briscoe's iron chin that could held off Wajima's bombs on the other hand the japanese champion couldn't deal with Briscoe's power.
Briscoe dropped Wajima with a big uppercut on the first round and a second time with a big hook but Wajima survived the round.
On the second round Briscoe dropped Wajima again with a hard combination.
On the third round the japanese started to connect some good blows to make the fight more even.
Wajima rebounded on rounds four and five ountlanding Briscoe and connecting some huge punches.
Briscoe regained control on the sixth round and hurt and dropped Wajima on the seventh round.
On the eight round Wajima connected some good punches and went for the kill but Briscoe caught him with a body shot and dropped the Japanese for the fifth time.
On the ninth Briscoe attemped to finish the fight throwing a lot of punches which allowed him to dominate the round but he also get a bit winded.
On rounds tenth and eleventh the action slowed and the fight was more even.
On the last round Briscoe looked very tired and Wajima put his last effort to win the round.
The scorecards were 117-106 (x3) for Briscoe that now will giht the winner of Carlos Monzon Vs Tony Licata on the semifinals.

[JCWeb]

Thomas,

Glad to see you back and posting results on this site, hoping others may follow since it was getting a bit lonely for awhile ...

[Thomas Hearns]

Originally Posted by JCWeb

Thomas,

Glad to see you back and posting results on this site, hoping others may follow since it was getting a bit lonely for awhile ...

Thanks for the welcome, mate!

[Thomas Hearns]

February 23rd 1974


Muhammad Ali dominated Ron Lyle!

Putting on a great performance former world champion Muhammad Ali 44-2-0 (31) socred a nearly shoot-out UD12 win against Ron Lyle 26-2-1 (19).
For the first two rounds Lyle took the fight to Ali backing him to the ropes, Muhammad clinched and countered well from the ropes and the action was even.
By rounds three and four Ali started to take the total control of the fight.
On the fifth round Ali tried hard to fulfill his prediction but Lyle survived.
On the sixth round Ali dropped Lyle with a flushing right cross. Lyle got up and another big cross by Ali nearly ended the fight but Lyle survived the storm.
On rounds from seven to eleven Ali outboxed Lyle moving landing his jab and clinching when Lyle reached the short distance.
When the bell rang for the last round Ali pointed to Lyle with his hand and the he pointed the floor and went for the kill. Near the end of the round Ali dropped Lyle with an unexpected body blow, Lyle got up in pain but the final bell saved him.
The socrecards were 120-107, 120-106 and 119-107 for Ali that advanced to the semfinals of the JLT waiting for the winner of Joe Frazier Vs Jerry Quarry.

Griffith schooled Mundine!

Old master and former welterweight and middleweigth champion Emile Griffith 78-15-1 (21) scored a very convincing victory against hard hitter Tony Mundine 43-3-1 (38).
The fight started with Mundine landing the best shots on the first round.
On rounds from two to four Griffith forze the pace of the fight and the action was even and boring with a little edge for the veteran former champ.
On the fifth round Griffith gave Mundine a free boxing lesson, dancing around him and connecting at his will.
On the sixth stanza Mundine returned to the fight connecting a pair of hard combinations.
The seventh round was very competitive and action filled, Mundine connected the harder punches but Griffith connected more often.
On the eighth round Mundine's power dictated the rules but Griffith still landed a pair of good counters.
On the ninth round again Griffith boxed nicely totally dominating the actions.
On the last three rounds the action slowed dramatically but with the american veteran edging all this rounds.
The socrecards were 117-111 (x2) and 116-112 for Griffith that now will wait for the winner of the Rocky Valdez vs Jean Clauder Bouttier clash.

[Thomas Hearns]

March 2nd 1974

Frazier stopped Quarry!

Former world champion Joe Frazier 31-1-0 (26) scored a KO10 victory against Jerry Quarry 48-7-4 (29) on an action packed fight.
On the first two rounds the fight was a real war with both fighters landing big shots from the short distance. On this two rounds Quarry have a little edge.
On the third round Quarry was dominating again but Frazier connected a big counterpunch that dropped the irishman for a seven count.
On the fourth round Frazier gave Quarry a real beating and on the following stanza he dropped Jerry for the second time on the fight.Quarry got up and hardly survived the round.
On the sixth round Frazier looked a bit winded and with great heart Quarry took the fight to him to win the round.
Frazier regained control on rounds seven and eight and he dropped Quarry again on the ninth round with a right cross. Quarry got up for the third time but the end was matter of time.
On the following round Frazier dropped Quarry two more times, the last for good with a left hook. At the time of the stoppage the scorecards were 87-81 (x3) for Frazier.
Now Frazier will face Muhammad Ali on the highly expected rematch of their 1971 "Fight of the Century"

Shavers froze Norton!

On a sort of upset KO artist Earnie Shavers 46-3-0 (45) scored a coming from behind KO10 victory against #4 Ken Norton 30-3-0 (23) on the biggest win of his career.
On the first two rounds Norton outlanded Shavers that was looking to connect a big KO punch.
On the third round a vicious hook by Norton dropped Shavers and after he got up Norton hurt him again with a crushing right but the bell saved Earnie.
On the first half of the fourth round Norton still controlled the actions, but on the last minute Shavers connected a pair of big hooks and a straight right that caught Norton's atention.
On the fifth round Shavers didn't land anything and Norton controlled the actions from the outside.
Early on the sixth round Shavers connected a straight right that wobbled Norton. Shavers also landed a pair more of big rights and a left hook but couldn't finish Norton.
On the seventh round Norton hurt Shavers with an uppercut and then conitinued punishing the tired Earnie for the rest of the round.
Round eighth had back and forth action with Shavers landing the better punches.
The ninth round was all for Norton but on the last seconds Shavers hurt Kenny with a big cross to the head.
On the tenth stanza Shavers hurt Norton with a big cross followed by a hook and this time didn´t let Ken scape. He connected a series of unanswered punches and finally a mourderous cross to the chin that put Norton to sleep for the ten count.
At the time of the stoppage the scorecards were 87-82 (x2) and 89-90 for Norton.
Now Shavers will fight for the unified heavyweight title against George Foreman on a KO-artists duel.

[Thomas Hearns]

March 9th 1974


Monzon dominated and stopped Licata!

WBC and WBA middleweight champion Carlos Monzon 82-3-9 (56) scored a TKO10 win against a still green Tony Licata 38-1-3 (18).
Licata attacked from the start of the fight but Monzon caught him with a body shot and dropped him for a five count.
On the second round again another body shot by Monzon landed and Licata took a knee and waited the eight count. For the rest of the round Monzon continued punishing Licata's body.
On the third round Licata downed his guard and Monzon dropped him with a left-right combination to the head.
On rounds from four to six Monzon controlled the actions from the outside using his long reach, Licata was game on this period.
On rounds seventh and eighth Monzon accelerated the pace and punished the american with crosses and some uppercuts.
The ninth round was the best of Licata in the fight but near the end of it Monzon connected a big straight right that almost dropped Tony again.
On the tenth round Monzon dropped Licata with another straight right and when he got up the champion punished Licata until the referee stopped the fight.
At that time the scorecards were 90-78 (x3) for Monzon.
Now Monzon will face Bennie Briscoe on the semifinals of the JLT.

Valdez stopped Bouttier!

Rodrigo "Rocky" Valdez 50-4-2 (34) scored a KO7 victory against frenchman Jean Claude Bouttier 62-6-1 (41) in what was an even fight until then.
On the first round Valdez controlled the actions with the highlight of a big right that shook Bouttier.
The second round was very even with Bouttier boxing nicely and Valdez connecting a pair of hard blows.
On the third round Valdez connected another big right but Bouttier outboxed him for most of the stanza.
On the fourth round Valdez connected a big uppercut followed by a straight right and really hurt Bouttier. Valdez went for the kill but the frenchman survived.
The fifth round had close action, Bouttier landed his best punch of the fight, a big uppercut that seemed to hurt Valdez for the first time on the bout.
The sixth round had good and even back and forth action perhaps with Valdez edging the round.
On the seventh round Bouttier was controlling the actions when Valdez caught him with a left-right combination to the head and put him to sleep for the ten count.
At the time of the stoppage the scorecards were 60-56 for Valdez, 59-57 for Bouttier and 58-58.
Now Valdez advanced to the semifinals and will fight against Emile Griffith.

[Thomas Hearns]

On a press round Bob Arum announced the dates and venues of the tournament's semifianals and he also said that there will be a second season of the JLT on 1975 and the weleterweight division will be involved in it.
The speculations said that the other division involved could be one of these three: lightweights, junior welterweights or light heavyweights.


The Semifinals

June 10th 1974
El Poliedro, Caracas, Venezuela

George Foreman Vs Earnie Shavers
15 Rounds. WBC & WBA Heavyweight title

Rodrigo Valdez vs Emile Griffith
12 Rounds

June 17th 1974
Madison Square Garden, Nueva York, USA

Muhammad Ali Vs Joe Frazier
12 Rounds

Carlos Monzon Vs Bennie Briscoe
15 Rounds. WBA & WBC Middleweight Title

[Thomas Hearns]

June 11th 2019


Foreman stopped Shavers!

WBA and WBC Heavyweight champion George Foreman 41-0-0 (38) scored a TKO5 victory against Earnie Shavers 46-4-0 (45) and advanced to the finals of the JLT.
On the first round Shavers shook Foreman early with a pair of bombs, Foreman answered the fire but Shavers closed better to win the round.
On the second round both punchers traded hard blows with a lilttle edge for Shavers.
On the third round the action was again brutal and back and forth but Foreman started to dominate the actions.
On the fourth round Foreman hurt Shavers with a hard right follwed by a hook, Shavers retereat to the ropes and covered up and Foreman punished him for the rest of the round.
On the fifth round Foreman went for the kill and dropped Shavers with a barrage of punches. Earnie got up but Foreman dropped him again with a vicious cross. Shavers got up on wobbly legs and the referee stopped the actions. At the time of the stoppage the scorecards were 38-38 (x2) and 39-37 for Shavers.
Now George Foreman will wait for the winner of the highly expected rematch between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.

Valdez got injured and Griffith is finalist!

Rodrigo Valdez 50-5-2 (34) injured his hand on the last round of his fight against Emile Griffith 79-15-1 (22) and was unable to continue allowing Griffith to win the fight and advance to the JLT finals.
At the time of the stoppage the fight was very close.
Valdez edged the first two rounds against a defensive Griffith that connected some good coutrer attacks.
On rounds three and four Griffith outlanded Valdez to win both stanzas.
On the fifth round Griffith landed nothing so it was Valdez round.
But on the sixth round Grifftih was in control again. So after half of the fight it was deadly even.
On rounds from seven to nine Valdez seemed to take control of the fight, outworking and outlanding a tired Griffith.
But on rounds tenth and eleventh the old master came back doing just the neccesary to win both stanzas.
Early on the last round Valdez landed a bad punch on Griffith's forehead and hurt his hand and wasn't able to continue fighting. At the time of the stoppage all the scorecards were 105-104 for Valdez.
Now Griffith will fight against the winner of the fight between middleweight champion Carlos Monazon and Bennie Briscoe.

[Thomas Hearns]

June 18th 1974


Ali scored dramatic coming from behind KO!

Former champion Muhammad Ali 45-2-0 (32) went to the hell and cameback to score a KO11 victory against his nemesis and fellow former champion Joe Frazier 31-2-0 (26).
On the first round Frazier took the fight to Ali and outlanded him to win the round.
Ali controlled most of the second round but Frazier reacted on the last thirty seconds.
The third round was dominated by Ali's speed, his jab and his right cross.
Ali controlled the first half of the fourth round but on the second half Frazier conected him with a straight right and a pair of big left hooks to win the stanza.
On the fifth round Ali boxed niceley from the outside and connected a big cross to Frazier head. At this time the fight was very even.
Frazier hurt Ali with a hard cross early on the sixth round and then continued dominating for the rest of the stanza.
Frazier continued commanding the actions on rounds seven and eight clearly outworking Muhammad. At the end of the eighth round Ali's right eye was almost closed.
On the ninth round the action was brutal with both fighters landing big blows on even terms. Ali used his speed to score with combinations and Frazier used the uppercut as his main weapon.
On the tenth round both fighters again traded big blows but Ali looked tired and Frazier dominated most of the actions.
Early on the eleventh round Frazier connected a big cross and went for it but Ali caught him with a big hook to the jaw and came to life. Ali connected a left-right combination and again scored with a big hook. Frazier retreated and Ali connected a big straight right to his head. Another big right and Frazier stumbled backwards, another combination by Ali and Frazier looked ready to go and Ali didn't let him scape, Muhammad connected a perfect right to Frazier's chin and dropped him for the ten count.
At the time of the stoppage all three scorecards were 97-93 for Frazier.
Now Ali advanced to the tournament finals in which he will face Goerge Foreman with the unified heavyweight title on the line.

Briscoe stopped Monzon on a huge upset!

Bennie Briscoe 50-12-1 (42) scored a TKO4 victory against Carlos Monzon 82-4-9 (56) to win the WBA and WBC middleweight titles.
Monzon started fast giving Briscoe a real beating on the first round. The argentine snapped Briscoe's head with a pair of uppercuts and connected him with hooks.
On the second round Monzon continued in control for most of the round but on the last seconds Briscoe connected a big right to his head on his only meanful punch of the round.
On the third round Monzon connected Briscoe with several hard combinations from the outside, Briscoe landed a big uppercut but not enough to turn the round on his favor.
Early on the fourth Monzon failed with a straight right and Briscoe connected him with a body shot and dropped the champion.
Monzon got up but Briscoe connected him with two consecutive hooks, Monzon retreated to the ropes but Briscoe followed him and landed a pair more of big hooks to the head and the referee stopped the actions.
At the time of the stoppage the scorecards were 30-27 (x3) for Monzon.
Now the champion Bennie Briscoe will fight against Emile Griffith on a very unexpected tournament final.

[Thomas Hearns]

July 1st 1974

The JLT organization announced the date and the venue of the first ever tournament finals, and they also said that the two divisions involved on season two will be: Welterweights and Junior Welterweights.

September 30th 1974
Stade du 20 Mai, Kinshasa, Zaire

George Foreman vs Muhammad Ali
15 rounds WBA & WBC Heavyweight title, Joe Louis Trophee

Bennie Briscoe vs Emile Griffith
15 rounds WBA & WBC Middleweight title, Joe Louis Trophee

[Thomas Hearns]

September 22nd 1974

Ali bumaye, the greatest is back!

Muhammad Ali 46-2-0 (32) scored a spectacular comeback UD15 victory against previosuly undefeated and fearsome champion George Foreman 41-1-0 (38) to regain the unified heavyweight title and to win the first edition of the Joe Louis Trophy.
On the first two rounds the action was even, Ali boxed from the outside and used his speed and Foreman connected a few of his trademark bombs.
On the third round there were more action with Foreman cornering Ali on the ropes and controlling the actions, but Ali also connected some good counterpunches.
The fourth round was all for Ali that punished Foreman from the outside and also hurt him with a body shot.
On the fifth Foreman connected with some hard hooks to a stationary Ali.
So after a third of the fight it was very even with a little edge for Foreman.
On the sixth round Foreman connected Ali with a hard cross and followed it with a straight right. Foreman continued on the atack and landed a pair of big hooks, only Ali's granitic chin could support this sort of punishment.
On the following round Foreman mantained the momentum and the fight seemed to go to his way.
Foreman looked tired on the eighth round and Ali won this round connecting the only meanful punches but George reacted on the following round.
At this moment of the fight Foreman was well ahead on the scorecards.
But on the tenth round the fight started to change, a rejuveneted Ali started to dominate the actions against a very tired Foreman, Ali also totally controlled the following round.Both rounds were onesided for Ali
On rounds twelve and thirteen Foreman attemped to attack and connected some punches but he didn't look strong now, Ali continued in command scoring with crosses and hooks.
On the fourteenth round Ali connected a straight right and Foreman hesitate, Ali connected another big straight right and with a perfect uppercut to the chin he dropped George Foreman!.
At the count of nine Foreman hardly got up and Ali went for the kill but the bell saved George.
On the last round Foreman slowly chased Ali that circled him and punished George from the outside. At the time of the final bell Ali raised his arms to the heaven and Foreman walk to his corner with his left eye almost closed.
The scorecards were 144-140, 144-140 and 143-141 for the winner of the Joe Louis Trophy and new heavyweight champion of the world Muhammad Ali!.



Coming up....the middleweight final. Briscoe vs Griffith

[Thomas Hearns]

September 22nd 1974

Griffith scored emotional victory to regain MW title!

Thirty six year old former welterweight and middleweight champion Emile Griffith 80-15-1 (22) scored a close but deserved UD15 win against, now former, champion Bennie Briscoe 50-13-1 (42) to win the Joe Louis Trophee and the unified middleweght crown.
After a close first round, Briscoe dominated the actions on the second one with the highlight of a big uppercut that shook Griffith. On the third round Griffith boxed nicely frutrating Brisoce's attacks.
On the fourth round Briscoe hurt Griffith with a hard hook and then continued dominating the actions against a defensive Griffith.
The fifth round was slow and even with a little edge for Griffith.
On the sixth round Griffith totally outboxed and outlanded Briscoe on his best round of the fight. Emile also edge a boring seventh round and again gave Briscoe a boxing lesson on the eighth one.
The ninth started with Griffith in command until Briscoe landed a big cross that made Griffith stumbling backwards, Briscoe also connected a big uppercut, Griffith got on the bike for the rest of the round but Briscoe caught him with another big uppercut near the end of the round.
On the following two rounds it was obvious that the momentum had changed to Briscoe's side. Bennie reached the short distance and punished Griffith with short hooks and uppercuts.
The twelfth round was close and the referee deducted a point to Briscoe for using his head as a third fist.
Griffith landed more than Briscoe on an actionless thirteenth round.
Briscoe put his last energy on the fourteenth round in which he punished Griffith with the highlight of a big straight right.
On the last round both fighters were tired and fought on even terms.
After the final bell both fighters celebrated and the waitng for the scorecards was tense.
Two judges saw it 143-141 and the other 145-140 all in favor of the winner and new middleweight champion Emile Griffith!