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Joe Louis, Tommy Hearns, Claressa Shields: Detroit's boxing powerhouse
Claressa Shields will return to the ring to defend her undisputed heavyweight titles against Lani Daniels at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Saturday night.
Since the early 20th century, Detroit has been a boxing powerhouse, thanks in part to the Kronk Gym, which Hall of Fame trainer Emmanuel Steward made so famous.
The gym closed its doors in Detroit in 2006, but it has recently been announced that it will finally reopen in the historic Brewster Wheeler Recreation Centre this year.
In honour of this news and Claressa Shields helping to bring big-time boxing back to the Motor City, here’s a look back at some of the icons of boxing in Detroit.
Joe Louis
Joe Louis holds the record as the longest reigning heavyweight champion of all time – reigning for nearly twelve years from 1937 to 1949 and defending his title 25 times.
Born in rural Alabama in 1914, Louis moved to Detroit when he was 12 with his family and took up boxing at the Brewster Wheeler recreation centre, which he hid from his mother.
After a short amateur stint, during which he won multiple Golden Gloves titles, Louis quit his job and turned professional at 20 years old.
Within 12 months of his professional debut, Louis had knocked out Primo Carnera, the pride of Italian fight fans and a former heavyweight champion , in front of 60,000 fans.
He continued unbeaten until he faced the German Max Schmeling, who knocked Louis out in the 12th round in the 1936 Ring Magazine fight of the year. Allsport UK/ALLSPORT
Louis began his reign as heavyweight champion when he beat Jim Braddock by knockout in 1937, which set up a huge rematch against Schmeling in 1938.
The fight carried heavy political implications as the storm of war was brewing, and Louis’ sensational first-round knockout made him a national hero.
After beating another heavyweight great, Jersey Joe Walcott, twice, Louis retired in 1949, but financial trouble forced him back into the ring, where he lost to Ezzard Charles in 1950.
Louis picked up a further eight wins before losing to Rocky Marciano in 1951 and retiring for good.
He will be remembered as an icon of the sport, representing not just boxing but his nation on the global stage.
Thomas Hearns
Tommy ‘The Hitman’ Hearns, also affectionately labelled as the ‘Motor City Cobra’, moved to Detroit when he was five years old.
Curating an amateur record of 155-8, the freakishly tall Hearns won a handful of amateur titles before turning professional under the tutelage of Emanuel Steward at the Kronk Gym.
As a professional, Hearns was one of the most dangerous punchers in the sport, knocking out his first 17 opponents.
Hearns became the WBA welterweight champion in 1980, beating Hall of Famer Pipino Cuevas with a devastating second-round knockout.
Now 32-0, Hearns fought Sugar Ray Leonard to unify the welterweight division, but fell short, losing via stoppage in the 14th round while he was ahead on all the scorecards in the 1981 fight of the year.
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Holly Stein /Allsport
A foray into the super welterweight division was next for Hearns, who challenged legend and three-time champion Wilfred Benitez for his WBC title, winning a majority decision to add another Hall of Famer to his list of triumphs.
Perhaps Hearn’s best win and best example of his destructive power was against Roberto Duran in 1984, when he became the first man to knock out the Panamanian. He did so with the iconic double jab to the body, followed up by a detonating right hand which flattened Duran.
Hearn’s unlikely frame for a man of his weight allowed him to journey through the weight classes with ease, and he next took on one of the most dangerous fighters in the sport - Marvin Hagler.
The first round of their contest for Hagler’s undisputed middleweight titles will be remembered as one of the best rounds in boxing history, with the pair throwing caution to the wind and exchanging leather viciously.
This continued until the third round but after Hearns had broken his right hand, Hagler knocked him out to retain his titles.
Hearns would finish his career as a five-weight world champion with a record of 61-5-1 (48), having taken on the very best his generation could offer and famously became part of the ‘Four Kings’ of the 1980s. This also included Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran.
Emanuel Steward
Emanuel Steward will be remembered as one of the best boxing coaches of all time. He is an International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee and trained 41 world champions throughout his career.
In the 1970s, Detroit was an impressive hub of amateur boxers, but Steward helped turn it into a powerhouse in both the amateur and professional game.
Born in West Virginia in 1944, Steward and his mother moved to Detroit when he was 12 years old.
Steward initially got into boxing as a fighter, compiling an impressive amateur record of 94-3, including a national title.
He wanted to turn professional, but when he could not find the right manager and his half-brother James asked to learn how to box, he took a part-time position as a coach at the Kronk Gym in 1971 and shortly after became the head of their boxing program.
After growing an impressive stable of amateur fighters, known as the most formidable gym in the country, it was only a matter of time before Steward produced his first world champion.
In March 1980, Hilmer Kenty took the honour of becoming Steward’s first world champion when he knocked out Ernest Espana to become the WBA lightweight champion.
He was followed shortly by Steward’s most famous pupil, Tommy Hearns, who became welterweight champion five months later.
This was the start of a dynasty spanning decades, champions were grown in the gym but also sought out the wisdom of Steward.
Steward had enduring relationships with were Lennox Lewis, Wladimir Klitschko, Gerald McClellen, Michael Moorer and, of course, Hearns.
But he also trained a plethora of other champions who looked to him to guide their development, names such as Julio Cesar Chavez, Oscar De La Hoya, Naseem Hamed, Evander Holyfield and Vitali Klitschko.
Steward sadly passed away, aged 68, in 2012 after a long battle with illness, but his legacy will last forever as the ‘godfather of Detroit boxing’.
Claressa Shields
Shields, whilst not from Detroit, was born and raised just an hour away in Flint, Michigan and has fought in Detroit more than anywhere else in her career.
Shields had an outstanding amateur career, winning everything there was to win, including two Olympic gold medals, two world championships and two national titles.
When she turned professional, her amateur pedigree allowed her to get big fights early on. Shields won her first world title in only her fourth fight, knocking out Nikki Adler at the MGM Grand Detroit in 2017 to become the unified super middleweight champion.
Such is Shields’ talent, she had to jump up and down in weight to find adequate competition. After dropping down to middleweight, she became the fastest boxer to win a world title in two different weight classes, beating the record previously held by Vasyl Lomachenko. Tom Jenkins/Getty Images
This was only the beginning. Shields went on to become an undisputed champion at three different weight classes - super welterweight, middleweight and heavyweight - an exclusive club with Shields as its only member in the four-belt era.
When Shields steps into the ring to defend her undisputed heavyweight titles on Saturday, this will be her sixth world title fight in Detroit.
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