Angelou's Account of Louis v. Carnera

Angelou's account of the Louis v. Carnera boxing match was not factual. Her piece, titled "Champion of the World", expresses her record of the heavyweight bout, but few events occur accurately. The actual fight was not a heavyweight match. It was, however, a match that Louis won on the road to his title match, which occurred two years later.  

On June 25, 1935, Joe Louis defeated the ex- heavyweight champion Primo Carnera in the sixth round. Although “The Brown Bomber” had a serious weight disadvantage, sixty-five pounds under Carnera, Louis used a stalking approach in order to progressively beat down the gargantuan Italian. Through the sixth round, Louis dropped Carnera to the mat three times; however, these occurrences did not result in a knockout. Contrary to Angelou, the fight was ruled a technical knockout in the sixth round. Before Carnera’s body gave way, Louis effortlessly delivered a series of punches to his opponent’s bloody face. Following a left hook, Carnera slumped to a knee. The pride of Italy drove Carnera immediately to rise, but with an obvious absence of functionality. The blood pouring from his face coupled with Louis’ tenacity convinced the referee to call the fight. Announcers considered it an “act of humanitarianism.”

Ultimately, the non-championship fight ended with Louis on top, but not in the way Angelou describes. There could not have been a count, as described in the piece, if the opponent rose to back to his feet. The referee could not have referred to Louis as, “The winnah, and still heavyweight champeen of the world,” if Louis had not yet won a title.

Through class discussion, we concluded that Angelou’s main focus of the piece was not the match, but the high stakes she associated with it. Born in April of 1928, Angelou was only 7 at the time of the fight. Her young age may have led her to incorrectly interpret the situation. As a result, she introduced these events into her piece.