Editing Joe Louis (section)

===="Bum of the Month Club"====
In the 29 months from January 1939 through May 1941, Louis defended his title thirteen times, a frequency unmatched by any heavyweight champion since the end of the bare-knuckle era. The pace of his title defenses, combined with his convincing wins, earned Louis's opponents from this era the collective nickname "Bum of the Month Club".<ref name=espn/> Notables of this lambasted pantheon include:
* World light heavyweight champion [[John Henry Lewis]] who, attempting to move up a weight class, was knocked out in the first round by Louis on January 25, 1939.<ref name=eastside/>
* "Two Ton" [[Tony Galento]], who was able to knock Louis to the canvas with a left hook in the third round of their bout on June 28, 1939, before letting his guard down and being knocked out in the fourth.<ref name=eastside/>
* Chilean [[Arturo Godoy]], whom Louis fought twice in 1940, on February 9 and June 20. Louis won the first bout by a [[split-decision]], and the rematch by a knockout in the eighth round.<ref name=eastside/>
* Al McCoy, putative [[New England]] heavyweight champion, whose fight against Louis is probably best known for being the first heavyweight title bout held in [[Boston]], Massachusetts, (at the [[Boston Garden]] on December 16, 1940). The popular local challenger dodged his way around Louis before being unable to respond to the sixth-round bell.<ref name="eastside">{{Cite web |title=EastSideBoxing.com |url=http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=12459&more=1 |access-date=April 27, 2009}}</ref>
* [[Red Burman|Clarence "Red" Burman]], who pressed Louis for nearly five rounds at Madison Square Garden on January 31, 1941, before succumbing to a series of body blows.<ref name=eastside/>
* Gus Dorazio, of whom Louis remarked, "At least he tried", after being leveled by a short right hand in the second round at [[Philadelphia]]'s Convention Hall on February 17.<ref name=eastside/>
* [[Abe Simon]], who endured thirteen rounds of punishment before 18,908 at [[Olympia Stadium]] in Detroit on March 21 before referee Sam Hennessy declared a TKO.
* Tony Musto, who, at 5'7½" and 198&nbsp;pounds, was known as "Baby Tank". Despite a unique crouching style, Musto was slowly worn down over eight and a half rounds in St. Louis on April 8, and the fight was called a TKO because of a severe cut over Musto's eye.<ref name=eastside/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Tony Musto |url=http://boxrec.com/boxer/12130 |access-date=December 25, 2015}}</ref>
* [[Buddy Baer]] (brother of former champion [[Max Baer (boxer)|Max]]), who was leading the May 23, 1941, bout in Washington, D.C., until an eventual barrage by Louis, capped by a hit at the sixth round bell. Referee Arthur Donovan disqualified Baer before the beginning of the seventh round as a result of stalling by Baer's manager.<ref name=eastside/>

Despite its derogatory nickname, most of the group were top-ten heavyweights. Of the 12 fighters Louis faced during this period, five were rated by ''The Ring'' as top-10 heavyweights in the year they fought Louis: Galento (overall #2 heavyweight in 1939), Bob Pastor (#3, 1939), Godoy (#3, 1940), Simon (#6, 1941) and Baer (#8, 1941). Four others (Musto, Dorazio, Burman and [[Johnny Paychek]]) were ranked in the top 10 in a different year.<ref>See BoxRec.com's record of ''The Ring'' magazine's ratings for [http://www.boxrec.com/media/index.php/The_Ring_Magazine%27s_Annual_Ratings:_1938 1938], [http://www.boxrec.com/media/index.php/The_Ring_Magazine%27s_Annual_Ratings:_1939 1939], [http://www.boxrec.com/media/index.php/The_Ring_Magazine%27s_Annual_Ratings:_1940 1940], [http://www.boxrec.com/media/index.php/The_Ring_Magazine%27s_Annual_Ratings:_1941 1941], [http://www.boxrec.com/media/index.php/The_Ring_Magazine%27s_Annual_Ratings:_1942 1942], and [http://www.boxrec.com/media/index.php/The_Ring_Magazine%27s_Annual_Ratings:_1943 1943].</ref>