Editing Joe Louis (section)

===Comeback===
[[File:Joe Louis 1950.jpg|thumb|Louis, circa 1950]]
At the time of Louis's initial retirement, the IRS was still completing its investigation of his prior tax returns, which had always been handled by Mike Jacobs's personal accountant.<ref>Gibson, p. 243.</ref> In May 1950, the IRS finished a full audit of Louis's past returns and announced that, with interest and penalties, he owed the government more than $500,000.<ref name=si1985/> Louis had no choice but to return to the ring.

After asking Gibson to take over his personal finances and switching his management from Jacobs and Roxborough to Marshall Miles,<ref name=ring/><ref>[[#Roberts|Roberts]], p. 488.</ref> the Louis camp negotiated a deal with the IRS under which Louis would come out of retirement, with all Louis's net proceeds going to the IRS. A match with [[Ezzard Charles]]—who had acquired the vacant heavyweight title in June 1949 by outpointing Walcott—was set for September 27, 1950. By then, Louis was 36 years old and had been away from competitive boxing for two years. Weighing in at 218 pounds, Louis was still strong, but his reflexes were gone and Charles repeatedly beat him to the punch. By the end of the fight, Louis was cut above both eyes, one of which was shut tight by swelling.<ref name=ring/> He knew he had lost even before Charles was declared the winner. The result was not the only disappointing aspect of the fight for Louis; only 22,357 spectators paid to witness the event at Yankee Stadium, and his share of the purse was a mere $100,458.<ref name="ring">{{Cite journal |date=November 1980 |title=Joe Louis – The man who reigned as champion longer than any boxer in modern history |url=http://www.fightersfactory.com/story_detail.php?i=33 |journal=The Ring}}{{dead link|date=September 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Louis had to continue fighting.

After facing several club-level opponents and scoring a knockout victory over EBU heavyweight champion [[Lee Savold]], the International Boxing Club guaranteed Louis $300,000 to face undefeated heavyweight contender [[Rocky Marciano]] on October 26, 1951.<ref name=si1985/> Despite his being a 6-to-5 favorite, few boxing insiders believed Louis had a chance.<ref>[http://www.eastsideboxing.com/boxing-news/mccoy2404.php] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120809070332/http://www.eastsideboxing.com/boxing-news/mccoy2404.php|date=August 9, 2012}}</ref> Marciano himself was reluctant to participate in the bout, but was understanding of Louis's position: "This is the last guy on earth I want to fight".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Levine |first=Ben |date=October 23, 2008 |title=Over the ropes |url=http://www.muhlenbergweekly.com/media/storage/paper300/news/2008/10/23/Sports/Over-The.Ropes-3506639.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411100138/http://www.muhlenbergweekly.com/media/storage/paper300/news/2008/10/23/Sports/Over-The.Ropes-3506639.shtml |archive-date=April 11, 2013 |website=The Muehlenberg (College) Weekly}}</ref> It was feared, particularly among those who had witnessed Marciano's punching power first-hand, that Louis's unwillingness to quit would result in serious injury. Fighting back tears, [[Ferdie Pacheco]] said in the ''[[SportsCentury]]'' documentary about Louis's bout with Marciano, "He [Louis] wasn't just going to lose. He was going to take a vicious, savage beating. Before the eyes of the nation, Joe Louis, an American hero if ever there was one, was going to get beaten up".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sportbible.com/|title=SPORTbible – The Latest Sports News, Videos, Rumours & Pictures|website=SPORTbible}}</ref> Louis was dropped in the eighth round by a Marciano left and knocked through the ropes and out of the ring less than thirty seconds later.

In the dressing room after the fight, Louis's Army touring companion, Sugar Ray Robinson, wept. Marciano also attempted to console Louis, saying, "I'm sorry, Joe".<ref name=si1985/> "What's the use of crying?" Louis said. "The better man won. I guess everything happens for the best".<ref name=si1985/>

After facing Marciano, with the prospect of another significant payday all but gone, Louis retired for good from professional boxing. He would, as before, continue to tour on the exhibition circuit, with his last contest taking place on December 16, 1951, in [[Taipei]], Taiwan, against Corporal Buford J. deCordova.<ref name=arlington/><ref name=cyber/>