Joe Louis: Afte the Bell Joe Louis was more than a heavyweight champion. In 1938, he became a national symbol. During World War II, he carried the morale of a country on his shoulders. But when the cheering stopped, fame did not protect him. After boxing, Joe Louis faced mounting debt, years of financial struggle, and relentless pressure from the IRS. When he died in 1981, nearly penniless, his funeral was paid for by Max Schmeling—the man he once fought in one of boxing’s most historic rivalrie