Boxing / Déro / Joe Louis / Joe Walcott / USA - Lot 20

Boxing / Déro / Joe Louis / Joe Walcott / USA Robert Décremps, alias DÉRO (1920-2000) Two caricatures: Joe Louis and Joe Walcott India ink on paper, signed, captioned 50 x 39 cm Original illustrations for Pierre Cangioni's "La Fabuleuse histoire de la boxe" (1977). Dero caricaturing legendary world heavyweight champion Joe Louis (1937-1949), who defended his title 25 times, and held it for 11 years. He was voted "boxer of the 20th century", with 66 victories in 69 fights between 1934 and 1951. Jersey Joe Walcott (1914-1994) may have hit hard, as Déro shows us, but he didn't win the world heavyweight title until 1951, at the age of 37, against his bête noir Ezzard, and lost it to Marciano in 1952. He fought several contentious bouts, most notably against Joe Louis. A phenomenon of perseverance.