Thread: Who could have beaten Joe Louıs ın hıs prıme?

I cannot thınk of a sıngle fıghter. He was just too crafty and too explosıve. Yes Schmelıng got hım but that was really early on ın hıs career I thınk.

Vitali / Lennox / Tyson / Holyfield / Holmes i think they would all beat him.

The most interesting matchup I can think for Joe Louis is Gene Tunney. Gene was a great boxer and given the hell Billy Conn gave to Louis it's an interesting matchup to think about.

Originally Posted by Dark Lord Al

Vitali / Lennox / Tyson / Holyfield / Holmes i think they would all beat him.

I'll agree wıth the 1986 Tyson who maybe nobody could stop that year. As for Holyfıeld I dont see ıt. Vıtalı no way. I now that Holmes may well beat Louıs I forgot all about Larry when I wrote that post. Yes Holmes would have a 70% chance I thınk now. I dont want to comment on Lewıs because my opınıon of hım ıs not popular.

Originally Posted by El Kabong

The most interesting matchup I can think for Joe Louis is Gene Tunney. Gene was a great boxer and given the hell Billy Conn gave to Louis it's an interesting matchup to think about.

Yes Tunney was the wıley fox wasnt he. He may pose the same surprısıng performance as Conn dıd. Good poınt and good choıce there.

For me the fight I would most like to see would be what is probably the most fantasized fight in the history of the sport...

Ali Vs Louis. Ali wins on points for me!

I will say this for certain....Joe Louis demolishes Mike Tyson....yes that would happen.


Evander Holyfield, he'd give ANYBODY a hard fight...granted it may or may not be due to HGH but he was one tough bastard

Originally Posted by El Kabong

I will say this for certain....Joe Louis demolishes Mike Tyson....yes that would happen.


Evander Holyfield, he'd give ANYBODY a hard fight...granted it may or may not be due to HGH but he was one tough bastard

I completely agree with this post. Evander was a true hard bastard and he had great boxing skill to go with it. I'd just favour Louis but it would have been one hell of a fight.

Louis would have murdered Tyson, I'm shocked that is even in doubt!

I do think Joe was better historical HW , but at 13 stone , dropped by guys like Tony Galento , stopped by Max , i think Tyson would KO early , and i dont rate tyson at all.

Originally Posted by rjj tszyu

Originally Posted by El Kabong

I will say this for certain....Joe Louis demolishes Mike Tyson....yes that would happen.


Evander Holyfield, he'd give ANYBODY a hard fight...granted it may or may not be due to HGH but he was one tough bastard

I completely agree with this post. Evander was a true hard bastard and he had great boxing skill to go with it. I'd just favour Louis but it would have been one hell of a fight.

Louis would have murdered Tyson, I'm shocked that is even in doubt!

Never doubt the Tyson fans...they are rabid and you know they say "in Mike Tyson's prime he was invincible"

Joe Louis was simply to small to deal with the top heavyweights of the last 40 years. Nobody who barely reached 200 pounds could beat the Klitschko brothers. Ali to big, Foreman, Lewis. Mike Sphinx would have been good fight. Evander was a monster for his size. Louis was great for his time but leave it there. James Toney 2nd fight vs. Sam Peters is a prime example of what size does to crafty fighters.

agreed , I don't think eras should ever be compared but at same time like doing it as does the world !

I honestly think our very own big Frank Bruno would have taken Louis - and that just shows you how the modern athlete must have changed over the 40 year gap !!

Originally Posted by Mark TKO

agreed , I don't think eras should ever be compared but at same time like doing it as does the world !

I honestly think our very own big Frank Bruno would have taken Louis - and that just shows you how the modern athlete must have changed over the 40 year gap !!

Your not wrong mate.

I've gone off comparing fighters from eras that are light years apart.

I could compare him with Ali Fraizer Foreman and Norton at a push but that's about it.

Joe was a magnificent puncher though. His punch placement was second to none...

OH for fucksake joe was put down close to 15 times in his career by numerous sub 200lb fighters!

190 lb Schmeling and 184 lb Marciano Destroyed him!. He got knocked down and badly hurt by bums, tomato cans, midgets, middleweights, super middleweights, light heavyweights, etc. He was knocked down, badly hurt and almost KO'd by fat midget tony Galento. He got schooled by 174 lb Conn, if it was a 12 round fight, Louis would've lost a wide UD to a 174 lb.

Louis got knocked down 3 times by former Super Middleweight Walcott! SMW Ezzard Charles destroyed Lewis with superior boxing..........Walker, Sharkey are both blown up middleweights and would get KTFO by Wlad. Louis, jack johnson etc etc are intellectually inferior boxers because 50 years is a long time and boxing has evolved as well as the human body and training and nutrition.

And before u all start citing Corrie Sanders, 230lb 6'4" sanders is the biggest punching left handed HW fighter in history! Wlad lost to Brewster because of Fatigue and not a weak chin AND WAS VERY INEXPERIENCED vs purity. Louis has may beat a young wlad, with defense and training issues but i doubt it.

This nostalgia crap has no real basis, the Ali that was fighting 177 and 180 pounders or the Louis that was struggling with 170 pounders will be dog meat against a 247 pound, athletic, 6'6" ring tactician like Wlad. We are not talking about Primo Carnera (who actually became champ even with his limited skills) or Valuev here, Wlad is a whole different fighter.

Let me point out that NOBODY here claims that very tall+heavy boxers are unbeatable.

·Nikolay Valuev ·Wladimir Klitschko all have losses on their records against smaller opponents. Nobody claims that big boxers will always win.

However, let's check concrete examples of these "ancient behemoths".

The following giants (usually mentioned in this order) are used to prove that tall boxers are "beatable although being giants":

·Primo Carnera, 6'5.5", median fighting weight 266 lbs (Joe Louis' biggest weight difference, and the prime example for beatable giants)

·Abe Simon, 6'4", median 253 lbs

·Buddy Baer, 6'6.5", median 240 lbs

·Jess Willard, 6'6.5", median 225 lbs
Sometimes also the following beatable giants are mentioned:

·Tony Drake, 257 lbs (Dempsey's biggest weight difference)
·Humphrey Jackson, 254 lbs (Marciano's biggest weight difference)

Now after we exclude those boxers who are not real giants (e.g. 6'4") or who are bums (like Humphrey Jackson with a record of 4-3 and Tony Drake with a record of 0-1) only the following remain:

Primo Carnera
Abe Simon
Buddy Baer
These 3 were all beaten by Joe Louis, which shows what an exceptional fighter Joe Louis was.

Analyzing these three giants further it turns out, that

Buddy Baer has won only against 3 non-bummy opponents 200×2 (Abe Simon, Tony Galento, Eddie Hogan)
Abe Simon is a featherfist and has 10 losses on his record (36-10), and has won only against 2 non-bummy opponents 200×2 (Toles, Thompson)

Primo Carnera has 14 losses on his record, is smaller than Vitali Klitschko and was obviously suffering from acromegalic pituitary gigantism (= is not naturally tall like Vitali Klitschko, but a freak of nature like Nikolay Valuev)

I don't want to take ANYTHING away from Joe Louis' wins, but my statement is:

These giants were far from comparable to modern ultraheavyweight champs (let alone that Baer and Simon never were champs).

It's unimaginable what modern champs would do to Joe Louis, if already Buddy Baer managed to catapult Joe Louis out of the ring in round #1.

Joe Louis vs Sonny Liston would have also been a hell of a macthup prime v prime...I still favor Louis as he was the better boxer.