REAL Joe Louis quotes on Muhammad Ali

[El Kabong]

Conn did get KO'd as did Walcott in the rematch. Louis admitted he thought he lost in the first Walcott match but still no shame in how he fought Jersey Joe.

Louis, like Ali lost years due to war...he could have had an even longer streak of successful title defenses if not for WW2

[SlimTrae]

Mike hit the nail on the head there when he said "as much as we hate to admit it, athletes get better over time". More boxing fans need to pay attention to that line. People have gotten so much bigger, stronger, and faster over the years.

True, but he seemed to contradict his very own analogy by saying .."it comes down to who wants it the most. Who is willing to hurt the other guy."

In other words, what if we have a better trained athlete, extremely intelligent superpowerful BUT doesnt have that killer instinct against a guy who doesnt have the great trainintg, conditioning...then what do you have?
Simple Wladimir Klitchsko vs Corey Sanders!

[SlimTrae]

Joe Louis threw perfect punches and was efficient but Ali was all wrong for him.

The main thing about Joe Louis was he had a great knack for distance, he was great at knowing just how much room he had to work with. He rarely if ever reached on a punch, over extended, or short armed a punch. His punches were crisp, accurate, and landed solidly and that all goes along with he was damned difficult to beat. Now with Ali's head movement and footwork would Louis find it difficult to land? Well Joe Frazier who was pretty much a 1 armed fighter until later in his career when he was a 1 eyed fighter had little trouble pestering Ali, Frazier was also a bit of a plodder as well. I think an Ali-Louis fight is a LOT closer than people want to believe but then again that's the way most hypothetical matchups would be vs Ali. People think Ali was super human....he wasn't, he was just another boxer albeit a great one, but he had exploitable flaws just like anyone else.

An old Joe Louis beat up on Joe Walcott who was a very solid defensive fighter, very tricky, very cagey...he knocked Walcott out in their rematch. A Prime Joe Louis is as perfect of a boxer as you could dream up, big power in both hands, poured on the pressure, very good hand speed, big for his era, just a supremely talented boxer.

I agree that Joe did so much with timing, accuracy and distance. As you stated he really was a total package.

However I disagree with comparing Joe Frazier's fight with Ali. Frazier was a buzz saw constant moving. IMO Joe Louis is the TOTALL opposite. He as you stated conserved, reserved and threw when needed.

[X]

"It would probably be as boring as a rerun of CSI, because Muhammad would spend the whole fight running like Usain Bolt."

-Joe Louis on a hypothetical Ali matchup.

he also said

~ "I'm a Baptist, and I dont get all that Muslim stuff. I don't like what I've seen of ISIS or Al Quaeda on my iPad, and I'm sick of all these Eastern Bloc boxers dominating the game. I will beat Ali and break Bernard Hopkins' record for being the oldest to win a world title"

I think he was quoted saying this last week

[Beanflicker]

^He said that on Fallon last year I think

[TitoFan]

I guess every older era of ahtletes claims to know how to beat the era that replaces them.

How very true.
I wonder if we were to generalize....
Are current fighters more respectful of older fighters than the other way around?

Joe Louis claims he would've destroyed Ali... and yet Mike Tyson openly says he would lose to Ali.
When in actuality it could very well be the other way around.

I think older fighters tend to be less generous maybe 'cause time has passed them by, and the spotlight that belonged to them a long time ago now shines on someone else. It's an ego thing.

[Beanflicker]

[QUOTE=TitoFan;1310949]

Joe Louis claims he would've destroyed Ali... and yet Mike Tyson openly says he would lose to Ali.
When in actuality it could very well be the other way around.

That being said, I saw Mike on a TV show a few days ago where they asked him how he would do against certain past greats. He was quick to say Ali would beat him but was equally quick to claim that he would beat Joe Louis.

I think it's just a fake modesty thing with him and a lot of other guys. What do you gain by saying you'd whip Ali? He's such a beloved figure throughout the world, people will just lash out at you. Muhammad Ali is on death's door, it's futile to speculate on hypothetical match ups that could have never happened with a guy people consider the greatest.

You need a big ego and tons of self confidence to be a champion, so every champ - past and present - I'm sure feels could have whipped any other champ from history on their best day.

[brocktonblockbust]

That being said, Rocky Marciano! Could not be stopped except by a Superheavyweight.

[Max Power]

Mike Tyson quotes are the most obvious to decipher..

Tyson knows he'd stop Ali, Marciano and Louis in the first round, no matter how many nice words he says about Ali. They are mates! And Tyson plays the part.

Tyson said he wants nothing to do with that animal (George Foreman), even though he knows and everyone knows damn well that no version of Foreman would ever win a round against any version of Mike Tyson and any younger version would be stopped in the first half of the fight guaranteed.

No fighter prior to Iron Mike could ever beat iron Mike..

That is a fact.

WE don't even have to talk about Lennox or the Klitschko's!