More formidable heavyweight: Louis of Marciano or Patterson of Ali (I)?

The louis of the marciano fight was seen as a very top contender. That often gets overlooked and some people look back on it as a cherry pick which is ridiculous to suggest imo.

I think the louis of that fight beats the patterson of the ali fight and it looks a bit like pat v liston.

That being said patterson went on to still become a meaningful heavyweight and still become a top contender. Louis went onto retire.

So i'll say the ali victory over patterson means more. Close but clear.

 

I would say Patterson. When a puncher looses his power, its over. Louis only had 4 KO's in his last ten fights.

 

Patterson. Floyd was only 30 years of age,while the threaded version of Joe was seven years older,and had just about had it. Prime for prime,Louis was obviously much better,but even the 37 year old Patterson could have beaten Louis at the same age.

 

Floyd looked injured from I remember, Louis put up a good showing. Patterson has good performances before and after, a bit better ones than Louis showed pre-Rocky

 

Does anyone believe even a washed-up 37 year old Joe Louis would be brushed aside in a round by Sonny Liston, and barely win the decision against Chuvalo ?

 

In H2H terms, maybe Shot Louis was slightly superior, because Patterson had a back injury.

Louis still had better power & durability than Floyd.

 

I tend to agree, Floyd's reflexes already look poor to me and his power was never in Louis class. Power is the last thing to go and Louis even at 37 could still whack. In a hypothetical contest between these two versions of once great fighters I would favor Louis heavily.

 

If I may beg to differ with my esteemed colleague, I would say it was the delivery system that was letting Louis down at that point, his timing and reactions had slipped and his accuracy and sharpness were very diminished. When he did connect cleanly it was with authority and people still fell over!

It has been my experience that power is the LAST thing to go in a boxer, (for example Big George) but if that was true of Louis I feel even worse for him than I already do, he would have been a VERY shot rather than just past prime. In fact it would be quite a feat to be a "lost power" shot fighter and still rated a top contender!

But if anyone could manage it - great fighters like Louis and Ali could...

 

Did Louis loose his power or just his reflexes?