Now I've been thinking about this topic today or Louis's chin and though I won't go as far as saying cast iron but is was pretty solid. Over 72 fights and only 2 people managed to put him down one was Max Schmeling and it took him over 12 rounds to do and Rocky Marciano when Joe was past it and even then he stood up till the eighth round before time and Rocky's right caught up to him. He took some shots from the likes of Max Baer and still kept walking through them. So ESB folks do you feel his chin is underrated?
yeah he had great recuperative powers of course not saying his chin is top ten but better than it is give credit for
Walcott, B. Baer and Galento all had him down, Jersey Joe numerous times. In terms of finishing Joe off, yes, very difficult. But there are some punchers I'd give a chance on the basis that he'd find it harder to recuperate.
Considering he was pretty small for a heavyweight, I'd say its rated right where it should be. Good punchers got to him, damage and impact was done, but Joe was a warrior and fought through it. You had to tear him down brick by brick to stop him.
Him being taken out by two 185 pounders (tho can't hold the marciano defeat against him) and decked by Braddock would go against him having a very good chin. Add to this Buddy Bear, Galento and Jersey Joe... Like i said before aint glass but not very good either...
Quite a few fighters floored Louis besides Schemling and Marciano.. Among them were Walcott, Braddock, Buddy Baer, and Galento. Some average to light punchers such as Conn and Farr stunned Louis. Underrated chin? Not really. Louis had great power and speed, and often got to the other guy, or had the other guy on the run before they caught him. I believe chins are best graded when they are hit, and I've seen Louis stunned by guys who were not big hitters. PS: Max Bear hardly landed anything on Louis.
I think that the case against it is greatly over stated. Anybody can apear to have a good chin until they step up in competition, and Joe Louis had an absolutely sick number of fights against the elite of the division, including a considerable number of punchers. This is bound to bve reflected in the number of knockdowns he sustained. You als have to look at what people didn't do to it. I think that Louyis faced enough elite fighters to prove that he was a prety hard fighter to stop.
Actualy he landed a fair few flush shots and it didn't even bother Louis. You hear people gushing about Sonny Liston taking flush shots from Cleavland Williams and not being phased, but what about Louis taking shots from Baer?
I agree, I believe his chin was very good overall He is very vulnerable to being hurt and stunned, but he recovers very quickly, if anything he's shown is how durable he was, Schmeling and Marciano had to pound him for round after round until he was ready to be taken out, He showed that he's no one punch knockout, He someone that has to be broken down and have all his energy taken out of him until he's likely to stay down.
for a comparison: patterson got knocked down about a billion times, showed heart in rising but certainly could be kept on the canvas by top level punchers trinidad could be knocked down in the early rounds, and often was, but had great recuperative powers and only was stopped when battered into mush by hopkins i think louis falls into the trinidad camp-possible to hurt, susceptible to knockdowns but in the end always got up unless he took a horrific beating