Holyfield vs. Louis. I think it would be a war

I agree. Can't see it being anything other than a total war of attrition.

 

Holyfield could take what Louis dished out, but does it apply the other way?

I see the first few rounds with both men fighting cautiously, once Holyfield gets tagged it turns into a war.

Holyfield: 'I would have knocked Joe Louis out'.

 

I'm not disagreeing that Evander could have pulled it off. But I'm not sold on the idea either. Standing and trading with Joe Louis while taking those fast combinations would be dangerous. Of course Holy took shots from men who quite possibly hit harder, but could any of those men his him with five or six flush shots at one time the way that Louis could?

 

There seems to be an implication that Louis had a shaky chin. Not sure if I share this opinion. Joe was stopped only twice in 69 fights.. One of those stoppages coming at the tail end of his career when he was shot and facing an ATG puncher while the other when he was a work in progress and taking a sustained beating all night long until he was thoroughly tired, battered and frustrated. On other nights however he took the best from men like Buddy Baer, Max Bear, Primo Carnera, Joe Walcott, Tony Galento, Abe Simon and some others who could crack.. His chin wasn't like Oliver McCall's but no way was it glass.

 

I think a lot of them probably could. While Evander could certainly crack and faced stellar opponents how many top rated durable men did he actually stop? Arturo Godoy was extremely tough taking Louis the distance in their first fight but being stopped in the rematch.. Not sure if Holyfield could get him out of there

 

Are we talking about a level playing field here? Does Holyfield have his superhero physique of later years developed by god knows what?

 

If we want a true prime for prime match up with these guys in the exact form that they were at their best then I'm afraid it would have to be that way. If we take Holy off of juice while bulking Louis up using modern day methods then we now have two totally different fighters who never existed, and these classic threads would now have to include match ups like Batman vs Superman, Spider man vs the Hulk, etc..

 

I don't know about that. Assuming both were in their prime I can't see Holy having any issues with stamina. A great fight though.

 

Fair enough. I have to admit Holyfield's transformed physique takes a bit away from his achievements for me, though.

 

I agree. I could see it getting brutal.

 

It would be one of the best fights ever.

I think Holyfield wins in an upset.

 

I don't know. while I can't make direct accusations at other fighters of the time I'm pretty sure he wasn't the only one using them.. Barry Bonds gets a lot of **** for setting his home run records while juicing but if you look at most of the major sluggers around during the 90's and 2000's nearly all of them were. So its not like he had a unique advantage over his peers.

 

Both guys could counter quite well. What is the case for giving Holyfield the edge?


Defensively, Holyfield impressed me as basically good, yet it seemed to me that every once in the while his defense would take a lunch break for a round or so -- and Louis could make a bad round last a long time.

 

The best Louis was a far greater fighter. On his best night Holy would not see round 8.