Dempsey & Louis" Trained" Today?

It's really strange, but Louis looks a bit on the thin side in some of his fights, yet he still has the power to crush much bigger men. I wouldn't tinker too much with him, and I agree with you about his maximum weight range.

I think Louis would be just as dominant today. I really can't see Tyson Fury being too much for him, as big as he is.

 

Louis would be an orthodox, more fit, Michael Moorer. There just isn't much of a template for a smaller, powerpunching heavy with slow, deliberate footwork these days. He would do very well at times but would the vulnerabilities he displayed in the 30's and 40's would be exacerbated by some of the moderns who have deft footwork to accompany their immense size and athleticism.

 

Now you are just misbehaving!

 

Joe Louis today would not have nearly the skill level today as did Joe Louis back then. Who would teach him?

 

Valid point.

The reason that we will never have another Joe Louis, might simply be that there is no Jack Blackburn.

 

It is an apt comparison... both had sluggish (or at least very deliberate) footwork, liked to firmly set up shop before unloading combos and could be tagged and dropped.

Again, there is no template for a Louis today... maybe Povetkin but he shows more upperbody movement. I don't think smallish, straight-up powerpunchers without dazzling footwork dominate today's division. Not saying he would do well, just that he wouldn't do as well as he did in the 1930's/40's.

And I got nicked for a week or so misbehaving for a reason I can't quite decipher... So I am on my best behavior.

 

Who do you honestly see as having dazling footwork today?

 

Well, I'll start at the top. Wlad has displayed the best footwork of any superheavy we have seen.

 

Anybody else particularly?

 

A little more power but, yeah-- spot on.

 

Wlad's opposition is better and bigger than either Louis or Dempseys, especially Dempsey's. It looks worse than it is because Wlad is nigh on impossible to box with.

So Haye didn't slip and feint? Byrd didn't? Povetkin didn't? Chambers didn't? Ibragimov didn't? It's just Wlad was too long and too quick for it to have any effect.

 

Source? He never looked bigger than 200 in his 30s, 40s and 50s, he'd be massively fat at 234, which I don't believe

Again do you have a source, I could say Louis carrying the weight a bit easier as he did later in his career.

No they didn't. Jack Johnson, Sam Langford, Floyd Patterson and yes Dempsey all bulked up from being much smaller men.

Right so Johnson and Louis weren't top HWs

He also wasn't 234 in retirement

 

The thing is as great as Louis was with his hands he wasn't all too clever on his feet. Back in his day it worked against the lumbering Giants, today it wouldn't. Being a smaller heavyweight he would be trained to be on his toes, in and out like a prime Holyfield. He had the power and handspeed to knock the big guys out that's for sure.

 

I would hate to imagine the idea of Louis fighting Haye at cruiser or heavy. Poor Joe would get mauled, and probably knocked out cold.

 

really? I think the opposite would happen, Haye couldn't carry Louis's jockstrap.