Put prime Joe Louis in the 50's

I think cautious Charles could last into the latter rounds or maybe the distance.
Walcott would last till 10 waiting for Louis to walk onto those sneaky counters
Marciano comes chugging forward and Louis times his edging forward and drops him twice before the coup de grace in 6
Machen had the tools to bother Joe but still gets stopped
Johansson would be lucky to see the 3rd against the best combination puncher the division has seen
Patterson had fast hands but not the power to bother the bomber.

Last and not least, is Sonny Liston.Not much difference in peak weights, Liston has the reach, Louis has faster hands.Liston takes a better punch, Louis has the better variety of punches.
Liston liked to intimidate his opponents, Louis was ice cool......and I'm sitting on the fence.

 

Yeah.

We're talking the Max Baer version of Louis here. Charles can't escape that. Only Ali could.

 

Please, let's not pretend like Louis was a boxer with fast foot movement who could cut the ring off in a whim. Joe was a plodder through and through. Charles certainly could last the distance

 

how about put prime Joe Louis in the 90's or turn of the century?
Modern training technique, probably 10-15 lbs. heavier with no perceivable loss of speed.
But back to your thread, I think he could have prevailed over, virtually, all of them.
What age do you put prime Louis at in the 50's? 28 yrs. old in 1950? 28 yrs. old in 1955? Kinda hard to gauge where you're positioning him.

 

What?? If patterson lands clean in the chin Louis says good night. Simply Louis would land harder and first

 

I could actually see Ingo being the one to give him the most trouble outside of Marciano. Ingo comes around in '59, which should be just about the point where Louis's decline begins. Ingo can be pretty mobile when he wants to, he's sneaky, he'd probably be underestimated, and his best punch is the same one that sometimes gave Louis trouble.

Bad timing for Louis. He'd destroy Ingo peak for peak, but would have lost a step by '59.

I also wonder if he'd end up taking on Liston earlier than Ingo. Louis was active enough in his prime that he might do that. That would actually be the better strategy -- deal with Liston while you're fresher.

 

Louis beats them all but suffers knockdowns in a few of them. Marciano and Liston are the biggest threats.

 

The way I see it. Joe was faster than Foreman, and was a better puncher. A scary notion

 

That's about my call:good

 

First of all I rate Louis as the best champion in history. But let us not get carried away, Schmeling worked him out so this gives scope for just about any scenario.

People put a lot of stock into one decade being weaker or stronger than the next. How can that be when the decade that produced the only fighter able to beat a prime Joe Louis is often regarded as quite weak for a heavyweight decade?

What we do know is Louis was an extremely consistent champion for five whole years before his absence. Each performance top standard, always in shape. He returns for two years and is still the best heavyweight in the world after almost 4 years away. So in all fairness he is probably guaranteed a seven year run on any decade. So I dont think anybody gets a look in on that run. Possibly Rocky could take one fight off Joe but not the rematch. But even that is doubtful.

The remaining three years to make it to ten? It's never been done. Nobody has done Ten on top. Active years anyway.

So this leaves 58, 59 and 1960. This is the Ingo and Floyd era. I think if Cus wanted to keep Floyd from Marciano he also would have kept him in the lightheavyweight class away from Joe Louis. So the Ingo-Floyd era becomes the Ingo, Louis and Liston era.

Everybody is so sold on Liston yet he never came through a competitive world title fight. Patterson just played right into his hands twice. Then Sonny lost. Every champion looks great winning as a contender, it's only when the punches start coming back at them that you can put real faith in a final judgment.

So I think it's a pity We did not see Liston defend the title three times a year, he just did not do enough championship rounds in winning fights. Same with Ingo really. There is not enough from either of them to worry a prime Louis, trouble is Louis is getting older by their period, though not that old.

What does this mean? Without a war to go to Joe Louis is champion at the start of the decade and at the end of the decade.

However, I think there is a good chance Louis would be like Ray Robinson in that he might regain the title to whomever he loses to. maybe Rocky, Sonny or Ingo feature as fly by night, "one night only" champions who lose return fights to Joe Louis.

 

It's not going to be a walk in the park, but you'd expect Ali to clean out the 80s' just as I'd expect Louis to clean out the 50s, Liston is a really live threat though.

 

I'm not so sure why Everybody is so sold on Liston. he never came through a competitive world title fight. Patterson just played right into his hands twice. Then Sonny lost.

Sonny did not win the title until 1962 anyway. 61' is the earliest he could have forced a challenge as the "outstanding" challenger.

Every champion looks great winning as a contender, it's only when the punches start coming back at them that you can put real faith in a final judgment.

So I think it's a pity We did not see Liston defend the title three times a year, he just did not do enough championship rounds in winning fights. Same with Ingo really. There is not enough from either of them to worry a prime Louis, trouble is Louis is getting older by their late 1950s period, though not that old.

 

wow he'll be 33 when ali comes along, still very competitive.

 

I think prime Joe Louis beats all the champions of the 50's, i.e. Walcott, Charles, Marciano, Patterson and Johannson. By 1960 he probably loses to an up and coming Liston or maybe gets outslicked by Eddie Machen.