Examples of Joe Louis' chin?

Too many to name, but some other solid shots would be from Braddock, Buddy Baer, Jersey Joe Walcott. Also, Billy Conn hurt Louis with very well-timed combinations.

Also, as much as I like big George Louis was all wrong for him. As long as you don't stand in front of Foreman and use angles his power isn't much to worry about. Ali and Young both put a clinic on Foreman and they both dropped Foreman.

 

Hi sorry for pasting one of your vids on Reddit without mentioning your name, but anyway, Schmelling knocked Louis out, so I don`t think Louis could have taken the shots Ali did off George.

 

I'm not sure you can say too much that was complimentary about Louis's chin. His recovery abilities and fighting heart were top notch, but he couldn't take a decent shot by heavyweight standards without either getting stunned or getting dropped.

 

Schmeling needed multiple right hands to get louis out of there including one after the bell in the early rounds which Louis said he never recovered from.Louis was exhausted when Marciano stopped him, he said he was fine up to the 7th round then his legs gave out.

 

I can say he was stopped just twice by two hard hitting guys who were world champions. Was his chin much less durable than Holmes for instance?

 

Right. In my opinion, chins are best tested when hit. Thanks to his offense and the relatively weak opponents he fought Louis' chin wasn't tested often, but when guys landed, it was revealed to be suspect. Off the top of my head, the following fighters either floored or stunned Joe Louis.

Ko'd by Schmeling, could not recorder from the first knockdown as the video shows.

Stunned by Tommy Farr, I think it was round 9 or 11. Farr was not a puncher at all.

Floored by Jimmy Braddock, who was out of the ring for two years and was not close to a puncher.

Floored by the short and fat, Tony Galento. Galento could punch, but he wasn't very skilled.

Staggered by Billy Conn, who was under 170 pounds. Close to going down.

Floored by Buddy Bear, and was fortunate he didn't fall out of the ring and hurt himself. Louis did something of a summersault over the ropes landing in a safe spot if memory serves.

Floored three times in two fights with Walcott. Louis is very lucky the 10 point must system wasn't in use for the first fight, which 2/3 of ringside reporters gave to Walcott, and the crowd loudly booed the decision when it was given to Louis.

Floored twice and brutally stopped by Marciano, though Louis was clearly past it for this fight.

What can we make of the above? The best-skilled fighters Louis fought in Schmeling, Walcott and Marciano each floored him multiple times. Modest hitters like Tommy Farr, Jimmy Braddock, and Billy **** shook Louis up or floored him. Sloppy fighters like Tony Galento once ranked as higher as #1 in the world ( He would not be close to top ten today ) caught Louis as did Buddy Bear.

Conclusion: Louis did not have a good chin by championship standards, and he's fortune there were not many skilled big men in his time. Aside from having a mediocre at best chin, his footwork was slow and mechanical, his guard low, and he fought with a stick you face forward type of style. However, no one should say Louis didn't have the heart. His will to press on under tough circumstances was excellent, best seen in the first Scheming fight, or the butchering he took vs. Ezzard Charles who didn't floor Louis, but really did a paint job on his face, repetitively beating Louis to the punch despite giving up height, weight and reach.

 

In my opinion exactly the opposite and Foreman's all wrong for Louis. Louis never displayed the foot speed of Young or the chin and physical toughness of Ali. Not saying Louis doesn't have a chance, but more often than not Foreman would stop Louis. If a fighter like Schmeling can stop him in his prime, and light hitting natural Lt. Heavy Conn can have him reeling, fighters like Galento,Walcott and Marciano can drop him, Common sense should tell us that a fighter as powerful as Foreman was probably stops him cold.

 

Exactly....seems like getting knocked down is a crime all of a sudden. People now seen to call that a bad chin. I dont buy it. Except for the few instances you mentioned he got up and won. Case closed in my book. It's getting up and winning that counts. Anyone can get knocked down from a clean shot.

 

Louis faced his share of other punchers.Max Baer,Tami Mauriello,Charley Retzlaff,Lou Nova,Abe Simon.None of them floored him.

 

Louis' overall package of chin/recovery wasn't that bad. It certainly wasn't granite, and I think it's reasonable to question whether it would stand up to some of the larger power-punchers that followed. However, there was a big difference between hurting/dropping Louis and finishing him off. The only two guys to pull that trick were notable punchers who hit him with dozens of clean shots.

You can dissect the careers of most heavyweight champions, and downgrade their opposition to give the impression that they were chinny. Take Holyfield for example, who is generally considered to have had a strong chin:

Floored by journeyman blown-up cruiserweight Cooper
Floored and hurt badly by overrated Bowe in first fight, and knocked out in third
Wobbled badly by blown-up LHW Moorer
Dropped and hurt badly by light-hitting Ruiz
Stopped by former middleweight Toney

Over the course of a career, fighters get hit and hurt, and there isn't always a linear link between the perceived power of the opponent and the actual effect of their punches. Fighters who go through a career with barely a wobble are anomalies. Take Wayne McCullough for example, who took flush shots from Hamed and Morales without major effect, but was out on his feet against Rabanales who had a 36% knockout percentage.

 

Foreman was better at landing shots than Baer and Braddock, he was good at cutting off the ring even Ali commented on that after Zaire, Foreman was also good at landing body shots.

 

His chin was pretty good to be fair.

He shared the ring with a lot of big punchers, and on the occasions where he was stopped, the other fighter had to hit him with everything except the kitchen sink.

Not one of the best chins in the history of the division, but he obviously isn't just going to fold if somebody like Foreman hits him.

You also have to factor in the abnormally high number of ranked contenders that he fought relative to other champions.

This would have increased the risk of him getting stopped, and put on the canvas.

 

After Holy put on weight after his first fight Bowe the only fighter that hurt him was Bowe when he stopped him in their third fight, Holy had something wrong with him in that weird Moorer fight, he was finished by the time he fought Ruiz and Toney and as a fighter ages he gets hit more and his punch resistance goes, take Leonard v Norris and Hearns in the rematch at super middle.

 

Louis couldn`t do this:

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