Joe Louis looks surprisingly poor skipping rope and on the speed ball

Yes certainly many ropes did not have balls...maybe none

 

In carrying it out yes, in executing it not really, that comes from countless hours of ball of foot to ball of foot, turning without lifting the front foot, side stepping, and doing it all in reverse. You can see fighters every day who jump rope to the sky but have never been taught or disciplined in foot work which is a long, tedious, and disciplined act.

 

He doesn't look poor skipping. Just because he isn't doing fancy tricks doesn't mean hes poor at it.
Idk about that speed bag. The bag is moving slower than usual. I dont think you could even hit a normal speed bag with as slow a frequency as Louis hits it, modern speed bags move too quickly for that. It must be different from modern ones.

He waddled around like a flatfooted penguin when he got old and fat but until Leonard he had plenty of bounce imo

 

He did look good hitting the heavybag

 

Louis looks poor on the speed bag. He's excellent at hitting a standing target, a moving target not so much.

The above can be verified on film.

 

So do you think he would have been pretty good if he just could’ve mastered hitting a moving target?

 

His fights with Pastor, Conn, Walcott, Schemling, and Godoy would have been much easier if he was better at hitting moving targets. Louis is fortunate he fought in a time of few skilled punchers. Schmeling was about it. I take that back. There were several skilled African American punchers, Louis didn't meet them in the ring.