Who had more skill? Joe Louis or Wlad Klitschko?

Depends what you mean by "better mobility." Little guys like Conn, Charles, and Walcott were well within Louis' effective punching range far more often than Wlad would be. And Wlad could cover a lot of ground very quickly (because of their stride length) and did most of his work at a distance outside of Louis' preferred range. So Wlad doesn't need to be nearly as slick or crafty as the little guys to avoid Louis' punches.

 

Great post. Louis' best chance would be trying to land some hard, fast punches as Wlad tries to smother him at close range, but that's easier said than done.

 

It's not particularly close. Louis. Wlad made use of the couple tools he had and didn't really have to expand on them because of the dearth of talent challenging him. Jab jab right clinch. jab jab right clinch.

Rinse and repeat.

 

1-But you didnt bring up them fighting exactly like louis, you said that wladmirs style was meant to neutralize people who were the same height as joe louis. If you want to nitpick and get technical literally nobody Wladmir fought was anything like louis and vice versa. Those are the men closest to louis in terms of height, power, and being offense oriented in wladmirs resume, how else am i supoosed to consider the matchup?

2-he did not "easily" beat samuel Peter, brewster kod him, and he used all sorts of illegal tactics to get very lackluster points wins against povetkin and haye. Not a very impressive track record. In the rematches sure he looked impressive but Brewster wasnt even medically fit to fight and had eye problems so there's a big asterisk* there.

Your argument hinges on you thinking wladmir would be able to impose his height and reach to control the distance then smother louis if he tried to get close. Are you changing your mind about that?

So youre saying louis would have more success if he said screw ring iq/strategy/technique and just charged in like peter did?

Louis was not afraid to let his hands go. The way he tore max baer and max schmeling apart was downright frightening, brutal, yet surgical and methodical. Besides, werent there a bunch of people in the thread I made last week saying joe louis' offense was his defens or something to that effect? Obviously he wasnt a mindless slugger like Peter, but he certainly wasnt some overly cautious or gunshy fighter.

 

No. The fighters that you mentioned were all soundly beaten by Wlad. Povetkin, the pick of the bunch, lost 119-104. That's a massacre.

He'd have to find a way to close the distance quickly so that he could close the gap and get into a range where he could unleash his combinations. I don't think he'd be able to fluidly transition into combination punching off the jab like he often otherwise did. Either that or he'd have to lure Wlad into exchanging with him somehow.While I don't think Wlad is a pushover in a firefight, Louis is the one with the formidable and proven track record of blasting guys out in exchanges.

See, it's the surgical and methodical part that would worry me against Wlad. That's Wlad's game.

 

Louis was much more skilled than Wlad. Usyk is much more skilled than AJ, Wlad or Fury. Doesn't mean he'll beat them.

 

Fair enough, and I agree. I also don’t find Wlad as unskilled as some (not meaning you) are making him out to be. His skill at maximizing his advantages and nullifying his opponents regardless of whether it was found pleasing to the eye, are top notch and on par with the greats. I think he utilized his size to maximum advantage and will make him competitive with greats of any era.

 

I fully agree.

 

He humped povetkins back for 12 rounds and got away with excessive clinching. That was neither a "massacre" nor a convincing win due to a biased ref. This is like calling Ali vs frazier 2 a "massacre" pure hyperbole.

And no his fights with peter and brewster were no 1 sided. That we're even having this discussion is mind boggling, did u watch them???

I agree, and outside of excessive holding or blasting louis out early, I just dont see how Wladmir prevents louis from catching up and tagging him at some point. The fact wladmir was gunshy and wouldnt open up unless the opponent was badly hurt/out on his feet makes this matchup even worse. In this case young wladmir would actually fare better.

But we've already been over this. Most people think joe's surgical precision and skill was higher than wladmir's. Its like a guy making an incision with a butter knife vs a guy who has the latest blade on the market.

Look im not saying louis just waltzes in there and blasts wladmir out like a d level tomato can, it just seems that wladmir supporters cant acknowledge the holes in his game but focus on the flaws of his h2h opponents. You're actually pretty reasonable compared tp some of the ridiculous posts ive seen, but the main issue seems to be that you think Wladmir can impose his size and control the pace and range even though Louis had a FLAWLESS recoed against big men and never had an issue overcoming height or reach (it was actually smaller elusive cagey guys or aggressive volume punchers who gave him the most trouble). You cant cherry pick the best moments of Wladmir's career and ignore the times he struggled with men who didnt have half Louis' skill and were around the same size as him.

 

LOL I'm not here to pick a fight. I think both their fighting styles are widely available and can be contrasted fairly easily. Cheers.

 

He's good, but I think Wlad's the type, that when his opponent can expose his flaws, he can lose really badly.

In other word if you had all the greats fight each other, I think Wlad would have a respectable record, but lose some really one sidedly.

 

Thats how I see it. I have Wladmir in the top 10 h2h but he was no swiss army knife. He'd have a lot of great wins but a handful of embarrasingly 1 sided losses in a tournament of all the past champions.

 

I am not a Wlad fan and personally hope one of his fights never make FOTW threads, because I really don’t want to rewatch him. But out of curiosity how many or whom do you see beating him one sidedly in a one off fight and or duplicating it in a rematch?

 

Louis by a country mile, and he had to be given his dimensions.

 

I feel strange being thrust into the role of a Wlad advocate, as I am not particularly fond of him.

Skillwise use of the jab, apart from Holmes and Liston I am not sure I would say there are many who could dictate the pace and distance of a fight like he did.

In terms of nullifying an opponent on the inside apart from Ali I am not sure any used it more strategically than Wlad in regards to tying up an opponent. It seems Ali is lauded for this while it is a detriment to Wlad. With Wlad’s size weight being used to further tire opponents out he is top notch in this department.

Louis is perhaps my favorite along with Frazier, and while I pick Louis in a fight between the 2 it is not with certainty or real confidence.

Louis will have great difficulty closing the distance. When he does he is likely to be stifled and need to reset, rinse and repeat for a very long night. He will need to be smart and cautious all night long and not allow himself to get frustrated.

Apart from Wlads perceived chin issues, I don’t see many with a skill size level to waltz right through him.

I find him dreadful to watch, but his skill level is top notch to me.