Idk this is a tough one. Louis is better then Holyfield and Rahman two men of comparable height. Holy had a better chin then Joe but wasn’t nearly as sharp or fast. I think if Lennox were to come in lazy at all he gets flattened (let’s face it he came in lazymore then a couple times). But if he’s at his very best he wins prob by playing it safe like he did against Evander and Tua.
I get the whole rose tinted glasses when looking at fighters from the past - I do it all the time - but with heavies, its fairly obvious modern heavyweights would hold a huge advantage just because of sheer size. I'm not saying for a second they're more skilled, but you have to take into account that its not an even playing field in h2h matchups.
It's very tough fight and I think you can't go better than call it 50-50. Lewis was very smart fighter who knew how to use his physical advantages. At the same time, Louis was murderous hitter and Lennox's chin isn't the greatest. For those who say Louis is too small to compete - old Holyfield wasn't bigger, faster or more skilled than Louis and he did fairly well against peak Lewis.
50/50 fight. If Lewis uses his size and plays it safe he probably wins a decision. But, quite frankly, either man could be stopped at any time in this fight. A truly intriguing matchup.
I said about a week ago that Fury easily beats Louis because all the advantages would be too much and same here, except Lewis punches much sharper and is more explosive than Fury, I only see this going one way
I get what you're saying, but I never liked comparing heavies from the 30s and 40s with modern guys. They're different eras and i dont feel like those guys would be fighting at heavy now-a-days. I dont think they're inferior, on the contrary, I think they're superior boxers. it just doesn't make sense to me. Thats just my opinion though.
Lewis is one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. So was Louis. Seems to me if Oliver McCall put him out, and so did Hasim Rahman, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume Joe Louis has at least a punchers chance of catching him? Even if it isn't likely? At least it was proved possible that Lewis could be knocked out, though the shots he took from Vitali say otherwise.