Slow starter? Louis has multiple brutal early round knockouts over ranked skilled fighters such as Max Scmeling and Buddy Baer.
It isn't unreasonable when you consider the fat sloppy Tony Galento managed to drop him early and stagger him early. ABC logic isn't always applicable in boxing, but in this case it is something to consider. Dempsey's hook probably wasn't as heavy as Galento's who was north of 220+, but it was much faster and sharper and he could follow up and pressure more than the slower less skilled Galento.
You have to give Dempsey a chance. Absolutely. He was a confident, aggressive, two-handed puncher with a mean streak and pretty decent skills.
I’ve always said, if the fight gets past 6 Louis runs away with it, but Dempsey is a very dangerous challenge for Louis early, Louis was sort of a slow starter, let his hands drop and float a bit, it’s not crazy to think that Uber aggressive Dempsey could get him out of there early
Max Schmeling knocked out a prime Louis so why not Dempsey? Even if Dempsey had Knocked out Joe, it wouldn’t raise him above Joe Louis in the top ten ATG lists anymore than it did Max Schmeling. Louis was the better champion. I think Louis would win the rematch anyway.
Because Schmeling was nothing alike Dempsey. Schmeling outboxed Louis, used fantastic timing to counter Joe and upper body movement to smother Louis work. Schmeling didn't run straight at Louis, he picked him apart patiently. Dempsey would never use similar strategy, he always went for knockout. He was much more agressive, but also less refined fighter than Max.
Using schmeling to make a case for dempsey is extremely flawed. Totally different fighters with completely different styles and tools at their disposal.
Sure it is possible, & you can cherry-pick examples to support a case. But what about looking at all Dempsey's losses? And there are much worse fighters than Louis that if he won he did not overwhelm. Anyway the bias is as usual obvious when the weight of Conn is listed lower than any ever presented for him in the Louis fight. This is a dead giveaway that someone is not objective. It is the same thing if someone took the same percentage off of Dempsey's prime weight, & described him as 175-180 lbs. It would rarely be an error, since his size is well known. It would betray an agenda, & how wishful thinking & psychological identification drives a conclusion, not trying to weigh all facts objectively. Louis was much more successful that Dempsey & fought so many more challengers despite missing years serving in WW2. He was knocked out only once before his last fight with Marciano-& that was when he was much older than when Dempsey retired. Louis was a better boxer & beat all types over many years.