I suspect that Lewis was always going to walk into the wrong punch at some point, whatever era he fought in. That side, Joe Louis's most dangerous opponent, was his schedule. That is always going to be the biggest ask, in terms of replicating his resume.
Amen to that. Joe's resume was insane! Off the top of my head I believe he had about 10 fights with Lineal Heavyweight Champions and went 8-2! Not to mention all of the top 10 guys he fought. (I'd need to look at his record again to even make a guess on that number.) A VERY strong case could be made that he was even better than Muhammad Ali. I sure wouldn't argue with anyone who ranked him the #1 Heavyweight of all time. I currently rank Muhammad Ali at #1, with Joe Louis a very close second, and I'm by no means sure it shouldn't be reversed. If that fight could be arranged, even as much as I like Lennox Lewis, I would bet a lot of money on Joe over Lennox. Edit: Correction (I checked)...Louis lost 3 times against Lineal Champions. I forgot his decision loss to Charles. Still 7-3 is pretty darn good.
Ali wasn't a bum. He was small compared to todays SHWs but he was quick footed, quick handed, had amazing head movement and great ring iq. And he was over 200 pounds which is heavyweight anyway
Were they though? What apart from the fact that they stopped Lewis, points to them being any sort of exceptional punchers?
I think, given some time, somebody on here will say Ali was too small and would look like a bum against modern Heavyweights. I agree with everything you said, and would even include the Super Heavies (Dreadnoughts was a term used then) from many decades ago.
Not sure Louis could handle Lennox. A switched on Lennox in his prime was an absolute nightmare for any elite heavyweight. I am just not sure Louis could avoid Lennox hitting him with that jab all night. Louis as accomplished as he was was never blessed with amazing foot speed and he would need to avoid that jab to do his own damage, and Lennox would clinch and be a little bit dirty himself so Louis would really have to do something special when he did get through the jab. A 76 inch reach against at 84 inch reach with Lennox under Steward and being trained to use that jab all night it would be hard to avoid that all night. I just think styles make fights and Lewis’s wasn’t right for Louis.
That is not the question being asked here. Beating Louis's opposition, is probably much harder than beating Louis himself.
