I mean, a prime active Wlad of 5 or 6 years ago almost certainly would have knocked that version of Joshua out in a few rounds, and AJ likely would have been dismissed as a hype job.
I think prime George Foreman obviously has a puncher's chance against prime Joe Louis, but I think he simply left himself too open. Foreman would be a nightmare for the likes of Marciano and Frazier and Tyson, those short come forward fighters, but guys who could box in all directions and ranges would find those openings. Even Dempsey would have a great chance against Foreman. I think Louis would win a blistering fight with Foreman, with skill and precise punching.
I agree with your argument on paper, but I am going to go against my character, and say that Joshua will be the best that he faced. As for whether he will be greater than Wald himself, that is going to be a long argument.
foreman prime - Prime Foreman I would say is favored. But if Louis gets past round 8 he will win foreman 1991 - To slow and not busy enough, Joe Louis easily outboxes him. David tua - Louis heavily favored to win UD. Joe frazier - A prime Frazier will win the first match, lose a rematch. Larry Holmes- Louis will get outfoxed from range in a close match. Larry moves a bit to much. Sonny Liston- Liston will get Koed, His powerful jab will keep Loius in his back foot until around round 4. Louis will close the distance and is faster and has better combinations so he will get to Sonny. Liston goes down swinging. Rocky Marciano- Marciano wins after being down once more than their actual fight. Marciano will stop him around round 11.
It was mentioned in another thread that Louis was troubled by certain fighters in his career because there was no film available to study and he didn't know what he was in for until he stepped in the ring. Which brings me to my next point: Louis' greatest quality and reason why he was so consistent was his adaptability in the ring. Blackburn was a genius and Louis could follow his gameplans to a tee. With the abundance of high quality film of each fighter available to them, they'd have a cakewalk constructing strategies. He'd approach Foreman like he did Baer. Gliding around the ring, picking his shots carefully and pumping the jab in Foremans face. Louis' handspeed, parrying and counter-jabbing would ensure that Foreman can't set up his own shots too much. He may get buckled every now and then but he'd stay focused, stall until Foreman loses steam, and then rush for a stoppage. Old Foreman and Tua would get treated similarly, but I don't see a stoppage here. Wide points win for Joe. Frazier would get stopped. His style, although relentless was fairly easy to deal with from a technical standpoint which a boxing genius like Louis would exploit to great extent. Aside from depending too much on one punch, a big issue of his was that his up-and-down waist movement wasn't difficult to read or time. He was too vulnerable to the uppercut and as we've seen in the Godoy rematch Louis could rip them with great power and precision so this wouldn't end well for Frazier. Rocky would give him more trouble because unlike Frazier, he was far more unpredictable. Greater punch variety and more subtle defensive mechanisms which led to him taking punches, but not taking them fully or completely flush. Still see a KO for Louis here but later on and after a bigger struggle. Holmes is a more difficult pick for me to make. Holmes on paper had the best style to deal with Louis. Always on the move, a better, faster and longer jab, and defensively astute. The problem is that Larry wasn't consistent regarding this. He became more stationary as the fight progressed, had a penchant for trading punches when in trouble and often dropped the jab when brining it back which would be an invintation for a right hand counter from Joe. With Louis' timing and peculiar "out of nowhere" punches it's guaranteed that Holmes would get dropped at some point but the question is whether Louis could finish the job which is up in the air. So it either it ends up a KO for Louis similarly to Louis-Walcott II with Holmes taking the lead and eventually getting stopped or Holmes recovering and surviving for an UD win. 50/50. Liston has a very unfortunate combination of assets for Louis to deal with and this would probably be the only fight I'd pick him to lose.
]foreman prime- Louis smokes him in 7. foreman 1991- George wouldn't go down, but he'd be overwhelmed. Imagine the 11 punch combo Holy hit him with, with 1.5 times the power. Ref stops the fight in 8 at the very latest. David tua-Ridiculously UD for Joe. Tua looks really bad. Joe frazier- FOTC Frazier wins SD Larry Holmes- Holmes sweeps rounds 1-6 and makes Joe look terrible, jabbing him silly then after awhile getting that right hand working nicely. Larry takes a break in the 7th, takes massive shots and is out on his feet, clinching wildly (all three judges score it 10-8 Joe). It's not quite the same for him after that, as he makes the mistake of coming off his toes. He's still knocking Louis back with the jab, but is eating progressively higher volume combinations. In the 12th Larry's legs are looking pretty bad and he's lucky to hear the final bell, UD Joe Sonny Liston- Louis wins a UD, but doesn't look great doing it. He gets outjabbed and outmuscled a lot here, and dropped at one point (which is when he made the wise decision to slow down and depend on his own, excellent jab more). Some unpopularly sparse but prime power-combinations secure his victory. Rocky Marciano-Rocky is the gamest and bravest fighter Joe ever faced, but he is a bloody pulp after eating punch after punch and getting outfoxed every round. Joe's jab alone could have won him the fight, but after 8 he looks like he 's tired of dominating Rocky and turns up the volume. Though Rocky is on his feet, his face is a grotesque Halloween mask and the ref stops it out of mercy. 12 rounds
