Any idiot can make a video. A lot of idiots throw around terms like 'glass' and 'cans' and 'cab drivers' because they think that it makes them sound knowledgeable. Very few people have defended the heavyweight title, or held that title, as many times or as long as Joe Louis. At a time when there was only one heavyweight champion, not half a dozen. The same dummies pushing the "glass" story will also say that he was easy to hit, and those things don't mesh with his record.
I think it is simplistic. By and large, they're flash knockdowns. He bounces back up every time except for when he had been on the receiving end of a lot of punishment from Schmeling and Marciano, fights in which he took scores of hard shots before being stopped. The video would be better titled 'Joe Louis could have shaky defence when attacking and be susceptible to counter punches that, landing unseen, momentarily discombobulated him while the referee counted to about two.' Not exactly clickbait but a more accurate summary of what the video went on to show. You could show clips of George Foreman hitting opponents who stayed standing and call it 'George Foreman feather fist'. It would be inaccurate but it would draw people in. For me, that's what's happened here. I'm not Louis' greatest fan, as it happens, but when someone calls a video 'Joe Louis glass jaw', it sets off my agenda radar straight away. If you are genuinely asking what I think, Van, I'd say 'watch all of the fights and see the context, see what happens immediately after and then make your own mind up'. Welcome, by the way.
What a dumb video. Louis didn't have the best chin, but it was far from glass. It was average. He recovered quickly when dropped or hurt 8-9/10, & would finish his opponent soon after. He only had 2 KO loses - one early in his career when he was a green, up & coming contender, & the other when he was a shop-worn, shot fighter. The 2 fighters that stopped him are ATG's. One was undefeated (only undefeated HW champion in history) & one of the hardest P4P punchers in history, & the other was a technical master, tactician & strategist, as well as an underrated puncher (56 Wins, 40 KO's). No shame in losing to these fighters.
I think when you are at the top for as long as he was as both a contender, champ and coming back he face the best fighters the heavyweights had to offer for 15+ years you are going to get dropped here and their. The first knockdown was Max Schmeling who timed him over and over again with his Sunday punch until Louis couldn't get up. the Braddock. The Next was Braddock who timed him perfectly The next was Buddy Baer who is an all time ranked puncher and a monster of a man at 6'6-7" and roughly 240-250lbs The next is Tony Galento a 230lb tank of a man with power whom IMO Louis got careless with because of how open he was and Galento caught him with his Sunday punch Next are the Jersey Joe Walcott fights and I dont care what anyone says JJW was as slick and as ring smart as they got and real skilled fighter with big power...forget his record he was starved and thrown in with fighters as a opponent he figured it out without big time promoters Final fight is Marciano and well Rocky was a KO puncher and coming into his prime Louis was on his way out physically way out of prime and he was thrown to Marciano to either win and get a title shot or get beaten and Marciano got the shot What's ignored in the video is yes he was dropped but he got up every time to annihilate his opponents except his first fight with Schmeling in which he took a hell of a beating for 12 rounds as a up and comer and last fight against Rocky. I would suggest the creator of the video study Louis and his opponents like Max Baer, Sharkey, Carnera, Nova, Godoy, Simon etc......and how many times he took shots that would have knocked out many other men
Yes, you can’t ignore the more than decent quality of most, if not all the punches that yielded a KD - and as to the actual KDs - most were simply flash involving a measure of imbalance on Joe’s part upon receipt of counter Or represented a cap to a sustained beat down OR were suffered past prime. While not an Ali chin (in rare company itself), Joe’s mandible was well removed from glass. Ironically, despite its intention and singular focus, the montage makes it easy to point out the true reality of how and why Joe hit the deck on several occasions and it certainly wasn’t by way of an unduly shaky chin.
Is getting easily from Galento's murderous left hook a display of glass chin? Is getting from Walcott's murderous counters a sign glass chin? Is taking a beating by Max Schmeling before going down a sign of glass chin? That's just Louis getting dropped, you can much make a video like that in any fighters. That guy who posted it is f*cking douchebag. Not to mention he took somebody else's work.
Against Walcott, he was shot, and got timed by a big puncher. He also got up. He was only knocked out twice, by Schmeling, and in his last fight against Marciano when he was beyond shot. Very few heavyweight chanpions fought a line up of punchers equivalent to what he did. Imagine Tyson Fury defending his title 7 times in a year including multiple top contenders.
Louis did not have a glass chin imo. The 2 times Louis was knockout, both times he had to take a beaten before he finally stayed down.
Joe Louis held the world championship for 12 years and 25 successful defense. He faced boxers, punchers, brawlers, counterpunchers. He was stopped once on accumulation of clean right hands over rounds. So if Joe had a glass chin so does every boxer that has ever fought. Louis had a good chin, excellent recovery and a championship heart.
yep, cos getting Ko'd after a sustained attack at 142yrs of age and 17yrs a pro, from rocky marciano, will do that. I DO think he was somewhat susceptible to a right hand, but no more than Ali was to a left hook and nobody questions Alis chin
He didn't have an Ali chin, everyone on here know that. But if he'd had glass in that there chin, how does he remain champion 12 years????????
Absolute nonsense. If a man with a glass chin fights dozens of ranked contenders, then he will sustain multiple stoppage losses.
I think his chin wasn't granite but at least above average or rather good for a world class fighter. At least he had a better chin than most of his opponents. Sometimes he went down due to imbalance but wasn't really hurt. In the end, he had never lost via early KO. Cox's Corner hw rating chart rates his chin (or durability) an 8/10. That seems pretty fair to me.