Joe Louis vs Alexander Povetkin

Idk about Baer, he only has power and durability over Povetkin. Certainly not overall boxing ability.

 

He was extremely dangerous opponent though and that's what matters here. I mean, James Toney is much more skilled boxer than someone like David Tua but does it make him a harder opponent? Not necessarily, it's at least close.

 

In a 15 round fight, Louis would knock Povetkin out.

The number of votes for Povetkin just shows that this forum has gone to ****, to be honest.

 

On balance I would say yes.

If you composed a list of top 100 all time heavyweights, you would probably rank say Schmeling and Walcott higher than Povetkin.

As for who would win head to head, that is unknowable.

While Povetkin was heavy by the standards of Louis's era, he would not have been tall or rangy.

That would have put that better boxers well and truly in the fight with him.

 

Louis was not much of a "HW". In his prime his weight hovered around 200 lbs or less.

His resume is full of primitive boxers so his "quality" is based on nothing more than nostalgia. He is better than even more primitive boxers like Dempsey, but that is not saying much.

 

It shows that at least some people use their eyes to watch fights instead of regurgitating nonsense.

 

So he was a HW then. Anything above 200 lbs is a HW.

No, because we can watch Walcott or Schmeling fight and they were anything but primitive.

 

Povetkin is about same level as Lou Nova or Tommy Farr maybe. But never went 15 rounds.

 

Modern HWs are much bigger. Weight disparities suddenly do not disappear above 200 mark.

A boxer with Schmeling's characteristics would be laughed out of any modern gym.

 

If you want to see what a fight between a heavyweight from Louis's era, ad heavyweight from Povetkin's era would look like, then Adamek Chambers is a pretty good laboratory experiment.

You have two mean whose tale of the tape is almost identical, but their weights are 25lbs apart.

That difference is entirely down to their training regimes.

Adamek bulked up to 25, while Chambers got his weight down to basically 200, to maximize his speed and endurance.

The 225lb Adamek had previously held a strap at light heavy, while the 202 Chambers had never even attempted to make that weight.

The difference between these two training regimes, is that it basically turned on other factors.

 

I find this a somewhat odd criticism.

Louis fought in an era dominated by small technical heavyweights.

By all means argue that they were small for the most part, but they were streets ahead of the current top ten heavyweights, from a technical standpoint.

The best light heavyweights and cruiserweights almost invariably are!

 

Technical? Those small HWs had atrocious footwork, management of distance and punch selection.

Usyk would spank Louis 12-0 if not knock him out cold.

"Best" is relative. Being the best in a primitve era might be good for your historical apprasial but it does not alter skills.

 

You are not going to convince anybody, that most of the top ten today, are better technicians than Billy Conn or Joe Walcott.

You can say it many times, without providing any evidence, but that won't convince anybody.

They will use their eyes, and unlike you, most people on this forum know what they are looking at.

Let him prove it in the ring then!

Until then, it is just an assertion.

Anything that is asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.

 

Povetkin isn't much bigger though. He put up some muscles thanks to PEDs, but he's shorter than Louis with lesser reach. Plenty of Louis-sized HWs fought during Sasha's prime.

That's not true and a lot of people still admire Max's skills. It's not my fault that you lack any sort of comprehension when you watch B&W footage. Schmeling is one of the best counter punchers ever at his weight.

 

@cross_trainer Look what you've done. 8 Pages in, 10 is usually when threads go supernova... Mercy