Joe Louis Versus Muhammad Ali

The great Emmanuel Steward picked Muhammad Ali:

If they fought, I think Ali would have definitely, I feel in my mind, beat him because Ali was the computer printout of everything that was a problem for Joe Louis. The movement which Joe had problems with, even in a little small light heavyweight Billy Conn and Jersey Joe Walcott, those guys Joe always had problems with. I was fortunate enough to get to know one of his best friends who came from Detroit like I did, and he said Joe’s management always had to keep him away from boxers, people who could move, because Joe had problems with movers. But you know, he did what he had to do. He beat everybody of his era and held the title for so long and was a perfect gentleman when it comes down to what was required and necessary at that time.

https://www.boxing247.com/weblog/archives/127951

 

My friend, Ali was one of the most courageous fighters in the ring there was and had one of the best chins in the history of the heavyweight division:


Chin: One of the ironies of the career of Muhammad Ali is that for years the old-timers questioned his courage and toughness. They watched him dance and slip punches and concluded if he was ever hit squarely by a serious puncher he would fold up like a cheap suitcase. How wrong they were. In fact, Ali proved too tough for his own good. Precious few boxers in the history of the sport have withstood the kind of firepower Ali took from Frazier, Norton, Foreman, Shavers and Holmes. Ali was knocked down only four times in his career, by Sonny Banks, Henry Cooper, Joe Frazier and Chuck Wepner. And it should be noted the Wepner knockdown was the result of “The Bayonne Bleeder” stepping on Ali’s foot at the moment he landed a right hand to the ribs

https://www.thefightcity.com/top-12...ssius-clay-joe-frazier-george-foreman-boxing/

As to fortitude he did his best work in the ring after his prime and fought ten rounds with a broken jaw.

Muhammad Ali was a lot of things but being soft wasn't one of them.

 

We have a lil thing called film. It was invented in 1895.

 

Res ipsa loquitur:


"Ali was Sugar Ray Robinson squared," boxing film collector, historian and manager Jim Jacobs once said. Jacobs told Ali biographer Thomas Hauser that, having long called Robinson the greatest ever, he'd made a close study of films of Robinson and Ali, including timing the speed of their punches. He said that Ali, 63 pounds heavier than Sugar Ray when both were at their best, was faster. 1


The Muhammad Ali of 60’s was the fastest heavyweight ever. In the May 5, 1969 Sports Illustrated, Ali’s jab was measured with an omegascope. Ali’s jab, it was found, could smash a balsa board 16.5 inches away in 19/100 of a second. It actually covered the distance in 4/100 of a second, which is the blink of an eye. Jimmy Jacobs, who owned the world’s largest collection of fight films, said that on film tests with a synchronizer Ali’s jab was faster than that of Sugar Ray Robinson. Jacobs contended that Ali was not only the fastest heavyweight, but also the fastest fighter he ever saw on film. 2

1 https://tinyurl.com/2p9bsz33

2. https://coxscorner.tripod.com/ali.html