It's widely known that Max Schmelling was past it when he knocked out Louis in 1936, after all, he had been fighting for over 12 years and was inactive for almost a year beforehand. On the other hand, Louis certainly had substantially improved in the years following their first bout and it showed in his first-round KO in their rematch. How would the best version of both do in a 15 round fight? Does Schmelling still manage to pick Louis apart? Or does the Brown Bomber blast away Herr Maxie albeit in a more competitive fight than the rematch?
Max will always win the first match vs joe because he had the superior tactic to exploit joe at the time but Joe beats any version of max once Joe figures out how to do deal with pull counters!
Max was past it for both fights... How competitive would you say a fight of both at prime be? I'm inclined to believe Louis wins a UD, far from the round 1 KO in their actual fight.
I think if they both know about the two fights they actually had, Prime Joe Louis wins every time over Prime Max Schmeling. If they do not have that knowledge, Prime Joe wins 90% of the time or possibly more.