Could Joe Louis beat Mike Tyson?

I also think Tyson would KO him. Louis doesn't move his head that much and its not that hard to hit him. Lesser fighters catched him and especially Tyson would find the target. I wouldn't count Louis out in this one, but Tyson is the favorite for me.

 

I agree, Tyson isn´t the style I´d put Louis in against. Where he clearly lacks against Tyson is probably "one-punch-chin". Tyson got more raw power also.
If we assume this is a fire-fight, you don´t want to give up power and chin with speed equal.

 

Could he? Of course. Louis was a highly skilled big puncher. He’d have at least a punchers chance against any HW ever.

But in this battle, my money is on Tyson due to his durability. He could afford to make more mistakes than Louis in the fight.

 

Simple answer - Yes. He can.

complex answer - it’s no guarantee and a dangerous fight.

 

This is tough. Arguably these two are about as good as it gets from a true HWs technician’s standpoint. They’ve got all the things most big guys lack in spades. I’m not sure how they’d cope with one another.

 

I would definitely favor Tyson. He'd apply a rare combination of speed, power, and timing that Louis would be stunned by. Tyson's head movement and counters would make it very difficult for Louis to land clean hits even with his own great speed and accuracy.

The good news for Louis is that Tyson's best strength is also his weakness: he can't fight backing up so Louis doesn't need to chase him or force him to open up. Both guys excell at mid range so it would quickly became a ring center all out war. It would be like a snowball fight with forts, both guys feinting and setting up traps to bring the other out into the open.

What Louis has is a high utility jab that can be used as a range finder, to snap Tysons head back, or to set up his lethal combos. Unlike most heavy hitters, Louis has the stamina and pace to be able to fire powerful shots all night long, and he gets better at adapting the longer the fight goes. I think what it boils down to, is if Tyson can break through Louis defenses and break him down before the mid rounds. If it gets to the 6th-8th and Louis isn't badly hurt, the momentum would definitely shift towards Louis.

 

It's a tough one for Joe. Louis though, was an excellent counter puncher and Tyson is absolutely going to lead to him. Tyson had a habit of falling in or off balance when missing with big shots which is why he had to grab so often in fights.
If Tyson misses big, Joe wouldn't only nail him with one counter but would drill him with combinations and he was, of course, a chillingly clinical finisher.
It probably isn't favourite but it's far from impossible.

 

This.

 

If it gets to the later rounds, has Tyson ever wilted in a fight he's already winning? No, he keeps on winning. Besides , it won't even get to the later rounds.

Tyson is ALL WRONG for Louis. Funny how certain posters claim certain fighters are all wrong for Tyson but when the ball is in Tyson's court, where every advantage except height is in Tyson's bracket, he'd struggle and possibly lose?

I rank Joe Louis the #1 heavyweight of all time but you can't bring your resume in the ring with you.

 

Louis had the offensive brilliance to hurt and ko any heavyweight in history. My opinion, his offensive prowess is the absolute best in heavyweight history....
But the problem is prime Tyson had the 2nd best offensive skills in heavyweight history. But he was better defensively than Louis and had a better chin. That's where in my opinion he beats him.
Tyson was also a much faster starter than Louis. Love Louis against most heavyweights in history. But their are a few I don't see him beating prime vs prime. Ali, Foreman, Frazier, Lewis, Liston, and Tyson are those few. His chances against those fighters are very slim.
Most heavyweights champs he at the very least is 50-50.

 

Louis-Liston would be friggin awesome!

 

Louis has a number of ways to beat him. Tyson was far from a flawless fighter even at his peak; he was a young guy and prone to lapses in concentration and execution.
For all his high paced, bob and weave capabilities, he was equally as likely to make one move, then jump in and allow himself to get tied up. Louis wouldn't be looking to tie him up- he would be looking to punch inside and he was a very short and hard inside puncher.
Tyson often neglected to jab his way in- you can hear Rooney reminding him of this after many, many rounds- and that would be a mistake against Louis.
The footwork of Joe Louis is so underrated that it is silly- Ali skipping around the ring has forever distorted to reality of boxing footwork and movement. But Jack Blackburn had never heard of Ali and he knew what good footwork in boxing really consists of. You move just enough to make your opponent miss or enough to make him turn, while keeping yourself in position to punch. Louis, with his more angled stance, has an advantage over Tyson, who fought with his hips and shoulders square to an opponent. A guy fighting like that will have to take at least one extra step for every step Louis takes- that is how you turn people into punches, and they don't even realize generally.
Finally, what did Buster Douglas do to beat Tyson? Rooney this and Rooney that, he just outsmarted Mike. Tyson was drilled on how to make a jab miss, land a counter coming in, then get close and let his hands go. If he slipped the jab and the counter closed up, he walked in and tied up. What Douglas did was put the jab out there, see where Mike was moving then step back, tie up. The next time you jab, you throw your second punch to where Mike plans on putting his head and you hit him. When that happened Mike started stopping to think and then he was stuck because he never had any other option but to fight how he did. That is when you start hitting him with the jab and he becomes a short guy with short arms.
If Buster Douglas and his people were smart enough to see that- and the evidence is there in every single Tyson fight- then so is Jack Blackburn, and is Douglas can do it, so can Joe Louis.

 

Tyson, far different era and very much advanced.

Tyson is just simply too complex for Louis in his head movement, footwork movement, and combinations.

Tyson would win majority of the time if they fought 10 times imo

 

Tyson KOs him in round 1, it's a complete mismatch.