From 1-10, how high are a prime Louis' chances against a prime Ali?

Hard to say. I like Louis' fast hands and fluid combination punching against the much lighter hitting Ali.

On the other hand Louis' static feet are not a good look against Ali's speed and mobility.

 

I would say no greater than a 3.

Why? Louis hit harder, but nobody did or is likely to stop especially prime Ali.
Ali had a significantly higher work rate.
Most all of us know their virtues-& the much slower feet would mean that Ali would evade a lot of punishment-more so than a relentless swarmer throwing higher volume like Frazier.

Ali a bit bigger, obviously one is a great conventionally textbook master boxer.
Ali made a virtue out of throwing away the rule book to match his strengths.
I do not think Louis has a stylistic advantage, or would have a Norton-esque Kryptonite for Ali.
Even then, I do not think Norton wins more than 1/4 of the time max against prime Ali.
Much more foot speed & endurance to dance in the 1960's.

Louis being great in rematches, maybe he wins that. But I would still make it about 50-50.
In a rubber match, or any statistically significant # of matches, including fighting at the same ages...
Ali would win at least 70% of the time.

 

As much as I love Louis I think a 3 for him against Ali. Joe did struggle with movers and a guy like Ali who could take a punch and had faster hands is respite for a decision loss for Joe.

 

3.5.......the styles favor Ali.

 

On the scale you gave, I'd say a 4, Ali still has a huge stylistic edge.

 

I think Ali actually struggled with classic boxers that were relatively close in size and style to Louis. Doug Jones, Henry Cooper, Zora Folley, just to name 3, all gave pre exile Ali good fights. Louis is better than all 3 faster, more explosive and far more accurate.
On the other hand Louis didn’t face many guys that moved, so I don’t now how well he would be able to let his hands go. If Louis could get a rhythm a big if, I see no reason why he couldn’t win

 

The static feet for me are the biggest problem for Louis, I think he'd have a hard time catching the fleet footed Ali. Who arguably has some of the quickest feet ever for a Heavyweight. Obviously Louis being an ATG has a chance to win, but I would heavily favour Ali based on styles.

 

Oh I'd say 4 tops.

 

Louis would have stood a pretty good chance but I would have favoured Muhammad.

 

Ali would have my vote but the margin for me isn’t very wide. I’ll go with 4.5 out of 10. So Louis’ chances are just under 50/50. While Muhammad Ali had faster feet, Joe Louis had comparably fast hands. Combinations that would enable him to reel off and potentially land more than one shot with each opening. Lethal left hooks which were Ali’s weakness. And the ability to go fifteen rounds. Ali would have to keep moving. Sitting on the ropes would have been a fatal mistake against Louis

 

Against Folley Ali danced the first 2 rounds, so arguably lost both. Then he dominated & ended it in the 7th.
Jones was a challenge, just before Ali was prime. But you could use Tyson vs. Tillis, or Louis in his prime vs. Conn...
Ali fooled around & got dropped badly once in 2 fights vs. Cooper, but otherwise dominated.

 

I agree. Prime head to head it's a tough fight for both of them!

 

I wouldn't put Cooper in the category of classic boxers really, but Jones and Folley are good examples of fighters with a style that was fairly similar to Louis. As is Liston. Those are the three Ali opponents I'd probably say most reminds of Louis.