Could Joe Louis beat Mike Tyson?

Like I said, these guys suck, it's not hard to land on them. Also, Louis were smaller gloves, which inflict way more damage.
And Tyson has broken teeth too.

Yes they are very weak compared to what Tyson fought.

 

How do you think the likes of Mitch Green and Berbick would go against those rumpers Bomber? Clean house?

 

The reason why Tyson couldn't finish off Smith was because of his one dimensionality and his inability to vary his attacks, and also his inability to wrestle efficiently in the clinch. Tyson was mostly dominant against Green but if you look at certain parts of the fight you'll see similar elements of the Bonecrusher fight, he also walks into uppercuts against Green and gets thrown off his timing on multiple occasions. When Smith fought Tyson he was 6-4 in his last 10 fights, when Tillis fought Tyson he was on a 1-4 in his last 5 and would lose a decision to an old Joe Bugner a few months later, Green had only fought (and lost to) one contender. Need I say more?

Not even comparable. The reason why nobody holds Louis' loss against Schmeling against him was because Schmeling was a great fighter who had been robbed of his World Championship; Louis got his bell rung in the 4th and never recovered and spent all the time he should've been training playing Golf and f*cking white girls. Most of Louis' decisions come towards the end of his career when his right hand had deteriorated. The only top contender that Louis met that he couldn't stop was Tommy Farr (no rematch), but in every other case when he didn't stop a fighter, he always stopped them in the rematch (i.e. Walcott, Bob Pastor and Arturo Godoy).

 

If you say so.

 

Lennox Lewis didn't have much of a chin.

 

He had a great chin, more than good enough. And he will dismantle Louis with ease.

 

Most likely.

 

No! Let’s not gloss over Louis’ defeat at the hands of Schmelling. Playing golf and f*cking white girls isn’t going to cut it. He got KO’d after taking a beating. If he didn’t train and was shag*ing around, then that’s on him. If he wasn’t training even though he was facing this “great” boxer as you describe, then whose fault is that? Let’s stop with the excuses. He was made to look ordinary in that fight, just accept it.

You can dissect Tyson’s mistakes in the fights he actually won against Green and Smith…yes remember he won them and by a huge margin… but here you are giving Louis a pass for a resounding KO defeat at Schmelling’s hands! Cmon man, your bias is showing. Schmelling was a good fighter and he was coming off a run of victories…but great? That word is bandied about a bit too much for my liking. A great puncher yes, no doubt, but he should not have had the minerals to destroy Louis as he did.
But sh*t happens in boxing especially when boxers take their eye off the ball. I’m happy to squint my eyes a bit for Tyson’s sloppy victories before he became undisputed world champion because at least he won those fights and went on to do pretty damn well afterwards for a few years.
Equally I can also squint a bit at Louis’ bad defeat at Schmelling’s hands because at least he avenged it explosively and of course went on to become one of the greatest ever.

 

First of all, I never said that Louis' loss wasn't his fault, I don't know what gave you that impression, his loss clearly didn't fall out of the sky. It came from a flaw in his pawing left jab which he didn't retract effectively, Schmeling saw the opening, put him on the canvas and beat him up for the rest of the fight. Louis' lack of training and overconfidence is very well documented (he admitted it himself), at the time he thought he was invincible. Green and Tillis and Smith were not high level fighters, neither of them even have records comparable to Schmeling. Schmeling was a great fighter, the best heavyweight counter puncher outside of Louis, and a heavyweight with great defensive skills - he lived till he was 99 years old. He was robbed of his world championship in his rematch with Jack Sharkey, he beat a lot of the top fighters in his era with the exception of Max Baer. If Braddock had given him his title shot after he beat Louis instead of sitting out for two years, he probably would've become a two-time world champion. Schmeling was a well-respected boxer in that era and it is very well documented that Jack Blackburn (Louis' trainer) was shocked by the contempt Louis had for Schmeling's skills. And Jack Johnson actually predicted that Louis would get knocked out because of his 'lazy jab'. You can call me biased if you want I haven't said anything nonfactual. Fact of the matter is you can't name opponents of that calibre (of Tillis, Green and Smith) that Louis beat that sloppily in his prime.

 

He got blasted on the chin twice and put down twice. He was the original (better) Anthony Joshua, a safety first fighter that couldn't handle getting hit.
You still haven't told me who he knocked out with his jab...

 

Your comparison doesn't hold any water, Lewis is far more skilled than Joshua, it's not even close.
And the punches that he was hit with would have taken out pretty much anyone, especially the one Rahman landed. Louis would wake up in the hospital after getting hit by that punch.

Nobody in his era, but he would take out a few in Louis's era.

 

Ok, so it was his over confidence, lack of training and his pawing left jab that Schmelling exploited that contributed to his defeat. I can see how that could happen. As I said to you, sh*t happens in boxing.

And as for Schmelling being a great fighter, being one of the best in your era doesn’t make you great. But judgements on who is great is very much subjective, so I won’t argue with you about it. Suffice to say, the bottom line is that the best boxer of his era (Louis)was KO’d by an inferior fighter to him…great or not…(Schmelling.)

As for sloppy fights…I don’t believe Tyson was prime against eitherTillis or Green…he was 19 fights in, and the experienced Tillis represented a step up for him. Louis himself was 17 fights in…a similar timeline… in when he was taken the distance by a guy called Natie Brown…not exactly a world beater was he, looking at his very average record.

But yes, the Smith fight did show Tyson’s weakness in the clinch…something he never seemed to address.

As for sloppiness in their prime, the limited Tony Galento knocked Louis on his ass and little Billy Conn was up and doing well for 12 rounds against Louis. Yes Louis ultimately KO’d them but he showed…like Tyson did…that he was only human.

 

Well my comparison had to do with their temperament not with skill. Both guys don't really like to trade punches and generally don't take many risks.

 

Louis found out the hard way that he and Schmeling weren't as far apart as he thought and Schmeling was the much more experienced fighter, he'd had 60 fights whilst Louis had only 25 (more than two times the experience).

Well when do you think Tyson's prime starts because it didn't really last very long, I always thought it was from '86 to '89, the Spinks fight was as good as he got.

Getting knocked down in a flash and being given consistent trouble are two different things. You are right on Billy Conn, but Billy Conn was a great fighter. Jack Johnson got knocked down by Stanley Ketchel and was given problems by Philadelphia Jack O'Brien and Sam Langford, Jack Dempsey was wobbled by Georges Carpentier so it isn't uncommon for a great little man to give a great big man trouble those types of guys prove that size isn't everything. And like I said, when Louis had trouble in the first fight he corrected it in the rematch which is what happened with him and Conn (though they were passed their primes). Neither of those guys were coming off losses.

I definitely never said or implied that Joe Louis was a God, we're not debating about who's a god and who's not.

 

But then you have to think of all the men Tyson DIDN'T KO in 1 round. Like Pinklon Thomas, Bone crusher Smith, Mitch Green, Tyrell Biggs. Although I lean towards Tyson to win.