Cleveland Williams vs Tony Galento

I think David Tua ranks up there has having one of the best chins of all time and his power is pretty exceptional too. In fact come to think of it David Tua has become a bit underrated

 

I think that Saoul Mamby deserves a mention.

 

TG did score a clean knockdown, but Louis was up before the count of one, and didn't appear any more hurt than he was against Braddock in the first round of that fight. There's even an argument to be made that Billy Conn, who wasn't a big puncher at all, had Louis in more trouble than TG did. Seems like that one flash knockdown, from a punch Louis didn't see coming, and bounced right back up from, has turned TG from a completely unpolished, undisciplined, barroom brawler into....David Tua for some.

Have to give Tony some credit here though: he did drop Louis with a nice shot, and also rocked him a bit early in the first as well. He also showed some heart by absorbing a massive beating until his legs couldn't hold him up anymore, and fought a rather clean fight in this one. Good effort without the usual BS fouling from him.

FWIW, I see Williams either stopping Galento late, or perhaps by a somewhat sloppy decision.

 

What's this mean?

 

Oh seamus.....

 

The knockdown over Louis isn't the only thing Galento has going for him. He defeated Lou Nova who around that period was ranked no.1, defeated no.3 Nathan Mann and no.9 Al Ettore. He also beat Natie Brown twice who was ranked around that time period as well, at no.8.
These wins were all by ko.
He wasn't some useless oaf they got in the ring with Louis, he actually held his own against fighters of the era.

 

Hard to call this one.
On paper Williams has the advantage because of his longer reach and extra height, forcing Galento to have to pass through William's killzone to reach him with his hook.
On the other hand, Galento usually found a way to land his punches on men with similar size advantages. He landed on Louis and both the Baer brothers, despite losing to them.
He also beat 6'2 top contender Lou Nova, who had a chin good enough to stand Max Baer's lethal right.
So it really depends on how well Williams can hold up under Galento's power before he scores his own knockout, cuts up Tony or makes him quit during the break.
He should be able to beat Tony the way Buddy and Max did, but both those guys were durable fighters.
Galento performed a bit better when facing good opposition so I am going to make him the favorite by 55-45.

 

I agree. Everyone thinks this fight is a foregone conclusion and Galento will get trounced, but he has a good chance at victory

 

Not disagreeing with you there’s very little between these two fighters and I agree Louis was up quickly but I think it and the first few stunning shots hurt him, I believe Louis admitted as much himself. About Conn interestingly it was at HW where he started to get KO’s.

 

Not really arguing this, but TG's knockdown of Louis gets used a lot on these Galento vs. Whoever threads, and I don't see it as terribly relevant, or proof that he was an all-time elite puncher who was a serious danger to any opponent, from any era. Louis has been hurt or dropped by guys who weren't really known for their power.

Again, no arguments here. Won't rehash the specifics of the Nova fight, but whatever the case, it went in the books as a TKO win for TG, and he did stop a few other top guys from his era. I just think he benefitted from being in a particularly weak era that doesn't travel very well when you start pitting these guys against fighters from other eras.

No problem with this either. He did earn his shot. Tony wasn't Louis' worst title challenger, which really isn't saying a whole lot, considering some of the others who challenged Louis.

There's really nothing to disagree with in your entire post. I do, however, believe Galento IS kind of a useless oaf when you start putting him in other eras. That's where you and I disagree, as well as maybe on the strength of the 30's/40's Heavyweight division overall outside of Louis. I see Galento as nothing more than a really crude fighter, with some power (albeit, probably overrated power), and that was enough to crack the top 10 in a crap era.

 

Galento didn't have much else going for him but power. He faced people who were much better than him in every conceivable way aside from powering and chin, and because of that he beat them. Ettore, Mann and Nova all look like they are from the future next to Tony. They still ended up losing to him.

I don't see how it makes much of a difference in this case, Galento is being pitted against someone from the 1950s-early 60s, a weaker era than his own.

 

One of the dumbest takes I've seen on here. I'd take Tua to beat Williams so Galento gets a win by extension? Absolute non-sense.

 

Williams is 6 inches taller, more skilled, more powerful, a better boxer, and had a MUCH better defense. Hmmm this is a tough one.

 

Tony Galento is no Liston; not even close.
Williams wins.