Oleksandr Usyk vs. Joe Louis

Conn would be the best opponent Usyk had faced by some distance; not that we would see such a fight in today's more safety-conscious eras.

But, either way - hypothetically, how people might react to Conn presenting a stiff challenge to Usyk ranks so low on the 'Who-Gives-A-****-O-Meter" it's barely relevant.

Again, who cares what people would be saying?

There were observers likely fancying their chances against Louis, based on the flash knockdown they witnessed in '39 - but these would have been clearly misguided aspirations, given Louis made another 18 successful defenses of the world title, up to and including 1948.

Whatever people said, it mattered not to Louis and his carving out one of the greatest heavyweight legacies of all time.

Why? This forum has featured much crazier fantasy match-ups than Louis/Usyk. And, when the time comes that Usyk is measured against all time, he's going to be compared with many, many heavyweights, surely?

Perhaps Usyk would be best celebrated on the General Forum until his career is over and while it seems 'silly' to compare to him to past greats.

 

Wait what. Do you seriously think Conn, a light heavyweight and the smaller then anyone Usyk has ever faced ,would be the best fighter Usyk has ever fought? Seriously? You think beating up a lightheavy weight is more impressive then beating superheavyweights who have every physical advantage over you? That might honestly be the most deluded thing you have ever said, how anyone takes you seriously is beyond me.

 

Lol,

Dude, you are delusional and don't have a clue. Billy Conn's boney ass wouldn't do **** against the heavyweights of today. Again, he was a great fighter in his era but Uysk would tune him up bad.

 

Dude - Maybe you should get a clue on how to read and comprehend before calling people 'delusional'.

I didn't say that he would.

Maybe - Though, the truth is we just don't know. You can speculate on it and assume that Louis was the only top-flight heavyweight who'd have had his work cut out against an opponent of Conn's talents - but that's just one way of looking at it.

Either way, I still say Conn would be the 'best fighter' Usyk had faced.

 

Delusional

 

Conn weighed 174 lbs. In his previous fight 3 weeks before fighting Louis he weighed 180 lbs. The "Conn middleweight" spiel is disingenuous.
It's crazy how the Conn fight, where Louis beating the best quick boxer he could realistically come across in his fighting career other than Gene Tunney, is repeatedly used against him in hypothetical match ups against similar types of opponents.

I have seen no good arguments as to why an Usyk sized Conn would have actually fared better against Louis.

 

Conn is the size of todays middleweights. Wouldn't it be pretty unlikely for a middleweight to present problems for Usyk? I don't see middleweights pushing to fight Usyk andf if one did fight Usyk and cause him problems it would absolutely be brought up to denigrate him.

Canelo Alvarez is a good fighter but if he was ahead on points against a prime Usyk prior to getting stopped I would expect massive ridicule of Usyk.

 

Usyk is the best out of the current bad crop of Heavies. All credit where credit is due, a true Pro Fighter.

However, he went 24 with the weak chinned low stamina Bodybuilder with poor Ring IQ who was undefeated when a morbid obese non ranked Burrito salesman made him spit his mouth piece out and quit. Ruiz has the better win, end of.

Fury dethroned glass chinned old WK throwing 2.1 punches a round...........with a less lenient Ref would have been counted out vs One Trick Pony Wilder who everybody on this site calls a Bum, wins a couple of more vs said Bum..............eventually goes life and death with a 0-0 MMA fighter.

Usyk's better engine won him the fight vs Fury, he got a second wind, Fury did not, being a part time fighter treating his Body like a trash can finally caught up to him. Knock downs ? Everybody knocks down Fury, even MMA fighters.....

In all those Fantasy matches Usyk is going to meet fighters with a second or even third gear up to 15 rounds...............he is borderline featherfisted for a Heavy , no defense wizzard and he will meet his match vs from the past Pro's who are treating the Sport with dedication, no doubt.

 

The difference is Louis got up and finished Galento in short order, Usyk would not finish Ruiz Jr. like that after getting floored

 

Everybody Usyk fought at cruiserweight is a heavyweight by the standards of Louis era when there was no cruiserweight division and many top heavies were the size of light heavyweights.

Louis is a lot closer in size to Bivol than he is to AJ/Fury

 

So was Usyk.

 

This tells me YDKSAB well done

 

Usyk, I'm not sure it would be competitive i hate to say it. Louis was good but he was pretty methodical and isn't that good at cutting the ring off, and even if he does Usyk shells and spins.

Nah get Frazier for this one

 

So Usyks cruiserweight fights are clearly of more relevance than his heavyweight fights when analyzing a fight with Louis given skilled big men didn't exist in Louis era

Even Beterbiev is probably a better gauge for a Louis fight than someone like Fury. Closer in height, weight and reach.

 

I was referring to Conn specifically, since he was cited by the poster; not just any smaller opponent.

I'd expect Usyk to win but, as to how easy that win would be - well, stranger things have happened, right?

We're never going to see it or anything close to it, which makes it a loaded comparison (between Louis and Usyk) - and this was a small part of the broader point.

A slightly bigger part of the broader point was that imagining what people might say about it has no bearing on how a fight like that might shape up and is ultimately irrelevant.

By the way, I don't see Canelo and Conn as comparable.


Usyk is lauded for his successes, in spite of his relatively significant disadvantages in size against the big men of the division. It would seem that the idea of someone with similar disadvantages against him could make it even competitive for a while (not win) is viewed as entirely outlandish.

That's interesting to me - especially when someone as great as Conn has been used as the example to diminish Louis and that we will never see Usyk in with someone that great.