Joe Louis Top 5 Best Wins

I like the Carnera shout, not that it was special but hey the guy was the champion for a while, and since size is something hard to overcome, this is a pretty great win, not to mention the how you beat someone is super important.
Beating someone by a stoppage is always better than beating someone by a 1 round decision **** that... we should look at that more when rating wins... the how.

 

His top wins:
Schmeling 2
Conn 1
Walcott 2
Pastor 2
M. Baer

Guys I could consider maybe replacing Baer:
James Braddock
Primo Carnera

Wins that fall outside top 5 but reasonably in the top 10-15:
Roscoe Toles
Lou Nova
John Henry Lewis
Buddy Baer
Arturo Godoy
Jimmy Bivins
Charlie Retzlaff
Tami Maurielo

 

From June 1936 to June 1938 he had beaten Louis, Ben Foord and Steve Dudas. He loses to Louis in June 1938 and then on July 1939 he knocks out European champion Adolf Heuser in the first round.

Word was he had slipped but probably not by much. I'd say he was in a better form than the Schmeling who lost to Steve Hamas and Max Baer.
He was only 32 for the Louis rematch and while this next bit might not be very indicative of anything, he was in good health mentally even up to 99 years old so we can at least rule out any major damage accumulation effects.

 

I have same exact top 5 in same order

Schemling 2
Conn 1
Walcott 2
Pastor 2
Baer

I considered replacing Baer with Farr or Godoy. I didn’t consider Primo but I do think the win is undervalued. A lot has come to light on Primo and I think the win should merit more today.
Toles fight should be looked into more perhaps it can be put back on Louis’s official ledger.

 

Louis fought at a time where the sport was popular. Every neighborhood in America had boxing clubs and although New York received favoritism if you were really good you could make it from other cities as well. Most guys didn’t have the amateur pedigree that would fully develop later generations. So there were more losses on the ledger as the fighters learned their craft. In short what I’m saying is the guys that Louis fought by the time they got to him could fight. Fight really well. His resume is stellar by any measure. The only drawback is the division with no weight limit has steadily grown since his heyday. Most of these guys would not be able to beat 6’5 245lbs athletes of today. You have to remember too there was no television in Louis’s prime. If you fought - you had to be able to put fans in the seats to pay to see you. So most of the fighters Louis fought were often hyper aggressive. People paid to see action.

 

You know your stuff
Farr is an interesting choice considering he performed much better against Louis than Baer did so I can see the stylistic match up elevating the win over Farr higher than the blow out that was the Baer fight, but Baer did beat Tommy in their rematch, and their common opponent, James Braddock, beat them both (albeit his win over Tommy was somewhat questionable) so if there's someone I'd replace Baer with it would be Braddock instead of Farr. Nova also beat Farr but I don't think I'd put the Nova win on top, considering that Nova was overly cautious and probably didn't perform at his best against Louis.
I don't see how Godoy could outrank Baer here aside from that Louis won a decision over him and had to rematch him to knock him out, Baer was an ex champ near his prime whereas Godoy was a good contender but never more than that.
We're in agreement for Primo. Wins over Uzcudun, Loughran, Sharkey and Levinsky are all solid and he just wouldn't stay down against Baer despite being hit with murderous head and low blows for nearly the entire fight (while Donovan refused to even warn Baer against punching Primo in the nuts).

Yes to the Toles fight being included in the resume. The bout was an exhibition only in name, they used regular boxing gloves, had a referee and judging officials and it didn't even go to a decision.
It was a legitimate win over a very good contender.

 

1. Max Schmelling
2. Max Baer
3. Arturo Godoy II
4. Buddy Baer
4. Jack Sharkey

 

Schmeling
Walcott 2
Max Baer
Primo
Conn
Honorable mention to Pastor the often underrated and Braddock. Sharkey was a bit to gone

 

You definitely know your stuff as well and your points are all valid. I see nothing to quibble about regarding your assessment. I do find Baer’s prowess lacking on film. He has little in the way of skill from a jab, to movement, and so forth. It’s not surprising Louis butchered him. Baer’s huge right hand and durable chin made up for lot of his flaws.
Farr had a good run beating Baer, stopping Neusal and being quite competitive with Louis. Then he followed it up with a bout he was probably a little unlucky not to get the call in, against Braddock. I think Braddock realized he was fortunate to get the win and knew to retire.

 

I think how good Braddock was at HW is obscured by him spending so much time at LHW and he was really one of the best HWs of the era even if he had just a few fights to prove that. Walcott got lots of oppurtunitys many great fighters in his era didn't get and he lost most of them and get kept getting them. Yeah he had his moments but like Holyfield I do not look upon that sort of resume favorably at all.