Why was Joe Louis so lethal in rematches?

He took notes in between rounds with opponents he struggled against. These were then scrawled on the inside of his gloves for the return.

 

Point of historical accuracy, Louis was trailing on two of the three cards when he knocked out Walcott in the rematch.

 

There was very little footage of most of his opponents before he met them the first time.

Part of it was probably that he simply had a better idea what to expect.

 

He was an elite fighter and elite fighters are able to not be psychologically damaged from the success their opponents had, are able to use the mistakes they made to perform better rather than dwelling on them, that’s one of the main things that separates the elite from the decent, how they react to poor performances/losses, whether they dwell on it and doubt themselves, or whether they’re able to use it as motivation and just think tactically about it and use it to better themselves.

 

Blackburn a veteran of many fights knew what he was looking at when Louis lost, his advice was gold and at some point Louis probably knew as much as his teacher.

 

Well yes but we’ve only got highlights - a fighter can lose rounds whilst hatching a plan, making a feint stick, bringing there guard down etc all take work that might not score much. Nunn vs Toney?

 

Because whenever a fighter had success against him he tried getting rid of them as quick as possible. At least after Schmeling I and Braddock. In a rematch this meant going straight for the kill. In terms of Schmeling he had two years to obssess over it, with Baer the rematch started where the first one picked off.

After the Mauriello fight and the subsequent layoff Louis seemingly lost his ability to do this.

 

I am making a point that may not be popular but very well may be true and that is that he was not the smartest fighter that ever lived ... his physical skills were amazing but his ability to shift gears in a bout were limited ... however when reprogrammed between bouts he was brutal ...

 

Joe Louis was an elite level heavyweight. Obviously Max Schmeling saw a flaw in some part of Louis's game that enabled him to repeatedly drop right hands over Louis jab and eventually ko him in the 1st fight.
What did Louis do to remedy this in their 2nd fight?
He didn't give Schmeling the chance to set his trap again by closing the distance, and forcing him into a shoot out there's no way in hell he could win . were the defensive liabilities in Louis's game still their? Sure they were but Schmeling didn't get the chance to find them.
Louis did what elite/ great fighters do. Learn from mistakes made. Adjust , and if they're still prime and physically capable, come out the 2nd time and simply destroy the opponent, leaving no doubt their 1st go around was more of a fluke than anything else.
Azumah Nelson did that a few times as well.
One of his best examples was against Jeff Fenech.

 

I don't disagree with you here, but it should be noted that Blackburn was out of the picture by the time of the Conn and Walcott rematches.

 

I didn’t know that but I’ll still say I did mention Louis would know as much as Blackburn at some point… also I wrote this in the same thread on the topic of the Walcott bouts…
“Well yes but we’ve only got highlights - a fighter can lose rounds whilst hatching a plan, making a feint stick, bringing there guard down etc all take work that might not score much. Nunn vs Toney?” And like always you’ve taught me something.

 

Louis was lethal full-stop, which lends itself to the opponent being in serious trouble if he fought Louis multiple times. He was as dangerous a two-fisted heavyweight as there has ever been, so the odds of coming out unscathed were reduced the more you fought him. If he figured you out, chances are he takes you out - that gets overlooked when talking about how well he made adjustments between fights (as opposed to within them). It's not like he was shutting people out on the cards in rematches.

His performances could be uneven, and he seemed to be the type of fighter who was more effective when he had an edge and focus coming into the fight. In rematches he was invariably coming in with something to prove.

 

I’d have to disagree. Some pretty big names in the sports history have failed to recapture their unbeaten selves following a defeat.

 

Walcott also knocked him on his ass early in that fight, he was whipping Joe. Joe was past it by that point but he still had enough left when Walcott gave him an opening. Joe said later that's the last moment during his entire career where he really felt "right."