Power gap between Fitz and Louis?

I went for not that much.

 

Walcott's statement was pertaining to a 34 year old Louis. The footage doesn't support the claim that Rocky hit harder.
I read about old timers comparing Fitz to Dempsey, saying that Dempsey didn't have to wear his man down to knock him out. Jeffries said Fitz would have been better if he'd been bigger, having a bit more of a punch.
With these two statements I'd say Louis had a considerably harder punch. Anyone imagine Fitz taking Levinsky or Schmeling out in 1?

 

Walcott fought Louis in 1948, at the tail end of Louis's
career,(Should've been) . Conversely , when Walcott fought Marciano, it was
in 1953, and he was at the tail end of his career.
Walcott didn't fight the best version of Joe Louis,
and he wasn't at his best when he faced a peaking Marciano.
I doubt theirs any real gap in the power of Louis in comparison
to Marciano.
If anything Louis hit harder prime vs prime. Louis was the bigger
man, with better technical skills and athleticism.

 

Louis had a significant edge in handspeed to Fitzsimmons & I would argue, better delivery system. These things will exaggerate the difference in brutality of outcome, but purely assessing power, I don’t know that Louis would be leaps & bounds better, & that’s me praising Fitzsimmons’ punch, definitely not doubting Louis’.

 

I don't see Fitz destroying Schmeling's spine with a punch either way.

Levinsky looked like he ran into a wall when he was first knocked down. Abe Simon was getting blasted back as Louis pummeled him. I really struggle to.envision the 165 lbs Fitzsimmons doing that.

Stylistically he may have been similar to Louis, but when both of them maximize their physical ability and propel themselves off the ground into leaping hooks or explosive crosses, do you really see a man 40 lbs lighter producing the same concussive effect Louis would?
A 190 lbs man such as Dempsey, I would believe, but not Fitz. He hit as hard as a man of his size possibly could, and the same can be said for Louis, which is why I think Louis vastly out performed him in terms of damage.
Jeffries fought Fitz and still thought Dempsey was a more impressive puncher, and Louis was demonstrably even better than Jack.

 

Louis in the 18 months between the Mauriello and Walcott fights lost his power and despite weighing more than he did in his prime it never returned. So Walcott wouldn't know how hard prime Louis hit.

Fitz is more powerful than prime Louis because he knocked out his 4 heaviest opponents in 1-2 rounds while weighing 155-170 giving up as much as 140 pounds. 3 of them were debutants but the point is he had the power to do that. Tyson needed another 60-65 pounds to be Tyson, Langford albeit being much smaller needed another 35-50 to knock out Wills and Anderson who were 210ish.

 

I'd bet more force in Louis punches, more power in Fitzs punches, and about equal in energy in their punches.

Louis was very efficient.

 

Jeffries named Choynski as the hardest puncher he faced.

 

You have to take into account the quality of the opponents and the size of the gloves.

 

Louis wouldn't have finished Schmeling in 1 if it wasn't a literal propaganda charade fixed by the president

Rocky's Suzie Q was likely superior to Louis' right, but Louis had the better two hand combination power, kind of like Shavers had more one punch power in his right than Tyson but Tyson was clearly the superior two handed combination puncher

 

I do. In terms of measuring power even if they truly didn't know how to box you need a certain amount of force to put someone that big down. And he did this consistantly against his 4 biggest opponents on record. While 3 were debutants Dunkhorst was a solid fighter.

Dunkhorst got knocked out by Butler in 6 rounds when he weighed 50 less. But Fitz weighed 90 less and did it in 2. Dunkhorst also had 2 draws with Armstrong twice and lasted 22 rounds against Ruhlin. Armstrong had an 88% KO rate and his only two decision wins were 6 rounders against "colored" HW champs Childs and Strong. Dunkhorst did not have a glass chin.

 

Michael Spinks proved to be a surprisingly good HW, and a mere two bouts before Holmes I, the Jinx weighed in at just 170 pounds for David Sears. Fitz was actually more compact than the lanky 6'2-1/2" Michael (whose measurements were close to Louis) being two inches shorter.

Sullivan called Fitz, "A fighting machine on stilts." He had an enormously powerful blacksmith's upper body. He knocked out one guy with a shot to the forehead, and shattered the wrist of another who was blocking a punch. A few rounds prior to the final solar plexus shot, he landed an earlier one on Corbett, and we very clearly see how badly it hurt Corbett, who unsuccessfully tried to disguise the damage with a few quick jabs and fancy footwork.

His upper body was by no means skinny, he did get off the deck to take the title, and seems to have been lacking in speed more than power.