Would Michael Dokes clear Joe Louis entire resume

No. Loses to Schmeling, Galento, Walcott

 

Not if his coke abuse matches his actual real career.

 

In isolated head to head matchups he’d have a chance against that field. But could he replicate 26 title wins over an 11.5 year period? No. Michael Dokes did not have that sort of discipline or focus and nor did he age very well.

 

Discipline believe it or not is a vital role for a pro boxer and without it you will eventually come up short sooner then latter.
Dokes had horrible self discipline which is sad because he had some of the fastest hands st heavy I've ever seen. But 0 discipline.

 

No. Too inconsistent. Plus I'm not sure if he beats Schmeling, Walcott and Charles even at 100%.

 

Not a chance.
He only made one successful defence of the WBA strap, he's not making 25 .

 

Nope.

 

Tom Waits said it best: I have no pride. I have no shame. You gotta make it rain.

And rain it would, with no pride or shame, as the punches come down like drops of water to the dark, thirsty earth of the lot. Man was made of clay like Enkidu and we all know how powerful he was, even in all of his hirsute mortality and nudeness. Just like Enkidu, he would be wild; he would be free; he would be strong and he would then learn to eat bread and drink wine. Michael Dokes learned a lot of those things alright but the power was always there, from the earliest days, borned in his birthday suit, which was tailored by the holy spirit and delivered by a phoenix married to a stork. I think we can say he'd make it interesting. Michael Dokes was, for all intents and purposes, emblematic of the human condition, as a fighter is emblematic of symbolism, ashes and dust, in the wind, flapping as Enkidu did beforeth he was clothed. Ready to test a demigod, ready to slay the heavenliest bull, ready to prove himself, was Michael Dokes.

 

The 80s party scene probably looked a lot different than the 30s/40s. The availability of coke was probably a lot greater in the 80s as well. Maybe there was less trouble to get into back then and Dokes is a little more disciplined? Assuming he is, there are no Louis title challengers that I have a whole lot of confidence in to beat Dokes, and there are several easy fights in there for him. Only a select few who might genuinely trouble him. Not sure this is quite the grind that people think it would be for Dokes.

 

Did Dokes have the power to ko guys early? Hard to make 25 defenses if you are not a big hitter. Eventually you are going to be worn out from going the distance over and over again.

 

If we're only talking Dokes against the guys Louis defended his title against...

Prime Dokes was 6'3" 215ish, and probably faster than most of Louis' title challengers, despite having 20 lbs. or so, and a few inches on many of them. He's going to KO the Jack Ropers of the World, and probably early.

Louis fought mostly White American Challengers, and aside from Willard & Marciano off the top of my head, over the last 100+ years, that group has only had Heavyweight Title fight success against other white guys. This goes all the way back to the John L. Sullivan days. That's an awful lot of data folks. Without the color line in effect, they've rarely done squat in actual title fights, and whatever little success there was came against past prime fighters like Johnson, Charles, & Walcott. There's no name on Louis' resume from that particular group of fighters that leads me to believe it would be any different if a prime Dokes replaced Louis. This is not an attack on anybody...I'm White American myself, just an observation. It's extremely rare that America produces elite white Heavyweights that could compete at the top level in any era, or who have even proven themselves to be truly elite in their own era, at least IMO. Lazy argument, I know, but I'm very skeptical of that particular group of Heavyweights. From what I've seen with my own eyes, seems like they mostly stunk back then, and haven't evolved at all...generally speaking. That's who Louis mostly feasted on. Would have been interesting though to see how Dokes would have dealt with Conn, who was the best of the group in my view, but was very small.

Schmeling? Maybe this is difficult for Dokes, maybe not. Hard to tell. Max was blown out in 1 that night, and went 4-2 for the rest of his career. Hard to tell exactly what he had left entering the Louis rematch. I think I'd lean Dokes in this one. Max at his absolute best perhaps has a chance, but that's not where my money would have went.

Walcott? That was a puzzle that had been solved TWELVE times by the time he met Louis. Lesser guys than Dokes pulled it off. Not sure why Dokes couldn't be the favorite here, assuming he still had something left since this would have been his 25th & 26th defenses.

Of all Louis opponents, I suppose Max Baer at his best would be the guy I may gamble on to beat Dokes. I don't believe he was as skilled, but he looked to have enough power in that right hand to possibly pull the upset.

 

It may have to do with economic conditions rather than genetics. Usyk, while Eastern European as opposed to the traditional Western European descended American, is white and he has dominated his era.

I suspect that in the post ww2 era, most white American families simply wouldn't allow their sons to box. If Usyk grew up in a 90's middle class US family, i doubt he would be any good even with the same parents.

I still don't think Dokes had enough consistency to dominate any era. But i can see the best version of Dokes beating a lot of Louis's opponents. I just don't think he could do it night in and night out over the course of 12 years.

 

Eastern Europeans are apparently a completely different breed. They've had some excellent Heavyweights over the last 25-30 years or so. White Americans? Not so much.

You may be right about Dokes. He's far from an ATG, and I don't have complete trust in him to win all 26 fights vs. Louis' challengers, but I trust many of the guys on Louis' resume even less. I'm also assuming a consistently disciplined Dokes, something that never really existed, so I know I'm reaching a little. 30s/40s however, aside from Louis was a lot softer schedule than the 80s IMO.