Joe Louis vs. Vitali Klitschko

good point

 

How do you see Lewis' uppercut and Joe's body punching influencing the proceedings, if at all?

 

agreed

 

This thread has gotten even better in the last day or so. Really informative stuff guys.

 

good point :good

 

Feel free, my good man.

Lewis had a sneaky ploy of holding your head down and uppercutting you though...illegal I know, but he got Grant with such a tactic for the last knockdown.


Seamus is going to have kittens when he reads this thread.

 

(1) marciano was 5'10"/67"
(2) even ali would have been hugely undersized by vitali.
(3) louis would have been badly undersized even against wlad , but (just) against him , he might be able to sneak a power shot (just might + in wlad's worse time)
(4) louis' reach was 74"
(5) in general the height and reach things are HUGELY inflated , not so sure about the 1960's and before.

 

Louis would have disproportionately short arms with a reach of only 74 inches...barely more than Tyson's...I've always thought (and read) it to be 76-77 inches.

 

And Vitali would be badly undersized by Valuev, yes?

Would you pick Nikolai to beat Vitali?

Ali would make Vitali look like he's fighting underwater...hence the Valuev analogy.

 

I've seen the 5'11 and 68" statistics used more than the other but either way an inch doesn't make a big difference. Not really an error worth correcting to be honest.

Ali actually had the same reach as Vitali. He was able to outjab and get out of the way of Terrell, who was 6'6 with a longer reach than Vitali's (and a jab just as good in my opinion). Now Vitali does have a big advantage in weight but I'm not sure if it would matter much. I just don't see Vitali catching up with Ali.

Louis wouldn't be that badly over-sized. Primo Carnera, Buddy Baer, Abe Simon, etc. weren't Vitali or Wladimir but Louis handled them with ease (aside from Buddy catching Louis with one punch early on). The 207-208 pound Louis who fought Simon and Baer in rematches was a peak Joe Louis, in my opinion. Again, all I was arguing is that Louis and Ali were much more suited to fight huge men like Wladimir, Vitali and Lewis than Rocky Marciano.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ovh8VkTxYI[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSt7ziz_XWQ[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91SNCeMgPyM[/ame]

 

Louis's reach was 76".

It is somtimes eroneously cited as 74" but all contemporary sources give it as 76"

 

(1) i guess some one (at least) of you has access to boxrec , cause the last time it was 74" (it was , though now it is 76" , not even the 3rd time they change height or reach) , and it really was 74" in reality , at best.
(2) for those who think that 74" for 6'2" (74" again) is disproportional , i'd say it really is poor , but just look at steve collins : 6"/71" , michalczewski : 6'1" / 70" - no ****ing way he was 6'1" , i saw his fights with tiozzo and hill , DM was 5'10".
bute : 6'2" /70" , bergeron : 6'5" (yeah , right) / 73" (!!!!!)
even check the klits themselves ! poor ! (for their height)
alan green : 6'2"/73"
seriously - check all of today's 'top' smw - bika , mundine , bute , kessler , dirrell , ward - they all have poor reach , and i did forgot some.

only andrade's reach is big (on paper)


and also hopkins and tarver then their reach is ****ing poor and is a well kept secret.
almost every european , both eastern and western , and also majority of the african descended and also native have this kind of reach proportion , also the asians. virtually - some 90% of humanity.

about fighters with impressive reach , even when it is impressive in reality , it is still well inflated on the records.

(3) and no big guy before lewis was anywhere near the level of wlad or vitali

(4) also the big guys back then were used to being in an even BIGGER size advantage that they had against louis/ali , simply because both louis and ali were very big for their time. (that despite even louis was a cw - 207lbs is deep within cutting weight+dieting range of cw - even when cw was 190) , so when they (the big guys) finally did meet a fully grown cw (but a very big hw for that time) like louis , they didn't dwarf him like they were accustomed , same story with ali.


(5) should i repeat that (a prime) tua would have smashed louis' head and vitali would have systematically destroyed him just like all his typical fights ?