Bob Foster VS Nikolay Effin' Valuev - 2008 - WBA Heavyweight Title - Take That

Zero against any reasonable version of Louis. He would do the same Frazier did to him just faster.

 

bob was a top 3 light heavy but against bomber joe he would take the count

 

A LHW that likes to mix it up like Foster would stand no chance.

 

Answer to thread title - 0

 

Wrong Style for Foster....Louis makes it quick

 

Any of those versions of Louis would get the job done no later than the third round. Foster could n't hack it with even moderate heavies,let alone the cream,like Ali,Frazier or,hypothetically,Joe Louis.

 

When I look at what Ernie Terrell and Doug Jones did to stop Bob, I just can't see how he manages to survive for any length of time against Joe. He lacked the mobility, strength and punch necessary to defeat world class heavyweights, even relatively smaller ones like Jones. (Bob's chin was not even impervious at 175 when at his peak, as DePaula demonstrated when Foster got cocky. Bob said, "Ali couldn't bust a grape!" That doesn't say good things about his ability to take a shot, as Muhammad bounced him like a basketball.)

 

While I have fun playing the devil's advocate role as much as anybody, it's really challenging for me to make a case for Bob here.

It's kind of tricky when evaluating Foster, if we factor in his boxing background. While competing in the USAF, he was also a coach, and one of his students was Doug Jones. While he may have been lacking in professional experience early on, the level of knowledge and maturity he possessed at that point had to exceed that of most 9-0 fighters considerably. He was already 24 years old when he took on his former pupil, and he had just dropped and decisioned the super seasoned veteran Bert Whitehurst. He was 26 when Terrell beat him, and 27 when Folley took him to school. He was already 30 when he dethroned Tiger.

Actually, I think Bob is an excellent example of why I think a minimum age for consenting to be punched in the head as competition might be appropriate. He made a mature adult decision to box, so his brain wasn't still developing when he took up the sport. He was thus able to begin winning at a championship level at an age when the Quarry boys were finished, and enjoy a law enforcement career after boxing while those poor fellows were dead and buried.

In any event, Bob was never able to compete with world class heavyweights, not when he was young, nor when an experienced champion. He didn't have the chin, ruggedness or mobility, and his punch wasn't really a world class heavyweight knockout blow.

For a light heavyweight to deal with Joe, he'd either have to be a mobile cutie like Loughran, Conn or Pastrano, or somebody who could get under him, crowd him and move him back, a tank like Tiger or Qawi. (Ike handled himself surprisingly well against the lightest version of old Foreman to step in the ring while hideously overweight himself. In peak condition under 175, he might have surprised Louis.)

 

The only way Bob Foster survives Joe Louis is by jabbing, moving, countering and not standing and trading with him. I think he's capable of doing what Billy Conn did to Louis before he got careless but it likely doesn't happen. Foster would try to land hard shots with less movement and wouldn't be able to withstand Joe's power by standing and trading with him. He could last a couple of rounds, due his height and reach, but I'd bet on Joe stopping him within 5.

 

This is true but neither hit like Louis and he did it with both hands.Louis early, Foster is a great LHVY, but could not hack it against good heavyweights,and Louis was a great one.