From the footage I've seen of Johnson I'd say Joe punches holes through him. Boxing seemed to evolve tremendously in the 30 years between Johnson and Louis in terms of technique,combination punching and strategy. Johnson was obviously a great fighter but his clinching,one puch at a time,lunging style wouldn't work a jot against Louis. Johnson was considered a great defensive fighter and he was very adept at picking off single punches in mid air but Louis was possibly the greatest combination puncher in heavyweight history and Johnson wouldn't be able to cope with the devastating fullisade of power shots Louis would deliver upstairs and down. Johnson seemed to lunge with his own punches a lot as well which is a recipe for decapitation against a fighter with the power and natural timing Louis possessed. That said the availiable footage of Johnson isn't that good but he certainly doesn't look anywere near as brilliant as Louis does so going by that I'd say Louis beats him comfortably. Louis KO 4.
Interesting match up. Jack would cause Joe many problems for however long the fight lasted. He would parry,clinch and counter whatever Joe threw at him. Louis would eventually catch up,however and score a late tko.
As they were at their best, would pick Louis, but wouldn't be suprised if it went the other way. If they come along at the same time and develop in analogy to how they developed in their own times, I feign no hypothesis as to how the encounter would turn out.
