Who says Joe Louis couldn't punch anymore in 1950?

Louis could still punch in '50, but he had no more reflexes or real speed.... His power was still there, but he had slowed to a crawl.... Plus, by 1950, poor Ol' Louis looked age 50, as well....

MR.BILL

 

I agree with this post, and your prior one, which astonishes me.

 

You have said before that you pretty much agree with what I say and think I am a fine poster. We'll just never agree on Johnson.

 

Foreman had the same issue in 1995 that Louis had in 1950... When Foreman got to be about age 46 in 1995, his punches lost all snap to them..... Foreman was still strong as an Ox, but by 1995 and at age 46, Foreman was pushing his punches and had become too slow to force the KO..... Still, he was a good fighter until the end..... Just ask Shannon Briggs......

MR.BILL

 

No we never will,but we agree on Frazier, and many other aspects of boxing.
You think I love Lil Arthur , actually I think he was a lying, contradictory ****, but a very gifted, and courageous one.We both agree he should have fought the best black challengers ,but differ on whether the $$$$$ was really there for black v black matches.Newspaper talk does not convince me, and the £3,000 offered by the National Sporting Club for Johnson to defend against Langford in London , was derisory.

Quite a few on here believe your preferences in heavyweights are coloured by their complexion, ie Jeffries and the Klits ,all whiter than white. I have an open mind on it.

 

I take if you must have been absent in the days when I defend Holmes, Mayweather ( until recently ) Lewis, and others, who are as dark as the ace of spades.

My picks and posts are based on what I think far more than any rooting interest.

 

the run of fighters louis faced between the charles and marciano fights were a good level. Louis beat great fighters in his peak but his comeback opponents were certainly beter than roper, dorazio, paycheck,harry thomas, al mccoy and tony musto who he earlier fought in title fights. musto took a peak louis into the 9th and was stopped on a cut. tell me brion, savold and jimmy bivins was not an improvement on those guys?

 

Does this have anything to do with you trying to 'up' Marciano's chin, saying he took Louis' best shots flush, and they hadn't diminished much since his prime?

 

Savold wasn't any better than Dorazio or Musto in his actual prime. Brion was a fringe contender like they were. Bivins was well washed up.

I wouldn't say they were an improvement.

 

al mccoy? harry thomas? come on.

 

Is your point to prop up Rocky and legitimize the Louis of 51 by using this slow motion stoppage of a retired 187 pound career nobody?

I'm not sure anyone wrote that Joe could not hit the heavy bag. The point was if Louis had the speed, reflexes, legs, timing, stamina and power to challenge a physically prime Marciano. The answer is clearly no and any attempt to portray the Louis that fought Marciano as anything but a faded ex-champion is simply incorrect.

How would Louis of 1950 do against 28 year old versions of :

Patterson
Liston
Ali
Frazier
Foreman
Holmes
Tyson
Lewis
Holyfield
Wlad K.
Vitali K.

I say he loses badly to all of them. We already know he loses to Ez and would have likely done so to Walcott.

Louis still had decent power although nothing like his prime. Even if he hit like Shavers in 50 which he surely did not , it is irrelevant as he lacked all the other tools necessary to compete against top level competition.

 

^^^ Nails it.

 

joe louis did not have to be in his prime to still be a world class fighter.