So in this scenario his key wins are Carnera, Levinsky, Baer, Uzcdun, Retzlaf, Sharkey, Paster, Braddock, Farr, Schmeling. Might still be enough to see him in some top ten lists today.
He would have been champ for exactly one year and made just four title defenses. Joe would have been a relative blip on the radar and ranked below guys like Tommy Burns and with guys like Chris Byrd. Ranking him any higher is due to the fact we know what actually happened. The reality is that he won the title against one of the worst-ever undisputed champs in Braddock and his defenses would have been against Farr, Mann, Thomas and aging Schmeling who had been world champion six years earlier and was just 8-2-1 in the interim. It is Louis' long reign that cemented his greatness and without that he was a "I wonder how good he could have been." and nothing more.
I say he'd would have been #1 by far, because nobody else in history would have been able to deal with the likes of these dudes... This content is protected
Agreed Fogger. What stand s out in most minds regarding Louis,is that long time as champ. If he goes after Schmeling then he'd be rated a lot lower imo.
If he retired after avenging his loss to Schmeling he wouldn't be nearly as highly regarded as he is right now. His dominance and number of title defenses was what made him considered as one of the greatest HWs of all time. Not to mention his other important victories such as Billy Conn and Jersey Joe Walcott.
Nice one,Fergy. I reckon he'd still make all time Top 10 heavyweight. But without that long list of defences he would n't be a shoo in for one of the two best.
Honestly, without his dominant title reign I don’t think he’d be ranked very high. Think his record would have been around 38-1 with his only loss avenged which is awesome. But it’s debatable as to weather or not he’d make top 10.
He'd have still been something like 12-1 against rated opposition, including around seven Top-5 contenders and having avenged his only defeat in emphatic fashion. He's probably still got a case for 'The Ten', but it might be considered borderline.