Lennox Lewis VS Joe Louis

Problem is that Joe Louis would have trouble "getting close" to Lennox Lewis. LL was a master of distance and used his height and reach about as well as anyone did. Joe can try to move inside but he would have to get through a bad neighborhood on the way in.

Lennox Lewis had a good jab and that dynamite righthand himself. Joe Louis would have to be very careful and I could see his punch output dropping lower than usual. Lennox wasn't just "big" he was big, skilled and smart. That's a tough combination and world`s above the big guys that Joe Louis faced.

Its possible that Joe Louis could catch Lennox with something and end the fight but the most likely scenario is that Lennox gets him on the way in. Lennox can stay out of range while Joe will always be in Lewis`s range. Not a good formula for success.

Joe Louis was a greater fighter and ahead of his time but if he stepped into Lennox Lewis`s time he would regret it.

 

Louis vs Lewis competition match-up:

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To me it is a clean sweep in the case of head to head. Louis' opponents were greater than every other heavywieght except Muhammad Ali. I do admit that a few of them are debatable.

Joe Louis was the 17th Heavyweight champion in history.

None of this IBF, WBA, WBO etc crap. One title one champion. Out of those 16 before him, he KO'ed 5 of them. Schmeling, Sharkey, Carnera, Baer, and Braddock. Then he ruled the division for half of a generation KO'ing 23 out of 25 challengers. The KO'ed Walcott who would give Lennox serious, serious problems, and fought Charles and Maricano waaaaay past his prime and gave a good account of himself. Louis at least five fighters that weighted over 220 pounds. All by early KO.

I think it is pretty clear that Joe Louis should be favored in just about every heavyweight head to head match up.

 

Anyone who really thinks that Lewis and Klitschko are the two greatest HWs of all time, h2h or otherwise, cannot be taken seriously. It's as simple as that.

 

There are some real Louis nuthuggers in this thread. Good grief.

 

Saying that somebody is a Louis nuthugger is a bit like saying that overvalue winning.

Louis is rated highly because there isn't actualy much more that he could have proven.

 

In his own era, I agree.

But there's some grade A nonsense I'm reading here about his chances to beat a fighter like Lennox, when he never had to tackle anyone remotely like him in his own timeframe, nor the likes of many of his opponents.

The H2H post comparing both men's resumes and giving Louis's opponents a clean sweep was particularly egregious.

 

Foreman and Ali both called Lennox the greatest heavyweight of all time. Foreman numerous times

The 90s is generally considered 1 of the best eras, Lennox's opponents are easily a couple of echelons above Louis's opponents

 

Well Wlad's fighting in a pretty weak era right now. Take away his three biggest threats (Povetkin, Haye and Pulev) and who's left that could remotely give him a competitive fight?

I think your statement holds true only for fighters who fight to their opponents' level, or cut corners in training, underestimate the threat level of a particular pop etc. A truly consistent top level pro should be able to do the business each and every time. The worse his opposition, the better he performs.

Lewis was guilty of the above sins, but he also had a ton of standout performances against some absolute beasts. Even taking into account the size discrepancy, he fought in an era that was considerably more dangerous than the one Louis fought in.

Roy Jones never fought anyone like Marquez, Morales or MAB, but I think we can safely say he beats all of them.

 

Every era is considered weaker than the one that went before. It's human nature, not to be able to appreciate what's right in front of your nose. With hindsight, the 90s was obviously a tremendously deep era.

 

Not every era.

More crucialy, not every champion.

Lewis was not as well regarded in his era as many top 10 heavyweights.

 

Foreman said it as a HBO pundit after the Tyson fight and he said it in the 90s too. George does talk allot of BS so take it with a pinch of salt. Ali said it when they were at a function together, perhaps giving props to a current champ

The period where you had Moorer/Foreman inter changing belt was considered weak mainly because the best fighters weren't champ, ie Lennox/Bowe.

People often considered Holyfield/Lennox less than exciting after having Tyson and then they got Wlad