Comparing Muhammad Ali to Billy Conn. Ali would dance non stop in 1964-1967, he would not Rope A Dope or choose to slug it out against Joe Louis.
Oddly enough, I could just as easily say, things I hate about this debate is, when Louis fans can't see the obvious stylistic advantage that Ali has. The fighters that troubled Joe the most were quick, elusive and used footwork to set up their punches. Ali has that is spades, and, just so happens to be the fastest HW of foot and punch. Combine that with him also being bigger and likely stronger than Louis, and that all adds up to Ali being the clear favorite for me. I think people saying 50/50 are being a tad disingenuous, and probably like Louis a little better as a fighter or a person; cause to me, when I look at both of them, who they fought, attributes etc, I would bet on Ali winning that fight. I genuinely can't get to 50/50, and that's not to say Louis isn't great, he's the greatest Champion, but not the best h2h HW in my eyes, that is Ali for me. So I'll generally take him over almost anybody right, most times surely, but certainly when I think he holds the stylistic advantage.
The only guy who beat prime Joe Louis was Max Schmeling, who was a flat-footed counter-puncher. "quick", "elusive" "movers" give every fighter trouble though, because they are hard to hit ... because they move around ... everyone is "troubled" by that, to some degree. So Louis would have been too, to some degree. Some will say that Tony Galento gave Louis trouble. Arturo Godoy certainly gave Louis problems. Buddy Baer knocked Louis through the ropes. I guess Louis struggled with all styles.
Of course every fighter is troubled by movement to varying degrees, which is exactly the point, I don't think Louis is the best at dealing with it. That is the inverse here, and the response, you have someone that is one of, if not the best ever at movement and fighting off of it; does the person who is responding have the best tools, or even adequate tools to deal with it right? Louis, in the situations you named, and others struggled to deal with it, with his more patient and methodical movement. Which is again, why Louis is at a tactical and stylistic disadvantage from the start against Ali. Let me ask you, are you saying Louis' style and how it worked against the movers he did faced, was suited to deal with movement better than most ATG HW's would. If so, what is this based on?
