He was legitimately one of the best contenders at that time. A very tough fighter by anyone’s standards. If Galento is referring to himself as the best man Louis ever beat then he would be overreaching by a lot
You know, when I think of him, I don't know where I rate him. No, not as good as those two you mentioned. He was just a free swinging, 5' 9" little fat heavyweight with a beer gut. He was like a carnival side show. I'm sure he was strong as hell and crazy to boot. In a street fight, I guess he could take anyone, but in a pro boxing ring is different. The heavies of that time never impressed me. Maybe I rate him more along the lines of Lionel Butler, lol?? I don't think he fares well against better quality heavyweights.
Max Baer James Braddock Schmeling Carnera Walcott Pastor Conn Sharkey Godoy Bivins Nova Some of the others like Buddy Baer are debatable
I like how Louis went about his title reign. Let's be perfectly frank, he didn't have THAT much good competition to fight, so he went with the next best thing, defending his title with insane regularity. If there aren't any Fraziers or Foremans around, you better then be pretty active to offset that. Give the man credit, it was almost as if he could anticipate all these years later a bunch of boxing nerds one day trying to weigh his volume with Ali's comparative quality of opposition so that he could at least make the race a close one.
