What did Jack Johnson think of Joe Louis?

There was a thread here wondering what a 90+ year Johnson would have thought and discussed with Ali? Well, Johnson was alive for much of Louis championship run, as the first champ black champ since him.

Did he give much opinion on what he thought of Louis and did they actually talk?

 

After watching him fight Jack's opinion was that Joe could hit hard but that his stance was all wrong. There are written accounts that there was bad blood between Johnson and Louis' trainer Jack Blackburn which contributed to the souring of relations between Joe and Jack. Initially they got on quite well,apparently.

 

I think Johnson resented Louis, even though he was adamant that his critiques were merely professional. Louis got all the love from America that Johnson never got, and I think that dug inside his skin like a dagger. Louis being trained by Blackburn, who Johnson also hated, probably didn't help things.

 

There's that too.

 

Why did Johnson hate Blackburn?

 

Because Blackburn cooked him one time when they sparred.

 

I believe he wanted to train a white hope to fight him.

 

Johnson had one of if not the biggest ego in boxing history, he didnt like other fighters period. His attitude towards Louis was bad for many reasons, but he would have never beaten Joe Louis. Louis would have eaten him for breakfast.

 

JOHNSON beats louis like a red headed step child..superior defensively and could work on the inside like no other. Most boxing experts had johnson ranked as the greatest of all time until ali for a reason. He was that good.

 

Under his own ruleset, maybe.

Under modern rules, Louis beats Jack like a red headed step child that’s out for vengeance.

 

Lil' Artha' accurately predicted Schmeling's win over Louis, not because Joe brought his left back low after a jab, but because he was off balance when he unloaded it. I'd have to review 50 Years at Ringside, but Johnson may have said this to Nat Fleischer.

Jack Blackburn himself complained before that match about Louis playing golf too much, which caused him to keep his hands too low. Blackburn himself favored ping pong as a good game for a boxer to play.

A third bout between Louis and Schmeling might have been interesting. Max was impressive in his single round one punch starching of Heuser before 70,000 fans in his comeback from Louis II. Joe did what he should have done in their rematch, forcing Schmeling into retreat before unloading that paralyzing right to the body, but a rubber match, which Louis should've won, wouldn't have been a single round blowout. Each would've known what to expect in a third go round.

Blackburn is supposed to have privately said that Johnson would have beaten Louis because Johnson was a mover. Also, originally, given the choice, a young JJW was preferred over Louis for Blackburn to train. JJW with Blackburn would've been hell, and Jersey Joe wouldn't have been on wartime hiatus. Louis always had issues with the shifty feinting of a Pastor or JJW, and Johnson certainly had that quality.

 

^ Typical example of the modernists coming in and pretending that the old time fighters are in any way worse than the greats of yore. Mind you, Johnson himself would have been taken to the cleaners by Jock "fence post" Jockson, the famous brawler of the Klondike gold fields. He had that old school mining toughness alright.

 

NAT FLIESHER WHO SAW BOTH DURING THEIR PRIME SAID JOHNSON WAS SUPERIOR AND WOULD WIN EASILY. ONCE AGAIN STOP LISTENING TO DEMPSEY LOVING BURT SUGAR.

 

I can't recall a time where I've actually valued Bert's opinion, or Nat's really. Fleischer is as biased towards the old timers as they come.