What were some of the largest weight disadvantages Joe Louis had to deal with in his career? There was an earlier discussion about (ATG's), & Heavyweight fighters not being included or handicapped against other fighters who were capable of moving up weight classes & defeating bigger opponents. But fighters such as Louis who were comparativly small Heavyweights (About 195 Lbs.) Yet still on occasion defeated much bigger men.
Giving Away weight in fact often worked to Louis' advantage. He gave away 64 lbs. to Carnera, 52, 48, 35 and 44 lbs. in his fights with Simon and Baer., and 33 lbs to Galento. All these were fights that he won by ko. The more there was to hit, the easier Louis won. What could give him problem were mobile fighters and/or fighters who evaded punches by using a crouch and such fighters werre mostly smaller.
"Three of those left hooks could fell a Goliath..." or something to that effect regarding Louis as quoted in the book THE SWEET SCIENCE. My first post to say for the most part I enjoy reading what you have to say and have learned much from your observations and mostly level headed judgments. Though I must say that somethimes the fantasy bouts proposed are silly as is the Marciano v Too Tall in another thread. A point made there by many of your sober members.
I for one think so. I´d favour only Louis and Ali over Lewis. Imo many small hws don´t get enough credit fighting bigger guys, especially Louis and Patterson.
I think in general we do. Let's not forget that in general the proposed matchups involve all-time greats. A Lennox Lewis is an entirely different proposition to Abe Simon. About the only thing they have in common is great size. I'd pick a Rocky Marciano against most heavyweights, regardless of size, that are merely averagely skilled. But against a real standout heavyweight, one that has a big size advantage over him, I'd be foolish to ignore the size gap.
Skilled boxer punchers always tee off on big slow fighters who can't jab or defend well. Louis used Simon, B Baer, and Carnera as punching bags.
