1940 Joe Louis vs James Toney at HW

The first time may be like the first Godoy fight ... the rematch would be anything from Godoy 2 to John Henry Lewis ..

 

If anyone can stop Toney, it's prime Louis. I see Louis stopping him late.

 

As much as I love Toney I like Louis and his precision punching in this one. Toney is a great fighter in the pocket but that is not the blueprint to beat Louis. Louis seemed to struggle with movement or at least that is what Conn, Walcott and Charles had success deploying against him. Another thing that Louis was masterful with is feigning with his punches and throwing the opposite hand which I could see being troublesome for a counterpuncher like Toney. I don't think Louis gets him out of there but I do think he takes a UD in a fight where Toney has his moments but ultimately comes up short against the precision and timing of Louis.

 

By the time Toney was fighting at Heavyweight he was too fat to really use his feet properly. His crafty style, the feints and slips were still there but he couldn't have got away from Joe who had genius, minimal footwork.
I think Joe would have pinned him and banged him, maybe not over, but to a stoppage between 4 and 6.

 

I think Toney gets killed here. Louis’s fast handed combinations would eat through Toney’s defense and James would be getting hit with power and accuracy like he’s never experienced. I realize Toney was never stopped in 90 pro fights and even proved to be somewhat competitive at heavyweight if only moderately. But this is a ludicrous match for him to be in

 

Toney looks good for short periods of the fight but it's Louis who ultimately drills him. Joe kos the durable Toney in 12.

 

Toney outboxes him to a UD. But which Toney? I'll take Jirov through Holyfield to beat Louis. Toney at his best is a better version of Walcott and Walcott really won the first fight

 

Then maybe try to use prime Louis instead of post war version as well?

 

How did you score the first fight?

 

The only wrong answer here is Louis by ko.

Louis should win on points.

 

I can only go on highlights but it looked emphatic for Walcott. And Louis supposedly told Walcott that he deserved the nod.

 

I see Lewis, Bowe, Frazier, Liston, Tyson all stopping Toney as well .. very possibly Dempsey and Marciano too .. Toney was an exceptional fighter but did not not exceptional heavyweight ..

 

For a short window - Jirov (not HW but was by old time standards), Holyfield and Booker he was. After he lost any discipline he went downhill fast