A Contender From The 1960 s/70 s, That Gives Joe Louis Fits??

Off the top of my head? Two fighters, Jimmy Young, Buster Mathis Sr.
Both were good movers, and good counter punchers, both could
give Louis problems early on. But he'd eventually get their
rhythm figured out and chop them down.

 

Most guys from that era would give Joe fits. Three or four could probably beat him.

 

Most guys from that era wouldn't give Tony Galento fits. There has been thousands of active boxers in that period.

 

Seriously ?

 

Ok ok. I meant most of the ten or twenty best.

 

I didn't realize the exemption of champs before I wrote that, so I must take it back.

 

Ron Lyle

 

In the 1st fight, Jimmy Young would trouble Joe. In the rematch, Young would be in BIG trouble!

 

Joe v Folley would be interesting given that Zora modelled his style on Louis - though Joe was the orig. and, by far, bigger, better all round version - Zora was nonetheless an excellent fighter and would present some
Issues.

Octopus Terrell would be the usual hugging, grappling pain he was to a number of opponents. Joe chopped down equally tall and bigger trees in his day but none hugged him with their branches like Ernie will try to do. The thing with Terrell was, when he actually boxed, punched, jabbed etc. he was very good - terrific physical tools - he just didn’t let himself “break out” all that often. Each time Joe connects and hurts Terrell, the harder he will clamp down - Joe by stifled UD.

The question almost seems made for Jimmy Young to be one of the more if not the most favoured answers. Troublesome fight but Joe will eventually catch up with Jimmy.

There’s a few others that could make life difficult for Joe (as they did against many other fighters in reality, Joe wouldn’t be Robinson Crusoe on that score).

Others like Chuvalo, Quarry and Bonavena might be more made to order for Joe, though Ringo could be uniquely awkward but Ellis toughed it out, dropping Oscar twice on his way to a UD - Joe was equipped to do even better - I see Joe beating all of the above 3 - the question would be - could Joe see them off more emphatically than they ever were in their actual careers - though it would be difficult to exceed Foreman’s stoppage of Chuvalo and to a slightly lesser degree, Frazier’s TKO win over George -

With all that, I actually rate Joe a chance of beating the top dog himself, prime Muhammad Ali, so there you go.

IMO, Ali knew exactly the difficulties that Joe could bring to the table, that’s why Ali talked down Joe’s chances against him at every opportunity. LOL.

 

Ron Lyle and Ernie Shavers, two big punchers, but with skill.

 

As others have said Jimmy Young, Joe Louis was quite static and he had few troubles against movers.

Billy Conn in the 1st fight outboxed him, until he decided to slug with Louis and got KO'ed. Ezzard Charles and Jersey Joe Walcott in there 1st meeting also outboxed Joe Louis.

Now i'm not saying Jimmy Young is as good as them, but he would definitely pose a stylistic problem for Joe Louis.

Jerry Quarry decent mover, good counter puncher, good chin, also had a good right hand which people used to say Joe Louis was a sucker for. I could see Quarry maybe dropping Louis with a counter right hand, and giving him some problems early.

Gregorio Peralta good boxer good mover, might also pose a stylistic problem for Joe Louis aswell.

Earnie Shavers just because of his right hand, would pose a danger for Joe Louis.

 

I think an elusive trickster like Jimmy Young would likely be his biggest problem. Maybe Eddie Machen as well ? I wouldn’t favor any contender from those decades to actually beat him though.

 

What skills exactly Shavers had? Earnie was cruder than 95% of boxers from Louis era.

 

Ernie had fast hands and offensive skills. In Jos Louis era he would be skilled, and the skilled punchers could beat him.