A Creaky Louis Stopping A Game Freddie Beshore

It was all he really had. It was a power jab in the truest sense. But fast it wasn't any longer.

 

What I would notice about Louis in the fifties is that while he had been dominant in earlier years, he failed against the top fifties men as one would expect.

I think a more interesting question is why later generations have been dominated by past it champions (Ali in the mid to late 70's, Foreman in the 90's, Vitali and Wlad in the last few years)

A fading older champion losing to younger men is certainly a weak argument for that being a weak era.

A fading older champion winning against his younger rivals raises far more questions.

 

Look at all these posts arguing Louis was prime in the 1950s...unbelievable.

 

Louis was in the "peak" of his prime in 1951. His outstanding KO over a 36 year old Lee Savold confirms this.

 

If Louis had landed his right hand on Marciano in 51, what would have happened?

 

There is some debate on weather or not Louis was still somewhat serviceable in the early fifties despite being well passed it. To those who say "yes" I agree with him that he was. This made for a respectable win for a rising contender in Rocky Marciano. But when matching Marciano up against other greats, using the Louis victory makes for a weak argument. In all honesty its not preposterous to think that Tommy Morrison might have beaten this version of the Brown Bomber. Joe could still box and had some snap behind that jab. But the lightening fast reflexes and combinations were long gone, as were his stamina and punch resistance. He basically went from going through the giants of the division like they were melted butter to barely stopping or decisioning journeyman and fringe contenders 9-12 years later. The layoff during the war years didn't help either. Louis could still fight and carried the name "Joe Louis" but that's about all that can be said for him in 1951...

 

Marciano keeps getting shorter on ESB, like 5'11 was not short enough, Tyson was a bout 5"10 ....I have seen many of Shavers fights and live and while he could crack he lacked stamina and could not through punches in bunches for long, Thus the long list of guys he hurt or dropped that when on to stop or beat him, he was not a good finisher. SHAVERS WAS 6'FT EVEN and still did well with his home run right, he just fizzled as a pattern. Some guys are not meant for the amateurs 3 rounds and many say Marciano got robbed vs Wallace but when you get taken out on a stretcher 2X at the top of your amateur career by a 5"10 5"11 guy my thinking is that height would not be the issue.

It is very hard to pick winners with the decades or Era's IMO so much has changed and its hard to evaluate what was lost and what was gained.

What I have noticed that despite the decline of some of the ATG's in history it usually takes a great fight to beat them dominantly and in the case of Ali-Holmes, Kovelev-Hopkins, Tyson-Holmes, Marciano-Louis, Dempsey-Tunney...this was the case

 

well, Ali,Lyle, Cobb,Stander,Stallings,Mercado,Quarry,Holmes were all in that same position against Earnie but came out victorious so it is a pattern with Shavers

 

Ali claimed that Earnie hit him harder than anyone he ever fought, which says a lot coming from a guy who's chin felt the power Liston, Foreman, Frazier, M. Foster, Norton, etc, etc. Mercado fought earnie past prime and got decked. Cobb fought him past prime and took a beating until Shavers gassed.. Ron Lyle got decked and very nearly beaten. Quarry was fortunate to get him outta there before Earnie landed anything big. Stander fought Shavers when they were both nobody.

 

but other than Norton and old Ellis and a 7 fight Young who did he finish off that was a top guy, even Vicente Rondon who was KO'd by middleweights went the distance with Earnie so something must be said for punching in bunches as opposed to the bomb

By the way I had ringside to Shavers-Ellis and after being shook Shavers landed the bomb on Jimmy and it was indeed a bomb