Ali is all wrong for Louis

I've always thought the exact same thing.

Some people make a fuss about Cooper dropping Ali but miss the point that Ali saw no big threat in Henry and we all saw what happened when he got up after that knockdown and went to work.

Imo, Ali would not take Louis lightly for one second and would stay on the outside, using the jab and that right hand lead, building up points and slowly busting Joe up as the fight went on and i see Louis taking a beating over the distance and end up looking similar to Frazier in Manilla.

Glad to see i am not alone in my views punchy.

 

I agree. Nobody is likely to finish even a past prime Ali, & his great advantage in foot speed would be very telling.

 

I won't say Louis does not stand a chance, he is in with that against anyone.
The first Conn fight persuades me that Ali takes this by clear decision and he might drop Louis along the way.
Slowish feet and a less than granite chin reinforce my pick.
I think Louis would have more success with his jab than his power shots, body punches might be a live option for him.
Louis has the capability to floor Ali at any time but, if he got him on ***** street would he be able to finish the job?
I don't think so. Ali by decision.

 

I agree with McVey that of course one as great as Louis always stands a chance, but it's slim given the styles, yeah. Nothing blasphemous about that statement.

 

How do people think Louis approaches the fight? If he tries to go charging after Ali he's getting beaten badly - Louis just does not have the speed of foot or the workrate to make that game plan work.
I'd assume Louis would hang back and not try to get close to Ali, but rather make Ali come to him while keeping his hands high and working behind a stiff jab. We know that could cause Ali problems, and this time he'd be in against the best all round puncher, and with the fastest hands, that he'd ever faced.
I'm trying hard here, but not even convincing myself if I'm honest - I think Ali takes this. But as with the others, I don't agree that Louis does not stand a chance.

 

Early in his career Louis assessed him as not having a clue about fighting off the ropes and said that's where he would be if he was fighting himself. This was before we found out Ali had a top chin and could adapt and improvise ,something that Louis could not readily do.

 

ali is definitely a nightmare for anyone, I think joe has a good chance though.
The way Louis sat over to jab could offset ali's own jab, rhythm and balance like norton did. he could then back ali up in relative safety, then just as ali attacked - step back and launch those beautiful accurate fight ending counters.
And joe was a master at punishing technical deficiencies and ali had a lot of them.
I think joe could confuse and outbox ali like this, though ali had an all time great chin I think joe could get the stoppage if he lands consistently enough on the counter.
Tough fight but Joe could definitely do it.

 

For whom is Ali "right"?

 

Ali can run, but he can't hide...

 

That and Ali was 22 years old with about 18 pro fights. That said I would have to give Joe Louis a chance against just about anybody, even though I'd heavily favor Ali to win.

 

I don't think it is beyond the bounds of possiblity that Cooper might have dropped Louis with that punch if Joe was at the same stage of his pugilistic development as Ali.:think

 

That was indeed a massive left hook that Henry hit Clay with. I think anyone could have been dropped or at the very least staggered by it.

 

This about sums it up for me. While I believe that Louis had the heart, skill and combination punching ability to land meaningfully on Ali, I'm not sure that he could do it often enough to finish the job or win the love of the judges. Muhammad was noticeably quicker on film, possibly had a slight reach, fell into the mold of boxer types who could hang in there and trouble Louis and had a chin that was beyond proven against big hitters.

 

eddie Futch said that Joe louis would have beaten Ali, and done so easily. He was more than a little bit familiar with both louis and Ali, and had forgotten more about boxing and how it is done than any of us will ever know.
The movement of Conn and Ali, especially the young Ali were different things. First, Conn, at 170, was faster afoot than Ali, who was 40 pounds heavier. Second, Ali just moved to be moving. At the time he was hailed as a master of the science of wasted motion. Conn moved much smarter, because he was a better fighter than Ali was in the mid 1960s. He had learned how to fight against guys like Zivic, Krieger, Apostoli, etc...Middle and welters that move faster and are almost always smarter than heavyweights.