Bonecrusher Smith and Mike Weaver vs Joe Louis

He was slow, but it would take rounds and rounds for him to get stopped in his prime. Unless Weaver did something to make Louis hate him and come for him hard in the first, I think he'd do fine.

 

Was he prime when Dokes, Thomas and Bonecrusher Smith finished him before the late rounds? Can’t see someone like that doing well against Louis who was 10x more accurate and intelligent than any of those guys.

 

The Dokes stoppage was insanely early, and mostly due to the Mancini - Kim incident happening not too long before this fight- Which you can see impacted a lot of the sport at the time, leading to premature stoppages often happening in fear of something similar occurring. Past this, the Thomas and Smith fights were after an incident in the Tony Anthony fight where Weaver was hit hard directly on the back of his head in the first round, and Anthony was disqualified. You can see that after the Anthony fight, Mike's durability and resilience takes a dive, as the man who was previously able to go 13 without getting decked against hard hitting Gerrie Coetzee now gets knocked out against Pinklon Thomas in 8. Thomas wasn't exactly known for having a thunderous right hand. You gotta know.

 

I don’t know. I think if Louis got Weaver in trouble early like Dokes did he might finish him right then and there whereas Dokes needed help from the referee stopping the fight early. But weaver was definitely in trouble

 

I just can't really picture Louis trying to steamroll Weaver, it just seems unnecessary and unlike him. Weaver didn't hurt his pride like Schemling did, he's got nothing to prove with Mike.

 

Made pretty short work of Buddy Baer

 

Yeah, but you have to keep in mind that it was after his previous disqualification against Joe Louis. Buddy knocked him down and his manager said that Louis' last knockdown against Baer happened after the bell, so I do think that him taking out BB in one was another bit of revenge.

 

Louis knocked out John Henry Lewis in one round

 

It was also Lewis' final match.

 

He knocked out Abe Simon in one round

EDIT: 6 rounds

 

I think you see my point.
That was also in the rematch, whereas Louis took 13 to knock him out before.