Buster Douglas vs Joe Louis (realistic)

In all honesty I think Douglas has the tools to upest him.

 

On his best night I think he can really make this a fight, but even on his best night he still managed to get dropped by a Tyson who was more concerned with Japanese prostitutes than the gym. I think Louis gets to him eventually.

 

The crucial difference between Louis and Tyson, is that Louis would not take Douglas for granted.

He would not be remis in his preparations.

If Douglas brought his fifth gear, which he very rarely did, then Louis always had a sixth gear when the going got tough.

Louis would have won somehow, and today his detractors would be asking how he came so close to disaster against Douglas, who lost every major fight of his career.

He woudl get more stick for it than the Goddy fight.

 

Douglas would be the most skilled big man on Louis roster. He had the tools to upset the Brown Bomber but I still pick Louis to win

 

I wouldn't argue any of this, but against whom did Louis need that 6th gear when the going got tough? How did that competiton compare to the 6'4" 230, motivated version of Douglas?

A little difficult to gauge Louis in h2h scenarios like this IMO. He was excellent for sure, but how many of his opponents (as they were when Louis fought them) do you see being a much of a factor in the 70s or beyond? Hard to tell how big a leap he could have taken in competition and still have been successful. Aside from Louis himself, his era was rather weak compared to the 70s-today, especially in a h2h sense.

 

I mostly agree with you and would absolutely favor Louis 10 out of 10 times. But to be fair Louis had some flat performances and close calls. The question is could 5th gear Douglas capitalize on one of those nights ? I don’t personally think he would but I can see how some might believe so

 

Are you absurd ? He'd crush him as easy as Holyfield did ...

 

C'mon, Louis struggled with far lesser fighters than Douglas. If scrubs like Braddock and Galento are putting your ass on the canvas what could a motivated Douglas do?