Cleveland Williams in the 1930s

Sharkey lost a full quarter of the times he entered the ring. He didn't thrive on anything.

I put Williams/Schmeling at 50/50 on my kindest day to Max.

He would be a dangerous underdog against Louis who routinely fought down to the level of his competition.

 

I think you should take a look on his record against big punchers.

Who did Williams ever beat that was even close to Schmeling? I can answer it quickly - nobody.

Did he? He dominated 95% of his opponents.

 

Why do you think so? Williams would bring nothing unusual to the table for the 1930s HW landscape.

 

Louis would widow Williams wife if they fought.

 

Whole heartedly disagree…he couldn’t clean everyone’s clock in his own era let alone multiple champions. Louis would wreck him.

 

Slobs like Braddock and Galento put Louis on the canvas. Williams, given the same opportunity, might put Joe THROUGH the canvas.

 

My opinion.

 

Yeah he would. Talent.

 

Problem with that is, the era he fought in was not like the era of the 30s. It was easier to be champ in the 30s than it was in the 50s and 60s, because there was a lack of skillful boxers. I don't mind saying it again. Williams would thrash Carnera, Baer, Sharkey, and Braddock (probably not Schmeling though).

 

On the other hand, who did Schmeling beat that was similar to Williams?

 

That's actually an excellent point. I might have to reconsider my H2H ranking of Louis, on that basis. Baer and Galento were never world class fighters which is something I've overlooked for some reason until now.

 

Regarding Loughran, we simply don't know if he won fairly. We don't have the bout in it's entirety, and newspaper accounts, as well as commentators unanimously agreed Loughran won the early rounds, yet this was not shown in the scorecards.

Also Loughran claimed he was told he'd have to get a KO in order to win the bout, and it's confirmed Carnera stomped on his feet repeatedly to the point of injury (most likely intentionally).

Harold Johnson was washed up???!!! What? No offense, but I'll have to assume you're trolling. After defeating Machen, Johnson would go on to unify the light heavyweight title, and lost a razor thin SD to Pastrano.

Does this sound like a washed up fighter to you?

 

I know your game

 

So you really think he was more talented than Sharkey for example? Let's just disagree then...

 

Nobody similar, but he beat quite a few boxers better than Williams. Let's start with Louis who is galaxies ahead of Williams in every aspect possible, but that's not the end. He also outboxed prime Sharkey, knocked out durable and elusive Stribling, beat number one contender Steve Hamas, dominated the series with Uzcudun and he also beat Neusel and Foord who were not amazing, but fought at world level consistently.

Williams best win against green Terrell isn't even close to what Schmeling accomplished in the ring.