Could Joe Louis beat Mike Tyson?

Another grand statement with no rational explanation. How is anyone supposed to take you seriously mate?

 

Agreed.

The physical advantages either way, are basically non consequential advantages, in fantasy match ups.

Louis is not going to win, based in a modest but helpful range advantage.

Tyson is not going to win based on a few pounds weight advantage.

If he was going to, then I could send in a couple of family members.

This comes down to styles, and it comes down to styles very quickly!

 

I wouldn’t call any of the three of them ‘glorified cans’…limited fighters in some ways,yes, but definitely not cans. And yes Tyson struggled with Tillis’ movement and…in this particular fight…durability. He made Tyson look human.

Smith’s holding and grappling gave Tyson problems, yes. He was unable to get into any kind of rhythm and could hardly find his range throughout.. But Smith was one of Tyson’s more passive opponents, only showing a brief moment of aggression in the last few seconds of the fight. A comprehensive victory for Tyson in the end against an opponent who was simply there to survive.

And as for Mitch Green. If you sayTyson had problems with him, I think you mean he struggled to KO him because apart from that, Tyson dominated Green throughout. He neither hurt Tyson nor made it very competitive. Yes he was still standing at the bell, but apart from that, he didn’t do too much else. He tried to fight at times though in between holding and clinching, unlike Smith, and showed great durability, but unlike Tillis, he never looked as though had any chance of victory in this fight.

Louis himself, despite his numbing KO power didn’t stop everyone he met, especially pre prime…as Tyson was against Tillis and Green…there were a few who saw the final bell. But I and many, many other people wouldn’t pick on any of them to highlight his flaws. He even got outboxed and ultimately KO’d by Max Schmelling before he (Louis) hit his championship winning stride. Louis was the favourite in that fight too, but most boxing fans don’t hold that against him…not too much anyway. And to Louis’ credit he tore Max apart in one round when they met again a couple of years later.

Anyway having said all that, believe it or not, I rate Louis extremely highly. His record in his prime is absolutely phenomenal…I don’t think a prime Louis ever lost! The man’s KO power was legendary. His handspeed seems somewhat underestimated by some and he was extremely strong. He would be a champion or at the very least a contender in whatever era he was in.

 

All these guys suck, they were just big but not skilled, nowhere near as skilled as the guys Tyson fought.
Replace them with someone big and skilled (like Lewis) and that changes the outcome completely.

 

Like I said, these guys suck, it's not hard to land on them. Also, Louis were smaller gloves, which inflict way more damage.
And Tyson has broken teeth too.

Yes they are very weak compared to what Tyson fought.

 

How do you think the likes of Mitch Green and Berbick would go against those rumpers Bomber? Clean house?

 

The reason why Tyson couldn't finish off Smith was because of his one dimensionality and his inability to vary his attacks, and also his inability to wrestle efficiently in the clinch. Tyson was mostly dominant against Green but if you look at certain parts of the fight you'll see similar elements of the Bonecrusher fight, he also walks into uppercuts against Green and gets thrown off his timing on multiple occasions. When Smith fought Tyson he was 6-4 in his last 10 fights, when Tillis fought Tyson he was on a 1-4 in his last 5 and would lose a decision to an old Joe Bugner a few months later, Green had only fought (and lost to) one contender. Need I say more?

Not even comparable. The reason why nobody holds Louis' loss against Schmeling against him was because Schmeling was a great fighter who had been robbed of his World Championship; Louis got his bell rung in the 4th and never recovered and spent all the time he should've been training playing Golf and f*cking white girls. Most of Louis' decisions come towards the end of his career when his right hand had deteriorated. The only top contender that Louis met that he couldn't stop was Tommy Farr (no rematch), but in every other case when he didn't stop a fighter, he always stopped them in the rematch (i.e. Walcott, Bob Pastor and Arturo Godoy).

 

If you say so.

 

Lennox Lewis didn't have much of a chin.

 

He had a great chin, more than good enough. And he will dismantle Louis with ease.

 

Most likely.

 

No! Let’s not gloss over Louis’ defeat at the hands of Schmelling. Playing golf and f*cking white girls isn’t going to cut it. He got KO’d after taking a beating. If he didn’t train and was shag*ing around, then that’s on him. If he wasn’t training even though he was facing this “great” boxer as you describe, then whose fault is that? Let’s stop with the excuses. He was made to look ordinary in that fight, just accept it.

You can dissect Tyson’s mistakes in the fights he actually won against Green and Smith…yes remember he won them and by a huge margin… but here you are giving Louis a pass for a resounding KO defeat at Schmelling’s hands! Cmon man, your bias is showing. Schmelling was a good fighter and he was coming off a run of victories…but great? That word is bandied about a bit too much for my liking. A great puncher yes, no doubt, but he should not have had the minerals to destroy Louis as he did.
But sh*t happens in boxing especially when boxers take their eye off the ball. I’m happy to squint my eyes a bit for Tyson’s sloppy victories before he became undisputed world champion because at least he won those fights and went on to do pretty damn well afterwards for a few years.
Equally I can also squint a bit at Louis’ bad defeat at Schmelling’s hands because at least he avenged it explosively and of course went on to become one of the greatest ever.

 

First of all, I never said that Louis' loss wasn't his fault, I don't know what gave you that impression, his loss clearly didn't fall out of the sky. It came from a flaw in his pawing left jab which he didn't retract effectively, Schmeling saw the opening, put him on the canvas and beat him up for the rest of the fight. Louis' lack of training and overconfidence is very well documented (he admitted it himself), at the time he thought he was invincible. Green and Tillis and Smith were not high level fighters, neither of them even have records comparable to Schmeling. Schmeling was a great fighter, the best heavyweight counter puncher outside of Louis, and a heavyweight with great defensive skills - he lived till he was 99 years old. He was robbed of his world championship in his rematch with Jack Sharkey, he beat a lot of the top fighters in his era with the exception of Max Baer. If Braddock had given him his title shot after he beat Louis instead of sitting out for two years, he probably would've become a two-time world champion. Schmeling was a well-respected boxer in that era and it is very well documented that Jack Blackburn (Louis' trainer) was shocked by the contempt Louis had for Schmeling's skills. And Jack Johnson actually predicted that Louis would get knocked out because of his 'lazy jab'. You can call me biased if you want I haven't said anything nonfactual. Fact of the matter is you can't name opponents of that calibre (of Tillis, Green and Smith) that Louis beat that sloppily in his prime.

 

He got blasted on the chin twice and put down twice. He was the original (better) Anthony Joshua, a safety first fighter that couldn't handle getting hit.
You still haven't told me who he knocked out with his jab...

 

Your comparison doesn't hold any water, Lewis is far more skilled than Joshua, it's not even close.
And the punches that he was hit with would have taken out pretty much anyone, especially the one Rahman landed. Louis would wake up in the hospital after getting hit by that punch.

Nobody in his era, but he would take out a few in Louis's era.