Could Joe Louis Knock Out Foreman?

If Ron Lyle could deck Foreman then certainly Joe Louis could do even more, but Foreman could do the same to Louis. I really don't know who would win this one.

 

No, he had been Ko'd by Ali 16 months earlier, and hadn't fought since. His first fight back after that loss against the Ring's #5 contender who although was no KO artist could still punch nonetheless. Foreman still desroyed him regardless of his troubles along the way...

 

I have no doubt that Louis would Ko Foreman. George would not be able to handle Joe's strait down the pike short shots...It would be like Ron Lyle with REAl power and speed of combo punching power.....Can Foreman land a haymaker...yes but Louis would counterpunch him into oblivion...Louis by KO

 

I think that it is probably not bad enough to save Foreman.

Foreman was obviously powerfull but also predictable. He tended to stop his oponents by cumulative atrition.

Louis despite his shakey moments was never taken out by a single punch or combination.

 

Although I am not counting out Louis, I'm not sure that I agree with much of the logic that's being thrown around here regarding Foreman. The primary observation seems to be that Foreman was a big crude, clumbsy target, and for that reason Louis would just pick him apart at his leisure. Frankly, I think this is a terrible mistake. First of all no one, not even Ali, Young or Holyfield were able to just casually pick their shots on Foreman. Those men took some very hard punches over many rounds before scoring a "W" against him. Of those three men, one of them fought Foreman when George was 42 years of age, while another fought him when he was more or less a head case who had an out of body experience following the match. The third, is commonly listed as boxing's greatest heavyweight and hardly has anything in common with Joe Louis.

Louis may have indeed destroyed his fair share of crude punchers, but let's not forget that this was also one of the primary types that he struggled with as well. Buddy Baer - a listed member of Louis's bum of the month club, knocked Louis over the ropes and basically out of the ring. Tony Galento, a man who was arguably the worst physical specimen in the history of the game, decked Louis and left his face looking in pretty bad shape. Tami Mauriello had him rocked, and an inactive Jim Braddock floored him in the first. Many will elude to the Lyle fight in an effort to seal the deal on a Louis win, but common guys'. We're talking about one victory that he struggled with in contrast to several similar performaces by Louis and that fight came after a humiliating loss and a 16 month layoff to boot. Besides, is there anyone here who is seriously going to argue that Tony Galento, Buddy Baer and Tami Mauriello were better fighters than Ron Lyle?

Foreman was crude, but not as crude as many make him out to be. He sure as hell had better skill, more athleticism,sturdier chin and a lot more power than a pretty good selection of the men who Louis struggled with. To claim that anyone can beat a prime George at close range is a very bold statement to say the least.

 

IMO the only person geting counted out in this match up is foreman

 

i'm with you on this one,and i'm a big fan of machine gun joe.
george was a ferocious puncher and could box if needed.joe never fought anybody remotely like big george and takes the count in this one.
you were a bit unfair on mr galento though!!

 

Louis wins by mid-late KO over an exausted Foreman, but I can see Louis getting floored in the process

 

Liston possibly but demsey no way! Dempsey was hurt by much smaller men than foreman ( like that that lightheavyweight whose name I forget). I think that foreman could take him out with only a few punches because dempsey was knocked out before.

 

Dempseys only recorded knockout was the Fireman Flyn fight which many historians believe to be a dive.

So either Dempsey was never legitimately knocked out in 80+ recorded fights or his only knockout loss came when he was not eating regular meals before fights.

Either way his chin was prety darn good.

 

Or that they did not have the advantage of facing him after a 16 month
layoff with a devastating loss being his last bout.

It also may have been what prevented them from getting killed, unlike many of Foreman's other opponents who chose to trade with him toe to toe.

He had trouble with all sorts of fighters. Crude punchers are definately among that list. The only difference between them and Foreman, is that none of them are all time greats who have the concencus opinions as one of the hardest or most dangerous punchers of all time.

I don't know about wilting per say, but your earlier statement about him not even being phased seems a bit more far fetched than being knocked out all together.

Doesn't errase what happened the first time.

I don't see this as being a valid argument but opinions vary.

And Foreman is a guy who worked the body and threw hooks and uppercuts from all different angles with the power to lift 205 Lb men off the canvas. He also could tie people up and give fairly generous gifts in the form of horrific gut checks in the process. Tony Galento was a man who probably never had a serious day of training in his whole career. If you think he had more to offer Louis than George Foreman did, then I don't think there's much point in my making an effort here to tell you different.

If Louis chooses to fight Foreman at close to mid range, which he likely will, then the real question needs to be: Even if he sees the punches coming, can he do anything about them?

The same can be said for the Lyle fight in Foreman's defense, only George was coming off a layoff and facing a man who I believe to be better than most of the guys who dropped Louis.

Lyle dropped Foreman twice. Schmeling dropped Louis twice. The difference - Foreman won, Louis didn't.
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no.

 

Could he have, absolutely. Would he have, likely ...