Could Louis have kept going after loss to Marciano?

He had no business being in the ring with Rocky in the first place....

 

Marciano just finished what was left.

It's like saying Lewis gave a devastating blow to Tyson his career.
It was already over, people just had to see it.

 

He could have continued fighting, and could probably have still commanded big purses, but the writing was on the wall.

He might have made the calculation of the post Lewis Tyson "OK I am not going to regain the title, but I can still make money knocking out second raters".

The calibre of the opponents who were beating him would have declined quickly, and with it the purses he could command. Before too long we would have seen the pitiful spectacle of him being beaten by a Cesar Brion type fighter.

Good thing that he saw the writing on the wall when he did.

 

Strange in retrospect, he was the favorite going into the Marciano fight.

After the knockout, the doctor examining him told him "Joe, no fighting for at least three months." Louis replied "Is it OK if I don't fight at all?"

It was a wise decision not to continue. He could have fought on for a while. But as sad as it was to see him lose to Charles and Marciano, it would have been even moreso to see him become a trial horse for young up-and-coming fighters.

 

Is this Frazier checking Tyson's wrist wraps? Where did you find that?

 

Probably. Louis's poor physical state when he faced Marciano is often times grossly exagerated. He was still one of the top heavyweights when Marciano fought him and had was coming off of a good win.

Louis was far from prime when Rocky had to (yes, had to. marciano didn't want to) fight him, but Louis's power, accuracy, and punch selection was still there. His handspeed and reflexes were what had faded the most.

 

Joe came back to try to pay off his tax debt.

He owed millions and fighting was the only thing he knew how to do.
Taxes back then took 90% of his purses. The IRS took the other 10% for back taxes.

It's a sad story about a screwed up system and a great champion.

 

Louis may have still had a few good wins in him....but in those days if you lost badly you gave it in, Marciano was a force on the rise and noticed as the force, a Big win over the 34-1-1 Rex Layne (who proved toughness over Satterfield getting off the deck to win) and beating every man to ever beat him and then made Marciano very noticed with that one punch wreckage over Layne....Joe had a lot of dignity and was loved, he could have picked up paydays but he got out of the game with just 3 losses in a long and brilliant career

 

louis would have had a few wins left because the heavyweight division was incredibly shitty at that point. not as bad as today but close.

 

Disagree.

His power wasnt there. His righthand was gone. Joe had shoulder problems and his right had nothing on it. Rocky said as much after the fight. He had heard that Louis`s righthand was diminished but he didnt expect Joe to have nothing on it.

Louis had a good jab and hook as thats why he survived into the 8th round. Along with his experiance.

 

I spend 4 days with Louis in 1977 and found him to be a very quit and humble man

 

[FONT=&quot]In 1977 my son Frankie Baltazar, the late trainer, Johnny Flores, and myself left L.A to go to Miami Fl. for Frankie’s fight against Francisco Villegas on Don King's and Ring Magazine’s ill-fated U.S. tournament. Larry Holmes was also scheduled to fight Stan Ward on the card, that fight was cancel when the scandal about fixing fighters records broke. Anyway getting back to Louis it was a sad & happy experience for me, sad because I was seeing Louis working for Don King. He was assigned by Don King to be our driver. Happy because I met the greatest heavyweight of all times, Louis was to drive us where ever we needed to go, well I wasn't going to let the great Joe Louis drive the Baltazar's around. Louis and Johnny were old buddies from back in the WWII days, so I had them sit in the back seat of the car to reminisced, and as they did so I took the wheel and I drove us around. Spend four days with the greatest boxer to ever lace up the gloves.[/FONT]

 

The Marciano fight proved,once and for all,that Joe was finished in the top flight.

 

Excellent story. Thanks for sharing. :good