Could prime Joe Louis overcome 1974 George Foreman

Is there a chance Louis wins? Sure, but it would have to involve a lot of hypotheticals. I just don’t see how he could beat prime George Foreman

 

Was the level of opposition Foreman fought between 1969-72 good enough to prepare him for Joe Frazier?

 

You see those huge, yawning gaps as Foreman throws punches almost into the next state? Insert high-speed heavy handed combinations here.

 

Sincere apologies Ioakeim.

This won't mean anything to non-UK residents, but since a certain bakery brand has become big over here, people often address me as Gregg in correspondence.

Coincidentally, my mate has just got a job at Greggs. He must have been desperate, no way I'd work there, regardless of how badly I kneaded the dough.

 

He managed a 3rd Round TKO against a valid opponent like Chuvalo. Foreman had a lot of filler fights no doubt, but I don’t see how that correlates to the fact that Louis never faced somebody even close to the level of Foreman

 

Louis was a static puncher and would take two steps back as soon as Foreman lands on his chin, which by the way wasn’t a great chin. The ONLY hope for Louis is if the fight goes on for longer than 6 rounds maybe, but 9 out of 10 times Foreman probably ends it sooner let’s be honest. Foreman blows him away like he did to Frazier

 

There was nothing in Foreman’s résumé even near Frazier by the end of 1972. & we can go through hundreds of fighters who’ve done the same thing.

 

George Foreman won me $10.00 from a classmate in the 8th grade when he destroyed Joe Frazier on Jan 22 1973. My classmate in home room told me that Frazier would destroy Foreman because he fought a lot of no name never was's and a few has been's. Frazier took a lot of punishment from Muhammad Ali in The Fight Of The Century on March 8 1971, and since then feasted on nobodies like Terry Daniels and Ron Stander. Foreman's style was all wrong for Joe despite a better resume that Frazier had. On Jan 23rd 1973, I collected a crisp Alexander Hamilton ten dollar bill.

 

Well Foreman had certainly done more than fight nobody’s. His competition had been decent by world standards, but still a long way short of Frazier. I don’t think Foreman being a lot better than Louis’ opposition is any grounds for ruling Louis out. There are truckloads of examples just like the Foreman-Frazier one.

 

You can say the same for George. Foreman hasn’t faced a puncher remotely close to Louis on a skill level or stylistically. Louis would be the smartest, most technically sound, and efficient puncher he’d faced and had extremely fast hands to boot. Foreman often left himself open to counters in his prime as well, and he never had a puncher as fast and as smart as Louis capitalize on that. Frazier and Louis are completely different fighters who would approach George differently.

Not to mention Louis could really use movement very effectively when he had to, the Max Baer and Carnera fights are proof of that. He’s not going to rush George like Frazier did, he’s going to counter him to death when he leaves himself wide open.

 

They aren’t grounds for ruling Louis out at all, because Foreman never faced a puncher as skilled, technically sound, intelligent and fast as Louis either.
Prime Louis is better than the 74 version of Ali and any version of Frazier. Who else has prime Foreman faced that’s even close to Louis? Lyle? Norton? Chuvalo? None of those fights show how this one plays out. Both men would be the best fighters they’d each faced.

 

In other news water is wet and the sun hot

 

I can see Foreman having issues with the way Louis would bring the fight to him, technician wise Lyle was a caveman compared to Louis

Foreman benefitted from an element of fear and intimidation even Ali experienced that would not exist with Louis, no calls to Cus from the Brown Bomber

 

I think Joe Louis in the first couple of rounds would try to adjust to Foreman then eventually seal the deal. Joe Louis has fought big punchers before like Primo Carnera, Buddy Baer (53 out of his 57 wins by ko), and other well known hitters. Though he never had a chin of a Muhammad Ali, his recovery after a knockdown was solid. If I had to rate his chin, probably a 7.8/10. He certainly had a great chin to hold for reigning 12 years as champion. But overall, I think Liston and Foreman pose problems to an extent to Louis. Those are the fights that would be tough for Louis but eventually would find a way by HOF trainer Jack Blackburn.