Curious as to how Joe Louis would survive the opening rounds vs a prime Mike Tyson

So tell me… what precedent did you have, when you predicted that Tommy Burns would beat Deontay Wilder?

 

It was more a case of the precedent that I did not have at the time, i.e Deontay Wilder beating anybody world class.

 

Again a bit of embellishment, but he doesn't come up when mentioning feared punchers and that's what I meant.

I definitely agree about Louis taking a comparable beating to the ones Tyson took. It was pretty awful. The look of disgust on Louis' face at the very end looks like he just smelled something horrific...

 

Louis is one of my all time favorite fighters, but Mike would have almost every advantage over Louis besides height, reach, and joe's combination punching is still second to none, also Louis was dropped in nearly every fight he was in against vastly inferior opponents as Mike Tyson would have been. Louis was particularly susceptible in the opening rounds until he figured out or eventually hurt his opponent, Tyson was probably the fastest starter out of any heavyweight. It's also worth noting that Tyson grew up studying Louis fight, he cited him as his all time favorite fighter in one interview atleast.

 

OK, you are basically saying "how hard can a guy the size of Conn hit" then.

 

Louis was dropped a few times, but it would be a bit of a stretch to call it "every single fight".

I would also question your assertion that he was susceptible in the early rounds.

He could be as fast off the blocks as Tyson when he wanted to be.

You could make the case that he has a more impressive tally of early knockouts!

 

Its funny the similarities between these two-

Obviously the combination punching, power, handspeed, which I rate as about dead equal for the combinations, punch variety, and speed with which they delivered.

I do not rate them as equals in terms of power.

Another now to consider is their stoppage losses are from prolonged beatings.

Its funny because Louis was down a bunch and I cant recall Tyson ever being down in a fight that he wasn't stopped in.

 

Well no, because Conn wasn't known as a puncher, and just because he stopped a notoriously durable guy doesn't mean all of a sudden he's a puncher. Plenty of examples of that.

 

Really!

When you made this prediction, Wilder was 31(31)-0... but you didn't feel you had enough to go on, to picture him beat a man who was a full foot shorter and more than 40 lbs lighter?

What do you think would be most likely: Burns beating that Wilder... Or Tyson stopping Louis before the 3rd round?

 

The details for what they are worth then:

Pastor was down for a seven count in the 9th round, and a nine count in the twelfth.

In the thirteenth he was dropped by a left hook to the body, and took the full count.

 

On what basis should I have picked Wilder, his size alone?

He might have turned out to be another Audley Harrison.

When am I making the prediction?

 

I saw Pernell Whitaker knock the stuffing out of Nazario who is a durable guy...

"Light" punchers still score knockouts.

Noone will ever claim Conn is a feared puncher, thats my point.

 

On March 19, 2014.

 

At this stage Burns vs Wilder was a difficult call to make.

You have a vary proven but small fighter, being matched against somebody with impressive physical equipment, who has basically beaten nobody.

Whichever way I had jumped, I would not have been comfortable with the prediction.

Given that Burns was a lineal champion, and at least had a win over Marvin Hart, it would have been reasonable to say that Wilder needed to do more to earn the win.

 

I didn't say Tyson's one of the two best punchers in heavyweight history but he's certainly in the conversation.