Does any heavyweight that came before Joe Louis beat Joe Louis?

Nope. None of 'em big enough or skilled enough.

 

No. And very few do afterwards.

 

I don't think so. Tunney and Dempsey would have the best chances though.

 

Dempsey, and I wouldn't favor him. Tunney would frustrate Joe for a while before getting Ko'ed.

 

Well of course Max Schmeling did.

Yes Joe Louis improved after that, but it shows that nobody is unbeatable.

 

Dempsey, Tunney, Schmeling all have a chance. Maybe Jeffries if what they say about him in his prime was true.

 

Dempsey must be favored.... Maybe johnson

 

None that I would favor but that’s no guarantee that he’d be unbeatable.

 

I would say that Johnson would have been the favoured of any of Louis predecessors to stand a chance, he had the physical and boxing skills, but also he was capable at winding opponents up by his verbals, see what happened when Galento got in the psyche of Louis, ok Galento lost but he messed with the fight plan of Louis by his mind games.

 

My candidates would be;
Johnson
Dempsey
And an outside bet Tunney.

 

Jack Johnson has the best chance, but it's a slim one.
If the question was champions that succeeded him, the list would be equally short IMO

 

I honestly wouldn’t put my money on anyone before him, of course he wasn’t unbeatable but he most likely beats everyone before him. I’d pick a number of people after him though

 

I think Johnson has a good style to beat Louis
Tunney could possibly outpoint him with his stick and move style and exposing Louis slow feet
Dempsey could expose Louis’s lack of Head and foot movement by getting in, trading with him and catching him with his superior hand speed

 

I wouldn’t favor any but I would say the following five guys have a 5% chance or higher of winning (from least likely to most likely to win): Fitzsimmons, Jeffries, Tunney, Dempsey, Johnson. On the low end, I’d give Fitz about a 1-in-20 chance, and on the high end, I would say Johnson has about a 1-in-4 chance.