Holyfield vs Joe Louis but with a catch

Is holyfield on PEDS or not?

 

It’s not a very hard fight for Louis, IMO. Holyfield is not hard to find, becomes easier to find the more you tag him, doesn’t have one shot knockout or fight-changing power, & worst of all, fights dirty, which Louis responded to with ruthless efficiency.

Holyfield once said Louis wouldn’t be a hard nights work for him. It’s the other way around, IMO. Among those routinely considered ATG’s at Heavy, both he & Holmes are Louis’ easiest targets.

 

I would make Joe Louis a heavy favorite under these circumstances. For that version of Evander to fight in close with Louis would be a mistake

 

was hard to hurt evander.

he's not the fav but i wouldn't be that shocked if he found a way.

 

Louis knocks out Holyfield

brawling with Louis is suicide

 

But Louis punches….

 

I feel like as good as Holyfield's chin was, it wasn't truly phenomenal until after the first Bowe fight, he got spun around the ring in there, and just like in the Cooper fight, he learned his lesson.

 

Holyfield will be no easy fight, but I believe that Louis finds him in the end and either wins by a late knockout, or by unanimous decision- As much as I think that Holyfield had a great chin, he didn't know how to properly utilize it and keep himself planted until he was a heavyweight. Despite that opinion, he still was hard to keep down, so a decision would likely be the most common outcome.

 

Louis, as did many fighters from his time, would often lean to to his right far too much and often, he’s open for the fake left jab with a left hook, there were a lot of flaws that weren’t noticed then, it was only in the Ali era that people took advantage of that right leaning with the lead left hook.
Marciano also did the right leaning, so did Moore and many others, there were many technical flaws that were stamped out when the game evolved.

 

smart post. things evolve.

 

It's the same sort of flaw that Holyfield exploited when he fought Tyson, he'd move to the left after his jab (If I remember correctly), and Holyfield was able to exploit it.
The only reason that I don't favor Holyfield here is because he wasn't fully complete yet. If you sized down a post Bowe Holyfield, he'd win out over Louis.

 

You’re referring to the Blackburn crouch? It’s not like that style didn’t have a defensive counter for the lead hook, and it wasn’t like fighters didn’t try exploiting crouching fighters with feint jabs and left hooks either. Louis in particular always tried controlling his opponent lead left with his rear hand. He would also consistently bring up his rear hand up to his temple to defend against left hooks as well.

I wouldn’t call a slight lean to the right/crouch a weakness if you use it properly.