Holyfield vs Joe Louis but with a catch

Louis stops cruiserweight Evander in the mid-to-late rounds. I could see HW Evander going the distance with Joe but not this version of him.

 

Joe eventually nails him but Holyfield gives a very good account of himself.

 

The people of the past were far too stupid to even THINK of faking a jab and then throwing a left hook. That was invented by Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in 1970. Unfortunately, until 1964, everyone in boxing was too concussed to realize that lying about what you're going to do is not against the rules!

 

I don’t think Holyfield is mature enough at this stage for prime Joe Louis.

Remember, Evander only had 16 fights prior to Qawi II and 17 before DeLeon. He might be a bit heavier than 190 if he doesn’t have to make that weight, but maybe not — he was 187 for Qawi II.

I’d give Holy a good shot of beating a same-stage Louis (16 or 17 fights) but not the best Louis.

I do think Holyfield stands a good shot vs. Joe in a best-vs.-best. I’d pick Louis but figure Evander takes one in a three-fight series.

 

It would be timed by a fighter like Holyfield, there’s a reason it was long gone by that point, fighters might throw a few jabs to the body, then dip the their right for a split second to set up the right over the top, but it’d be less than a second and they’d do it lightning quick, but fighters like Louis and others too from around that era would keep doing it and would stay in that position and would dip into it lazily, yes it might have a solution to the left hook, but modern fighters would quickly adjust and throw a Ruddock type lead left, it’s a position where you can get stuck easily if the opponent throws the right punch, you seen Lomachenko figure it out very quickly against Rigondeaux, he feinted and would keep tapping him with the lead right and Rigondeaux was just stuck there, Rigondeaux only did that out of instinct as well because he was getting dominated, that’s not something he does because it doesn’t work in today’s game.

 

You wouldn’t expect Louis & Blackburn to just watch the tapes & adapt? Exactly how stupid do you take these two for?

 

But that’s my point, fighters HAVE been doing everything you’ve been saying since long before Louis’ era. A ‘Ruddock type’ of left (uppercut/hook hybrid) was even described in one of John L. Sullivan’s fights, it’s not innovative and existed for at least a century before Ruddock or even Ali. And a mere feint, or jabbing to the body before going upstairs, wouldn’t just neutralize an intelligent croucher either. If used intelligently, the crouch had a defensive answer for any type of punch in the game, and many fighters had a similar game plan to try and open someone up from their crouch. It’s just not that easy.

Besides, just because a style isn’t common anymore doesn’t mean it’s ineffective. In fact, many styles fade as time moves on due to a simple lack of interest. Most fighters today prefer to use their gloves to defend themselves more than barring, parrying or using their shoulder to roll. Old timers had no other choice but to perfect these, since they didn’t have the liberty of having so much padding on their gloves.

Everyone I’ve come across who I’ve recommended to use Blackburn’s crouch in sparring say it has done wonders for them compared to modern guards, and it has helped me as well. Just because something’s forgotten doesn’t mean it’s outdated, there’s just nobody around to teach it.

 

Ezzard consistently throws left hooks and left uppercuts at old man Louis yet can’t find home

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It might be useful to do in spots, like I said, if you’ve thrown a few jabs to the body, then do it so they think you’re jabbing to the body again, then come over with the right to the head, but if you do it constantly and stay in that position, you’re gonna become predictable and like I said, you can get stuck there, especially if you’re against the ropes and someone feints, you dip down and they can keep teeing off with left hooks, even Ken Norton, he’d do that in spots, but he wouldn’t stay in that position the whole time, you’ll end up stuck on the end of the jab, keep getting walked onto the jab, you leave the opponents with way more room to see your attacks coming from the left, and yes the right side might be closer, but if you look out for that, it’s easy to avoid backhands, if you have a sneaky right hand, it might make sense to use it sometimes, but only in spots once you’ve set it up with lefts to the body, you can’t do it constantly like how they used to.

 

He’d KO any version of Holyfield.