How are Joe Louis's opponents any better than Tysons'?

He was big enough that he was the best HW on the planet Louis could face, which is all you can ask of any champion.

Tyson has an excellent resume, mostly crammed into a few short years. He beat less HWs ranked the best in the world aside from himself, than Louis did, though.

 

This isn't about Tyson though is it lmao? Read the post. It's about Tyson's opponents, and Louis' win over Schmeling is clearly a better win than anything Mike's ever done. That 'old Max Schmeling' was still whooping contenders.

 

I wouldn't really call it an underrated era, it's fairly rated for it's mediocrity. Outside of his wins over Spinks and a one handed Tony Tucker, the fighters he beat were just old leftovers of Larry Holmes.