How bad was Joe Louis's opposition ?

Vitali´s low hands and exposed chin would be excellent target practise for Louis. And while he wasn´t the fastest on his feet he was still faster than Vitali. He would see those telegraphed punches miles away, avoid them and counter with vicious combinations. Louis sometimes had problems against smaller fighters, never against the bigger ones.

Carnera wasn´t much wose than Vitali, just lacked some durability, Buddy punched harder than Vitali and was more textbook, actually technically even a bit better.

Schmeling, Charles and Walcott are leagues above anyone Vitali ever faced and also better than Vitali himself.

 

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Is this why he landed 50% of his punches on him?

 

In a flash? Don´t know what you are watching but while he is fast for such a big guy he is slower than Louis. Louis was much more acurate and better at creating openings than Lewis. And busier and used more combinations. Louis´ proved that height was not an issue with him and that he knew how to land on foes of a similar size to Vitali. He would land his combinations more often than not.

Louis proved height and reach is not a problem for him, he also has a better jab than Vitali and more acurate. Who troubled Louis with a jab and at which stage of his career? Most knockouts of Louis were not on the ropes but right in the middle of the ring. Against Louis Vitali would stumble against the ropes much more often than he wants to anyway. :hey
B. Baer was technically more skilled than Vitali and Louis handled him just fine. Farr is a bad example since Louis, as pointed already out, never had problems with bigger fighters but smaller ones could trouble him at times.
Vitali can use any gloves he wants. Won´t make a difference since he isn´t a big one-punch puncher anyway.

In the end he got the wins didn´t he. Walcott and Charles are leagues better than anyone Vitali fought and better than Vitali himself. And Louis beat Walcott twice too.
It´s not a reach at all, I see a lot of Vitali in Carnera and Baer. He was a bit better but not by much. He is lucky that his opponents are fat, unskilled slobs instead of skilled fighters with a punch.
While Louis fought a few fighters similar to Vitali and quite a few better in quality than him, Vitali never fought anyone similar to Louis or of the same quality. So, Louis dealing with what Vitali brings to the table is a lot more likely than the other way around. Louis TKO6 Vitali. Looks familiar doesn´t it? Oh, yeah, the only fighter who was anywere close to Louis´quality did that to prime Vitali while beeing past prime and out of shape. :deal

 

Technically Vitali is poor, but his defence works because of his size/range, his use of the jab and counter punching. It keeps people out of range and he hits them on the way in and moves out of range. Carnera can't compare to him in terms of defence, jab, movement or workrate.

We know Lennox exposed Vitali's defense, albeit when being outlanded. But Louis doesn't have near the reach/height of Lennox, making it harder for him to move to punching range

I'm torn on this match up, I can see a case for both men, if Vitali stops Louis from getting off he wins, if Louis can find his range regularly I'd go with him

 

Yeah, Vitali´s defence works. Against fighters who are slow, have a bad stamina and throw one punch at a time. Louis was very fast, much faster than anyone Vitali ever faced, had better stamina than anyone Vitali ever faced and would throw combinations all the time.
Vitali is pretty good at moving in and out of range but Louis is not even better he is also good at feinting and drawing you in while moving forward or backward. None of Vitali´s opponents was able to do that.
Louis doesn´t need the height and reach of Lewis, he "just" needs to get under the jab of Vitali or counter it. He proved he can do both.
Even in his sole prime loss Louis dished outtrmendous punishment, found his range regularly and landed. Vitali´s right hand isn´t as good and Louis´ fixed that hole in his game anyway. Louis would land regularly and hard enough to stop a beaten up Vitali.
Of course Klitschko would be a tougher opponent than Carnera or Buddy Baer, he is better and tougher than them. Not good or tough enough though.

 

Doing that lean back **** against Louis is just begging for a crippling body shot. i hope vitali could take it.

 

"Louis only fought two black fighters in his 26 title defenses."

A. Who previously had fought more?

B. Louis fought 4 black hall-of-famers (Lewis, Walcott, Charles, Bivins)--How many previous or future champions fought more? There are not going to be very many. Has Vitali fought 4 black fighters who will probably end up in the Hall-of-Fame?

C. Louis defeated 3 black Hall-of-Famers

D. The real flaw in this argument is that it assumes black fighters were the best fighters available in the Louis era. And that Louis didn't fight them. But only Bivins, Walcott, and Charles got up to the #1 contender position in the yearly ratings, and Louis fought all of them.

E. It isn't relevant to me if Louis or any other champion does or does not fight this many black or white or giant or small and fast fighters. What is relevant is did he fight the best men out there? Louis did.

F. Louis also would probably have defended against more black opponents were it not for missing four years because of WWII.

 

What has Vitali Klitschko to do with Joe Louis?

If I ask if Jim Jeffries faced tough opposition, do you reply that he didn't face Joe Louis?

It is to the point to criticize or at least discuss Dempsey not fighting Wills, but what is the point of criticizing Dempsey for not fighting Ali?

I can't see the point with Vitali. If one moves 80 years into the future with any champion, one can find opponents with attributes he did not face in any of his challengers when he was active. The same will certainly also be true for Vitali.

 

Southpaw?

 

most looked like duds, very unathletic. not much to choose from

boxing in the 1940s was much better

 

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^^^Give Power Puncher some points for being honest. By the way I think in terms of landing Vitali who has a steel chin would hurt Louis more if they exchange right hands. Sometimes it took Louis many rounds to put away punching bags like Abe Simon...

Films show little guys rocking Louis, and getting caught ( thanks to suspect defense ) by the likes of Glento. Flims do not lie. This type of stuff does not happen with Vitali. I know Louis had power. Not saying he did not. But I'll stand on the above points and film.