How competitive was Joe Louis at age 37?

Uh, it's quite apparent that by the late 1940s Louis had a lost a LOT of power. By the time he fought Marciano, he was dependant almost entirely on skill and handspeed.

 

Louis-Marciano is one of those fights, like Ali-Foreman, where the finish of the fight is so well-known that it shapes the public perception of it.

So just as Ali-Foreman is popularly seen as 7 rounds of George pummelling Ali on the ropes before Ali scores with a single quick combination, so the sad final visual of Louis slumped over the ring ropes obscures that he was able to make a pretty decent fist of it in the previous rounds and kept it fairly competative, even if Maricano was a little bit reticent about going all out.

I think Marciano, Charles and Walcott would've been too much for Joe by this point in time but he still would've been a solid contender type. But it's hard to settle for that once you've been a champion...

 

Interesting theory. Cause after his prime he was a slow mummy with a shyte jab.

 

You hit the nail on the head there.

Dont hold his loses at this stage against him but give those who beat him credit for beating a still dangerous fighter.

 

Joe Louis beat more ranked contenders than any other heavyweight in history.

 

And as you well know, we also shouldn't forget to give Louis credit for his wins after the Charles match as well. The only opponent Joe beat who finished up with a losing record was then newly crowned California HW Champ Andy Walker (who won it over the 15 round distance). Of course Joe had something to do with Walker winding up with that losing record, as Andy lost all ten of his remaining fights.

Louis handled Jimmy Bivins pretty convincingly in his final win. Marciano made life a lot easier for many other contenders and prospects by retiring Joe.

 

Joe Louis' performance was in decline since his fights with Walcott. Furthermore Louis' chin was exposed several times. Louis' success was a masterpiece of management.

 

Louis announced his retirement in 1949. He knew why. It would've been better for him to stay there. You could see how he slowed down when he fought Charles. Marciano was his last big payday. Everybody knows that Louis had financial problems.

 

doesnt matter what wieght in what era as long as you have a jab, power and vetran learnt skills you can be a force.


joe even though not the combo puncher as he was before was more like tyson (bad bad example but i will explain) tyson used his speed and head slip to get close and land bombs later in his career he was purely a head hunter and could land big bombs very quickly.

now joe had the power but he also had the skill to make the power work for him. his jab could set up and out point opposition(marciano was losing some rounds becuase of that jab)

and his boxing knowledge and savy that takes over as the key principal in a boxers career later on becuase of the lack of youth and spring you have to use all you advantages work for you and all your disadvnatges hidden behind your strengths.

joe even though old was a very competative fighter he still had the power still had the jab and still had a boxing knowledge to win fights.

he could knock some skulls easily in any era just not as much as he was in his prime.

 

true louis chin was getting tapped more and more. and even though maybe not weak chinned he couldnt take the big punches and not go down...thats ok when max baer ,tony galento,max baer are hitting you square on and you only get knocked down for less that 10 yeah i give you alot of credit.

but he could get decked and could be hurt...billy conn hurt him and conn was far from a puncher.

 

If you are correct it was certainly a master piece of management to keep him as Champion for 12 years,plus his only losing to 3 men ,all Champions in their own right,very clever management!

 

Well, Roxborough and Black did talk FDR into declaring war on Japan so Louis wouldn't have to defend the title for a few years.

 

I would put this a little differently. It is true that Joe Louis lost some of his power, but I think that was function of how much his power depended upon his speed, and as his speed diminished, so did his power. I'm not saying he didn't have power. He did. A man who punches like Louis doesn't lose all his power. But, like Tyson, the speed factor cannot be ignored. But Louis did have to depend on his skill, which he had accumulated a wealth of over his many years in the ring. We might also call this experience, and say that Joe Louis was still a force because he was up there with Ezzard Charles in terms of ring experience. This made him a problem for any top contender.

 

This is not an accurate description of the man at all.