How Did Tommy Farr Do So Well Against Prime Louis ?

And that is part of the reason i have always been bemused as to how anyone could favour Louis over a Prime and fully motivated Ali.

 

Farr was a vastly more experienced fighter than Louis. Tommy knew how to fight just so hard to keep things close without making the other guy desperate to take over. Tubbs did it to Bowe. Duran did it to Hagler. It happens to great fighters meeting clever guys.

Tommy was an old head on young shoulders.

 

Farr was a solid boxer. His jab, punching technique, and slick ring generalship was no joke.

No matter how good you are, you can't look perfect against every opponent for your whole career.

 

Louis said he hurt his hand.

 

Ali would dance circles around Louis.

 

He did , he hurt his right hand early in the fight.Farr was pretty durable anyway .Not the best performance by Joe but he won.

 

Tommy Farr was a very good boxer.

 

When you reign 10 plus years with 25 defenses you are bound to have an off night

Sometimes a less than great fighter gets motivated and focused and overachievs one night and that same very night a great opponent for whatever reason just doesn't have his day

I wonder how a rematch would have gone

 

That's a really good way to describe Louis. Programmed. An exceptionally gifted athlete all the same Joe was never the less conditioned to respond to a situation in the way he was taught. An economical and efficient new style was developed for Louis where every movement had a deliberate consequence. Sequences were rehearsed. Combinations practiced. Speed developed. Openings made. Repeated over and over. He had exceptional reactions anyway, And Joe Louis, as well as having heart and determination was one hundred per cent obedient and studious in following every order from chappie. His faith was unbreakable. This format was so unbeatable, that if he followed orders he almost did not have to think for himself in the way another less talented fighter might have to.

Certain fights like the first Schmeling fight, the first Pastor fight, the first Godoy fight certain elements of his opponents style prevented Louis from getting the absolute cake walk he was getting against what were to anyone else were very good fighters. But Louis learned, he could be reprogrammed. He knuckled down because he believed in the system. Nothing discouraged him. His temperament perfect.

Tommy Farr was able to neutralize him somewhat because he had been a booth fighter. He knew how to make fights look closer than they were and he could make it look like he was working when he wasn't. This was what he could resort to as well as actually fight like a world class fighter, but how many world class fighters have all that to fall back on? World class fighters are usually reared to win not spoil.

I dont think you can hold that against Louis. I think Farr, at the top of his game, could do that against anyone. He was not fighting to win after all. Tommy was fighting only to keep rounds close and therefore maybe steal points as a bonus. It forced the fight to be a boxing match and in doing so, take Louis out of the comfort zone he was accustomed to.

 

I disagree I think Farr was fighting to win he just wasn't quite good enough.He had 109 fights on his sheet he knew his way around a ring and was durable and in his prime.

 

I think Joe Louis won many long fights and fights where he picked himself off the ground, too often for me to call him "programmed". He was adapting in there to those opponents.

 

Louis was extremely adaptable, no question. He could be a tad slow of foot which sometimes allowed guys to go the distance or last longer than they might have. His handspeed was blinding.

 

Obviously Louis was adaptable, he was instinctive in the ways he was taught to respond...But when he responded instinctively it was with precise textbook punches rather than the wild man instinctive reactions of most other great fighters.

I mean programmed only so far in that he worked from a strict format, always did things the same way and could be read by more experienced boxers. It is not a criticism. The guy was a machine!