How do you expect to beat the greatest puncher of all time fighting like this???

The question is, does Vitali have the speed to get away with his style against Louis? The answer is no he doesn't and he is likely going to be stopped late. The only thing that keeps him in the fight is his height.

 

If a guy's in his prime, he's in his prime.

If he's not, he's not.

I don't think the number of fights automatically proves anything, whether it's 20 fights, 90, or 150.

Tunney was looking better than ever just a year before Dempsey, when he whupped Greb and KO'd Gibbons.

 

A lot of great boxers fight with a low gaurd. While risky it seemes to work for them. This could be atrubuited to their athleticism. it is possible that with a low gaurd the punch travales farther giving the punch more volocity and therefore mower power. I do think that taller boxers are most efficitive when they use the classic high gaurd lead with the jab, throw some strights and hooks. Along with some uppercuts. I tend to fvor boxers like Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko in fanasty match ups over smaller more talanted/skilled smaller opoents because they fight in this style. I tend to pick against Vitali Klitschko and George Foreman because they fight with low gaurd styles.

 

The low guard can be used if you're superior to your opponents in speed (Tunney, Ali, Jones) or size (Vitaly and, to some extent, Lewis). If you're evenly matched in these aspects I wouldn't advise it in any shape or form.

 

Each to his own...fundementally it's a no-no what Vitali and others do, but you do what you feel comfortable doing. Not all fighters can be textbook. Having said that, the low guard types have all payed dearly using that style at some point.

The thing with Louis, and something that gets overlooked time and again, is that he telegraphed absolutely nothing. Eddie Futch said that his left hook literally came out of nowhere, and that it was like a lightbulb smashing into your face.
Jack Blackburn drilled it into him that it's better to not punch at all than to throw a bad punch - bad news for the counterpunching types facing him.

 

Thanks mate.

Oh yes - who are you picking between the two gents in your avatar?

 

Tunney spent a week in bed after the first Greb fight,but it was in 1922 he didnt fight Dempsey till 1926 ,and in between he racked up 35 wins,with no defeats,thats 4 years unbeaten ,sure took him along time to fade
Tunney was at his absolute peak,primed and schooled he had eaten and slept Dempsey for years.The only hiding he ever took was in 1922 ,4 years before his title challenge,he was fresh and ready to fight for his life,Dempsey was coming of years of inactivity ,and had lived the Holywood life,had his nose fixed and partied,he was no longer the" Mauler".In essence one was "coming "one was "going".

 

You can get away with it if you have the skills to back it up.

You might be called Muhamad Ali or Jimmy Slatterey or you might just be fighting sombody less talented than yourself.

The next obvious question is:

"Could you beat the greatest puncher of all time if your high guard was the only mechanism for keeping his punches off you?"

That could be an even bigger limitation in many ways.

 

Tunney also possessed very fast feet, which may have been an important asset ,given that he was NEVER KOD .A high guard diidn't help Floyd Patterson much.

 

>>>Louis himself has a very low left, little footwork, stuck his chin forward, and was easy to hit. Watch the films. They verify what I'm saying is true.

 

I find it funny that the near consensus number one hardest HW hitter of all time, Earnie Shavers, was beaten by the breaker of almost every HW rule... Ali.

Years past his best even, mind you.

 

To be honest i was surprised how good Louis was defensively on film. Solid defensive fighter IMO. Not great, but not hopeless like you allude either.

 

IMO Louis biggest and really only problem was his footwork. Too much shuffling and many of the KDs he suffered were due to where his feet were rather than his chin being bad.

Add to this that Tunney had the up on your toes movement and was very, very durable and you have a fight in which styles favour Tunney. Now Louis was bigger and better so that goes some way balancing things up. I think this would be a great, great fight. Over 15 I think Louis would get to him in the end... But it's close and Tunney could take fights off Joe in a series.