How Joe Louis Would Have Beaten Muhammad Ali!

True, but

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was older and he was slow compared to Joe. But true, Liston had one of the best jabs in history and couldn't do anything with it against the young fast Clay/Ali. But even still, it wasn't just about the Jab with Louis. He had an arsenal of punches and tricks. But I hear you on that point.

Louis also took a ton of right-hands from Max so it wasn't like he was out on just one single punch. Many rounds, many punches. However, he did show he was susceptible to that punch in that fight. However, he also showed that he could adjust tactics and fight a different way in the rematch. He did this with Godoy as well although in a different manner. And in other fighters, he did show he could slip it and counter it.

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: I think his use of the Jab changed by the time he fought Ali. Once he defeated Frazier, destroyed Frazier, he went into power mode only. His jab was not used the same. You can see that in his two fights after Frazier compared to before.
his wasn't the same man that brutalize Chuvalo behind that jab.
Ali also had a different strategy at that point because he was well, past his best. So it would be unfair to him as well. We are not using this version of Ali.
Ali let George exhaust himself and then took him out. He wasn't schooling him in the manner of taking rounds from him on points. He was schooling him because he was letting George fall into his trap.


Louis would have problems with Ali's movement and speed though. It would be about what he does to take Ali's legs away from him and how he sets-up Ali in order to land his own shots.

Ali never fought a finisher like Louis. Some even suggest Ali was let off the hook when Frazier had him hurt bad. Now put Joe in that place. But again, not quite fair to Ali because he didn't have his legs to dance like his younger days.

However, he was hurt in other fights pre-exile by lesser fighters. Now if he survives, well, I've always thought the majority of opponents in there he would survive against. But against certain fighters, I'm not so sure.

 

This "expert" was a Former/Current Pro Elite Fighter and/or Trainer.... or a writer/fan?


For "historians" I remember reading Herb Goldman thought Ali would win. But I don't take "historians" nearly the same as Fighters/Trainers.

That said, I'll still stick with Trainers and/or Fighters to give their "expert" opinion.

Louis vs. Conn:
There was something I read about that fight with how Louis took weight off for that fight for the weigh-in which left him a bit drained for the fight. He wanted to seem smaller for the fight so people didn't think he was to big for Conn. I don't think he told Blackburn he was going to do it either. Something like that.
He also destroyed Conn in the rematch, although arguably both weren't the same but Joe does do better in rematches...and he did slowly break Conn down in the first match by shooting body-shots at key moments and tagging him at certain points to stun Conn which ultimately saw Conn laying on the canvas.

But Ali is better than Conn...Bigger...although still has a leaky defense so he can still be caught.

 

Because Ali had incredible physical gifts with movement, speed, and reflexes that is so rare in boxing in the HW division. It's a pain in the ass to deal with to say the least.
Where do you get sparring partners to train for that?
You'll end up having to spar MW to LH to have a chance of getting your work in.

He lost control of the Conn fight but how did it end?
How did the rematch go for both Conn and Schmeling?

Even when he was past it, he wasn't doing so well against Walcott in the rematch either because of his decline but still got him out of there.

Do you want me to use Ali past his physical best?
He had trouble as well both pre-exile, like against Banks and Doug Jones, almost out by Cooper...and had lots of trouble with other guys post-exile. Nobody is perfect.

Speed and reflexes count a lot for these guys.

Louis showed that he could win even if you attacked him, kept at mid-range, and/or tried to keep away. He just didn't look as good against certain match-ups but he has proven he could still win. Ali would be his toughest fight. But Ali still isn't perfect. He can be hit.

The disadvantage for Joe is his foot speed. I would still rather have foot-speed like Tyson or some others to fight Ali.