Joe Louis: can we be honest with ourselves?

But we only got to know how great Frazier was because of Ali being banished. Frazier grew in the interim. Louis fought them as they came.

Something didn't magically occur that caused an absence of contenders at a time boxing was a top tier popular sport.

 

itsa stupid post by you...take 2 aspirins you'll feel better in the morning...

 

I know. Just illustrating a point.

 

What's next? Sugar Ray Robinson was ****? Louis is up there with the very best heavyweight boxers whether judged head to head, historically, overall boxing ability or anything else you care to mention.

If you watch Louis and don't see something special, I honestly think something is amiss.

 

The man holds the most dominant title reign in the history of the sport. You can try and pick apart his resume, saying he got a decision he didn't deserve against this guy, and so and so wasn't as good as people think, but at the end of the day, no fighter who ever held a belt can say their champion run was better than his. The only number 1 rated contender he missed was Ray, who had was beaten by Charles, Walcott, and Lewis, all guys who Joe had beaten himself. He lost to three guys, all of them great fighters in their own right. The first loss came when he was two years into his career, the other two came when time had eroded nearly everything he had.

 

I don't understand how people can look at film of Louis and fail to see how brilliant he was.

To say he had best title reign in history is almost a bit silly, beause it wasn't just the best, it is simply without comparison. No one else came close to being as dominant as he was.

But we don't need to look at his achievements to realise he was great, it's right there on film. The power, the speed, the technique, the man was truly spectacular.

With some fighters you just don't see it film, they look clumsy and poor and you need to look at their resumes to see how good the were. Not so with Louis, the man was as close to a perfect fighting machine that I ever saw. How can anyone not see that?

 

you can pick holes in any greats career...whether it is close fights, opponents not fought, level of opposition.
greb, robinson, ali...anyone really...try hard enough and you'll make them all sound poor to the untrained ear.

 

As an "old timer " this silly thread I predicted all along...In years to come there are muckrakers who by nature must "expose" great fighters like a Joe Louis for their own edification, showing that they in their infinite wisdom discovered that
Joe Louis was not as good as millions of boxers, writers, trainers, iconic fans of his time KNEW him to be...Boy are these silly "debunkers" blowing smoke out of their ****...At his peak the Brown Bomber in all reality was all he was cracked up to be and MORE...He was my idol and will always be the most explosive
puncher in ring history, bar none..

 

Spot on. :good

Louis was phenomenal.

 

Look on the bright side B, it may mean they give Dempsey a rest!

 

I remember training in my first boxing club when I was 8 years old.
There was a big photo of Joe on one of the walls and his stare was mesmeric.
The more I see and hear about Joe the more I like him.his knockout combos, his courage, his style and his grace.
Im amazed the way he stayed tight with his old adversaries and as I've mentioned many times, he was as big in the UK as even Ali especially during the war.
My dad for one thought the sun shone out of Joe's backside.
2 blokes I worked with in the 70s when I was amateur boxer.....the first had given Billy Conn a haircut, the second had seen Big Joe in uniform in Plymouth or Portsmouth.
The owd fellas used to tell me tales about the owd timers and I'd lap it up.

 

like my grandad...when there would be visitors, like distant relatives around and the drink would be on the table...it would only be a matter of time before he would be telling them all about tony galentos antics leading up to the louis fight.