Joe Louis h2h against other all time greats.....

Louis could get caught and hurt no doubt.

But his mindset was seek and destroy at all times and that very aggression was what made him so effective but possibly made him a little vulnerable as well.

But I'd hardly say he was easily dropped either. Schmeling teed off on him all night with the right and he punched like a mule kicked but it took until the 12th for Louis to crumble and the others (apart from Marciano when he was spent) weren't much more than flash knockdowns that he quickly recovered from.

He's the greatest offensive heavyweight I've ever seen (yep even better than Tyson) and H2H I don't think anyone outside of probably Ali and maybe Holmes (and I'd heavily favour Louis in that) would come out on top in a series of fights. On a given night he could struggle with certain fighters (Conn,Godoy,Buddy Baer,Walcott) but he almost always found a way to prevail and in rematches he was deadly.

Of the names you mentioned as being big threats to him
Liston-too slow
Foreman-too crude
Frazier-too easy to hit
Tyson- (a danger fight for sure but..) too predictable for a precision puncher like Louis (it's hard to imagine Tyson turning cutie for a fight and giving Joe angles and I doubt anyone could out punch prime Louis in a shootout).

Just my opinion of course.

 

lets see him vs my h2h hw greats :
1. Valuev - runs over Louis and stomps him , if Louis does hurt him , Valuev strikes and wins by disturbingly easy to digest stoppage.
2. Vitali - might get hurt but we know Vitali wasn't like his brother and fights back to win.
3. Foreman - Louis gets brutally raped in this 1 , might floor Foreman , just might , but couldn't hold Foreman off of him for long , and surely can't take what Foreman dishes out 4 long.
4. McCall - Louis stands a chance at winning a decision , but stands a chance at getting raped like Maskaev was , or just getting shattered like Lewis and Akiwande were.
5. Tua - Louis tries 2 fite , but this is really not Antonio Galento , Louis won't recover from a landed punch during d time of d fite .
6. Tyson - does 2 prime Louis what Marchegiano did 2d worn 1.
7. Holyfield - could go either way , but more probably d roided warrior at least managing some TD like he did vs Rahman , if not pounding Louis into submission because Louis could not take it like Foreman & Bowe could .
8. Lewis - has more chances over Louis than vice versa , like d Holyfield case and maybe slightly more only in a different manner.
9. Ali - could have gone either way like always with Ali , Louis probably doesn't stop him , but it depends if Louis could have done what Henry Cooper did better than him and I give him less chances 2 get cut in d process.
10. Ibeabuchi - stronger than any Louis opponent but allegedly suspect 2 right hands in sparring , Ibeabuchi remains an enigma 2 extent against right hand punchers .

 

YG,I agree with your opinion 100%. Yes Louis could be dropped on occasion,but was truly never in danger of being kod. And I believe that no fighter ever could have taken the deadly right hand from Schmeling dozens of times,and still lasted TWELVE rounds. Schmeling of the first Louis ko had the fastest and most accurate right hand in history according to Nat Fleische,r and on that I agree. The young,lithe Joe Louis was the deadliest
puncher that ever lived, bar none...Cheers...

 

Thanks Burt.

Did you ever actually get to see Louis fight live personally?

His highlight reel is far and away the best in heavyweight history and I'm curious just how powerful he looked first hand if you were lucky enough to see him live.

 

No YG,I never saw Louis ringside.My dad couldn't afford the moolah. But I saw him being introduced at MSG many times. He would get the greatest
reception reserved for royalty. Joe Louis was loved and revered.With one exception. At the Ali/Frazier fight I attended at MSG,1971,all the great old heavyweight champions were introduced,Louis, Marciano, Braddock,Tunney,etc, but the crowd [I included] screamed for Jack Dempsey who was overlooked to be introduced. The embarrassed announcer finally introduced the Manassa Mauler, to a crescendo of cheers
louder than all.What a night for all of us at the FOTC. Cheers YG.

 

RR, to quote Tug McGraw,I say to you "you gotta believe " ! I don't care how big the Liston's, Foreman's ,Fraziers were, Joe Louis would get there
"fustess with the mostess",to quote Gen.Nathan Bedford Forrest.Cheers.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3PpR12yaRs[/ame]

 

You're talking about him getting knocked down?

Watch what happens when the guy gets up.

 

Believe it

In 20 years the 'kids' will be saying the EXACT same thing about Tyson, Foreman, Lewis and Holyfield. I spoke to an excited young man just yesterday at the gym who, after spending all of 2 minutes on Boxrec said "Man, Ali lost like what? Five times? Smokeless Joe Frazier, Chinny Kenny Norton, Neon Leon Spinks, Homie Holmes and Trevor who the f**k Berbick. How can he even be any GOOD much less great with these losses. It is an embarrassment to see him listed in a top ten at Heavy Weight list, any modern undefeated fighter with 20 fights gotta be better than him...."

 

Finally!!!! Someone who can see what should be clear to all. Joe Louis was a great fighter, but head to head, he would have been beaten by MANY heavyweights throughout history. Guys in recent years, like, Lennox Lewis and the Klitschko's would have no real trouble against the slow, no head movement having, Brown Bomber. Guys of the past like Jack Johnson, Gene Tunney, Sonny Liston, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, prime Bowe and I dare say Michael Spinks would probably all beat him. Deal with it people, he had a great accomplishment, but Joe Louis is very overrated, period.

 

These have always been my thoughts as well.