Joe Louis, Insane Power, Galento Fight

Good footage. Joe Louis was in my mind the greatest puncher that ever lived. And his power and technique would be effective in every era

 

A natural, fast twitch puncher who harnessed maximum leverage with pinpoint accuracy... That part of his game is gonna work in any era.

 

Don't bury the lead there, fella...

We get a good glimpse of Tony in the dressing room...

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Galento with a brief clip of his bout with Nova. Pretty rare

 

“Fast twitch puncher” You mean golden standard form, it’s easy to look explosive when your punches only have to travel such a short distance.

 

Some guys are fast twitch dominant, some aren't. It's the same in many sports. Louis was fast twitch.

 

You had me at Joe Louis.

I don’t know how Galento arose from that right hand and left hook/uppercut.

The bigger slower HWs of today actually fall into Louis’ niche zone.

If anyone gave Louis some measure of trouble, it was the smaller guys.

Big guys, bigger, slower targets - against whom Joe could really maximise his leverage and the force of his punches.

It was like Joe’s punches literally detonated on impact - see Big Abe Simon for one example.

Sure, the bigger guys of today might be a bit better skilled and athletic - but imo, as bigger men, the same core vulnerabilities are there for Louis to take full advantage of.

And finally, Louis’ hand speed, though acknowledged, might still be a bit underrated.

Not just fast, I believe his hands were acutely fast and accurate, especially when one factors that he threw fully leveraged, committed punches in 4-5 shot combinations.

 

Agree. He had extremely fast hands. He needed it In order to land pin point combinations like that. As per your comment about smaller men giving him problems, I think Roy Jones had the style and speed to trouble Louis “ in theory. “ but Joe wouldn’t have to hit him too many times to stop him.

 

What’s your proof on the matter? It just sounds like sports science buzz terms you hear too much of. Fast twitch dominant? You can train your slow twitch muscle to act like fast twitch fibres and create a dominance yourself if you believe the science I think it goes deeper then this.

 

Great clip... Tunney, Baer, Jack Johnson... Look at the strut on Galento when he arrives to the venue. That's a dude you yield the right of way on a sidewalk.

 

Awesome clip.

Thanks to @The Long Count and of course @William Walker from whose excellent channel the clip was sourced.

Nova had some shoulders on him - this fight an early exemplification of the notably better build not necessarily winning the day.

Note Galento crossing himself before the start of the fight - “God, I’m going to fight as dirty as hell, please keep me safe from any harm”. Lol.

What a mess Tony’s face was post fight but very respectful of Nova and the fight that Lou gave him. Tough men. Legends in their own way.

 

Yes it’s a great page for some classic videos. I think it may be the first time I saw the entirety of the Carnera vs Schaaf fight. At least more than the 1 minute of footage that usually circulates. As for Galento - he’s a tough dude. And I think more athletic than he was given credit for. He has a terrible body but I do find him explosive especially early on in fights. 240 pounds on a stocky guy, was probably a lot of “bull” strength in him for many average contenders of the day. The elite beat him but he was no easy out.

 

You're right, Joe Louis had insane power