Joe Louis says Marciano stops Ali in 6 or 7 round

In fairness he saw a lot more of Marciano's career, and would have been entitled to change his mind.

 

No, but I would probably have agreed with him at the time.

I woudl have seen the Cooper fight, but not the Foreman fight.

 

Louis and Ali had that little rivalry, and him and Marciano were actually friends to one degree or another.

I absolutely think Marciano would have put him through hell, and Ali himself agreed. But, at the end of the day, the Greatest is the greatest.

 

It’s a natural perspective. Athletes from earlier periods will usually claim that either they or their piers would have beaten members of a later era. Do I agree with him ? No. But then who am I ?

 

Proof that people don’t realise they’re witnessing greatness at the time.

 

Ironically Rocky himself didn't believe he'd have such an easy go of it.

 

Love Louis but he disliked Ali so i would take this with a grain of salt.

 

See your point.
Going down hard against cooper and against sonny Bank's made Ali look not so durable.

 

Hi Buddy.
You are a student of the noble art, you have a raft of knowledge on all aspects of our beloved sport, you post informative and interesting articles, that's my opinion after 5 years of reading and enjoying your contributions, and for what it's worth I would imagine you views and takes on fights would be vastly superior to Louis, with all due respect to the great champion, I have found the least informative and knowing people about boxing are ex fighters, there are exceptions of course, but in the main, as has been pointed out, they have agendas, to boost the credentials of opponents they have beaten, or belittle those that have beaten themselves, I mean old Joe stating that Terrell was a standout fighter of the period is an indicator of his rankings and ratings, good fighter fighter as he was, his style was boring in the extreme, was it not, just my opinions as always.
stay safe mr magoo, chat soon buddy.

 

Yeah, Ali was rated as 7th best heavyweight of all time by The Ring in 1975 I think.

 

Marciano said Ali was the fastest thing on wheels and he didn't know if he could have beaten him but would have like to have tried. When Ali was in his temperate moments he said Marciano would have been his toughest opponent because he just kept coming.

 

This ... in his autobiography, Louis talked about his "friend" Ali, but then said, "He'd have done real good with Max Baer, Jimmy Braddock or Schmeling."

The real Joe Louis wasn't a humble man, it was all a work during his career mandated by Roxborough and Black to put people at ease after Jack Johnson's shenanigans. Read his autobiography and you'll see that Louis had an ego that would fill the Grand Canyon, and IMO he resented Ali's place in the public consciousness and was often passive aggressive toward him.

 

There are certain boxers who are treated like paragons of virtue, but they were not cardboard saints. From Liston to Frazier to Norton to Foreman Joe Louis always found himself visiting the camps of Ali's opponents. If you were Ali how would you feel?