Joe Louis tells how he would beat Ali

Fifteen rounds is a long time for Ali to be perfect. Of course that’s being a little facile, but I like Louis’ chances at around the 53-47% ratio.

 

Ali would be pumping Louis with right hand leads and crosses like Schemling all night long.

 

You're joking, right?

 

Hi Buddy.
Having read all the post so far on this fight, yours seems to make the most sense, well at least to my old brain, I have always felt the late 60s Clay, would be a hard task for any HW champ in history, not sure " shuffling " Joe could pull it off, would and could see Clay winning on a wide points decision, or an outside stretch, the ref rescuing a bruised and battered Louis, late in the fight. just my pinion.
Stay safe BF101, chat soon.

 

Folley spoke very highly of Ali's ring iq. Said he boxed like he had had a 100 fights, and that he could write the book on boxing and everyone should read it

As for Norton, he was very good at cutting off the ring.

 

If Ali was in showman mode rather than serious fight mode, then Louis would put him to the canvas better than Henry Cooper did, however if he was fight focused i see him succeeding in the manner of Billy Conn against Louis, but not trying to go for the KO as Conn did and failed.

If Galento could mess with the head of Louis prefight, then Ali sure as hell would have.

I say a 25yr old 1967 (time of Louis interview) Ali beats a 25 yr old Louis.

The caveat however is if Ali gives Louis the opportunity to detonate on his jaw, Louis would take it, and do so in a very devastating fashion, as a certain Mr Wilder said " I only need to be perfect for two seconds, and then, in the blink of an eye, it's bam, baby, goodnight!", and Louis sure was perfection in moments like that.

 

Without giving any predictions, I do think Ali has an advantage in that he came after Louis and adapted his style for fighters whose style was inspired by Louis's.

Same goes for Tyson with Ali.

 

Ali doesn't have to be perfect to beat Joe Louis if perfect means taking his best punches and surviving to fight on. He literally, well not quite literally, ate Joe Frazier's , Earnie Shavers', and George Foreman's flush shots and fought on. Also, Ali has the edge in foot speed, hand speed, and fighting off the ropes. Archie Moore who fought both men, albeit he fought Ali when he was done, said Ali would win three out of four. On edit- I was thinking of Marciano of whom Moore fought him and Ali. Mea culpa.

 

Ali was pretty well done when he fought Earnie Shavers and Earnie hit him with a right to the head that would have dropped an elephant and Ali laughed at him. And yes Earnie hit harder than Joe Louis. He's arguably the hardest hitter in the history of the division.

 

When did Archie Moore fight Joe Louis?

 

My bad. You're right.I don't know what made me think that. I was probably thinking of him fighting Marciano and Clay (Ali).

 

Doesn't have the finesse for that I'm afraid.

 

Shavers hit hard. He took out Young, Ellis, Norton and Bugner, a decent bunch with some caveats of Young actually being quite young, Ellis being faded and Norton being, well, Norton.
Within one year of turning pro Louis had already surpassed Shavers as a puncher.
Shavers, aside from power was pretty mediocre and a very bad example to equate to Louis.
For all his victories against Shavers, Foreman and Liston, Ali struggled with technical and quick pressure fighters like Norton and Frazier.
Louis was one such technical pressure fighter when he wanted to switch from his hang-back counter punching approach.
He also took out Walcott, Conn, Ramage and Pastor, 2 of them twice he knocked out.
Both of these guys had victories against opponents of similar styles to each other but Louis did so more convincingly and without as many (if any) losses.

Ali beats Louis and Louis beats Ali.
Hard to favor anyone in this match up.

 

You don't want to have a lazy spot for jabs coming in over your left when you're facing Ali, that's for sure. In Louis's defence did anyone have a lot of success with the right against him after Schmeling?

Edit: Just a quick look at Louis-Walcott 1 show several instances where JJW came over Louis's jab with his right.