Simon probably shouldn't have been in there coming off a loss and a draw but he had dragged Louis into the latest stages of the fight in their previous fight and had KO wins over Joe Walcott and Willie Redish - and Joe, of course, was basically fighting for free. Was Joe Louis's left hand ever better? I don't think anybody ever dropped the right off the jab with more ferocity than Joe... What about, Abe, talk about heart..."he'll get a paycheck, he deserves it". How many guys would have folded in round two?
Here's a great video detailing some of Joe's more subtle skills. Check the double-right hand counter to the jab at around 2.10: [YT]R78hdxpRfws[/YT]
Simon wasn't the most athletic, fast or skilled of boxers..... but he was big, very strong, durable and could hit quite a bit too. One of my favorite Louis fights, such fantastic display of punching ability.
Simon got battered for the first 5 rounds against walcott, on the verge of getting knocked out many times. but walcott with barely any food in his stomach in 48 hours ran out of gas and reeled around the ring exhausted and went down and out. Simon later called walcott the hardest hitter he ever fought.
As great as Louis looked Simon was just terrible. A mismatch. Bad bad style to have coming in to fight a Louis.
Ya pretty much, except imagine wlad klitschko had barely trained at all for the fight, had nothing to eat that whole day, and took the fight on late sub notice......and you have a match.
Funny you mention that john, because simon lasted 13 the first time vs louis and actually gave louis quite a bit of trouble, busted louis face up badly with his jab according to louis himself.
Tremendous performance. Simon didn't fare as well as he did in the 1st fight, but Louis was from a different stratosphere offensively, and every other aspect. He hurt him early and didn't let him off the hook at all. Simon showed courage in even lasting that far tbh, but was ultimately blown away.
I'm just going by this vid right here Suze. Abe in this fight is about 7 levels below Louis. Maybe Louis improved, or Abe had a lot taken out of him, or both. Totally outclassed in this one, totally.
Can you think off man sluggers without speed who wouldn't be? I can't imagine Louis-Peter or Louis-Shavers looking that different to this.