Joe Louis vs. Jersey Joe Walcott I

Good stuff. As much as I love Joe Louis the Walcott and Conn fights show that he struggled with guys that could move.

 

It is also possible that Mike Jacobs and the powers that be, to hype a return, edited the film in such a way to make Walcott look a clearer winner than he might have looked in an unedited film. I can't say if this is true, of course, but I can understand such a motivation.

 

The counters Walcott threw to score the KDs were beauties. Walcott's countering skills were incredible. Excellent footwork, great head-movement and a decent jab to boot. Louis looked good, I thought. Step behind too often though. This would've been a great win for Walcott had he gotten it, but like McGrain says, it's easy to see why he didn't IMO.

 

I looked in my file. I was not at the fight, but I must have seen it after the fact (probably in the movie theater). My memory's a little foggy on that particular fight. (Unusual, because I usually remember the old stuff better than where I left my keys today.) It must have been the full version because I scored every round. I scored it 8 rounds Walcott to 7 rounds Louis. With the two knockdowns, on a points system, Walcott would have obviously had a larger margin of victory. I wish I could see the whole fight again today. Goldstein had it 7-6-2 Walcott. I'm sure he had the best view of the fight. It was not unheard of in those days for many judges to score close ones for the Champ.

 

I'm not nearly as high on Walcott as some. He did a lot of unnecessary movement and he was a bit one dimensional. Besides, he rarely fought as well as in this fight, usually he slugged at close range. He had questionable, though decent chin and his defense wasn't nearly as good as some want to believe.

Not to mention that from resume perspective, he was extremely lucky. He got 5 attempts for HW title and he lost almost all of them.

 

I watched it not too long ago and I had Schmeling comfortably winning most rounds.

 

To be fair he was outboxing Abe and was out of prime that fight. I believe he started his new trainer after that fight? Could be wrong. And he was a sparring partner of Baer when he was young and I think was sent home early for being knocked out to easily (something along those lines when he was young young).
Max was not a fan of Walcott. He took it as a sign that the era was weak that his sparring partner was now champ. But going forward that’s not an uncommon thing for sparring partners of champs to rise above.

 

I can see why Louis won. He was the aggressor throughout and his jab had Walcott moving around. Close fight that went to the champion.