Story goes that Louis sparred Bettina and ruled out fighting Southpaws as a result. What would've happened had they fought? Do you think Bettina could've won?
I suspect that Bettina woudl have made Louis look bad for a bit, but at some point the big guns find Bettina. If Louis has no choice but to fight a southpaw, then necessity might the mother of invention. Interesting what if though.
Some people can fight a southpaw with no problem, others struggle. I saw a guy spar Ezra Sellers, and the guy couldn't see Sellers' left hand coming. It didn't last long. I don't know if Joe Louis could have found a true southpaw sparring partner at the time, of course some right handed fighter could probably turn around and fight southpaw well enough for JL to get used to seeing the stance anyway. Guess it would depend on how good Bettina was and how his left hand affected JL.
Assumimg the best versions of both, the smart money would be Louis by KO. Probably whilst ahead on the cards and quite possibly early.
Louis had the right cross necessary to do the job, and Blackburn would have strategized well. As Bettina would have been the first southpaw to challenge for the HW Title (which would not happen until Ali-Mildenberger), it would have drawn well. Melio the Mighty was a pretty durable guy, but so was John Henry Lewis (a criminally overlooked blowout in the Louis canon). Does Joe blast him out quickly, or does Bettina's southpaw style present issues like Godoy did, enough so to merit a rematch? Intriguing pairing.
