Deebo, I noticed you put Tyson by KO, but why? Joe Louis has all the tools to beat Mike and he would.
Are we talking prime on prime? Joe Louis is by far my favorite fighter of all time but unfortunately 2 out of 3 times Tyson KO's Louis. Edit: Louis had great side to side and footwork but he was small, short reach, not a lot of body movement, showed he could get hit with short rapid counters like in the Schmelling fight, and I just don't think he would be able to withstand the continuous early body/head attack of a prime Mike Tyson.
With what though? Joe Louis would jab the hell out of Tyson and as soon as Tyson gets inside, he'll probably get uppercutted or tied up. Not to mention that Louis had a hell of a right hand, and when Tyson gets tired of taking uppercuts, he'll be even more straight up and in line for a right hand. Tyson's style I think is better suited towards guys like Lennox Lewis, Wladimir Klitschko, Vitali, etc.... Tall straight up and down fighters.
Oh and of course Prime for Prime. Tyson was a great fighter and could probably beat every heavy today, but he would have to gain another dimension to compete with the best in the 40's and 50's. His single dimension would prove costly if he met up with an opponent who had a certain style and physical structure........and of course an aura of excellence because they COULD beat him. I'm not suggesting that an average fighter could beat him, but Louis is above exceptional. That's not a knock on Tyson.
He showed pretty devastating close range power with Frazier, Francis, Etienne, Norris, etc, shorter compact fighters of Louis' size. In the days of Louis the bob & weave head-up head-down movement had not been introduced into the sport the way Cus had perfected it for Tyson/Patterson so I don't see the short choppy jab of Louis doing as much damage as it did to the older scrappy more stationary fighters Louis faced.
i'd pick tyson by 5th round KO... louis was just about the same size as tyson with maybe a couple inches in height advantage... but louis got knocked down alot against lesser punchers than Tyson... i love louis but i see tyson usually winning this fight all the time...
I favour Louis at the moment, but I go back and forth on this one. It's pretty close to 50.50. Imagine being ringside for this mother****er?
As for the idea that Joe Louis is short: shorter fighters have it easier with Mike. Mike's power comes largely from his body movement. His compact stature allows him to shift momentum effectively compared to large, skinny guys. The taller the guy, the more movement he gets and the more power he gets. Weapons like the double uppercut are practically useless against guys near Tyson's size. He doesn't have as much room to move around when he's fighting shorter fighters. The question is whether Tyson can take Louis' power and cope with being hit from range and then tied up constantly.