Joe Louis vs Roland Lastarza almost happened in 1951, Lastarza turned it down

Roland Lastarza turned down the fight.

Let's say he takes the fight, who wins?


Roland Lastarza 6'0 185lb

vs

Joe Louis 6'2 215lb



Louis held a huge size advantage, experience advantage. Louis hits harder, has the much better left jab.

Roland has youth on his size



Common Opponents

Louis beat Cesar Brion a lot wider on the scorecards than Lastarza did

Both got knocked out by the prime version of Rocky Marciano(51 and 53)

Lastarza nearly beat the green version of Marciano in early 1950



Deeper look into Opponents:

Lastarza had trouble with tall fighters. 6'3 clubfighter Gene Gosney had Lastarza down twice in their fight. 6'2 Dan Bucceroni outpointed Roland Lastarza. 6'3 Brion took him 10 very close rounds. Louis nearly shutout Brion.

Lastarza lost to far inferior fighters to Louis, while Louis only lost to prime ATGs Marciano and Charles. Louis took care of lesser fighters mostly in dominating fashion (Bivins, Savold, Agramonte, Brion, Beshore) while Lastarza struggled more with his lesser competition.




I take Louis with unanimous decision. I think Roland was too stationary to get away from Joe's jab, and despite rolands counterpunching skills, louis was the better boxer. It would be a boring fight. If Louis lands a right hand, he has a chance to knockout Roland, but I wouldn't bet on it. Louis size would play a key role here, Lastarza never beat a 215lb fighter with the skills of Joe Louis. Lastarza mainly feasted on smaller opposition.

 

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