Joe Louis vs. Tony Galento: Short, Underrated Heavyweight Brawl

Good write up.

What struck me was that Louis had difficulty with Galento when Tony was in a crouch and came out of it aggressively to hit quickly. Tony had a good left hook but his right seemed to be mainly looping. Unfortunately for Galento, he was not in good enough shape to maintain the crouch and began fighting straight up. Louis then teed up on him and put on quite a punching display. The left hook which knocked down Galento in the second actually lifted him off his feet.

I can see why this fight raised issues about how even a prime Louis would have done with opponents who fought out of a crouch such as Dempsey or Marciano. Louis also had trouble with Schmeling's less exaggerated crouch. Food for thought.

I remember an interview in which Louis said Galento's first round hook hurt him and he was in trouble, but he was not hurt in the third round knockdown. Merely caught with a punch while off balance.

As for Galento's big mouth, I understand his complaint about his corner was that they instructed him not to foul and he later regretted that he didn't. I don't think Donovan would have stood for fouling though, unlike the referee in the Nova fight, and Galento would probably have been DQ'ed if he elected to go dirty.

 

Better late than never!

This was an amazing brawl. Louis had a real rough first round where he was definitely hurt by the first few left hooks and down shortly thereafter. Louis' quick comeback in the second is awesome, and the 2-3 which got the knockdown is one of my favourite KDs ever. Along with Torres-Olivares, Charles-Walcott II, and Duran-Moore/Barkley. Galento blatantly relying, solely on his left hook in the third, and Louis is punishing him with cross-counters. Showing good defence too. The forth was good as a performance in combination punching as there ever was. Up there Tyson-Thomas and Holyfield-DeLeon. Simple scoring, here's how I had it:

This content is protected

8 : 10
10 : 8
10 : 9 (28/27)

This content is protected

 

Underrated? This is a boilerplate must-watch part of any Louis deep-dive, second only to his pair with Schmeling in being a quintessential example of his strengths and weaknesses.

Maybe it hasn't been discussed much in a while, on here specifically - but it has been discussed, plenty.

 

Don't you go forgetting ol' Billy Conn!

 

Donovan's policy was that if one fighter wanted a clean fight, then he would protect them, but it they both wanted to go dirty, then he let them get on with it!

 

And Louis against Max Baer.

 

One of my favourite fights of all time & my favourite Louis fight. Short, sweet & full of action. An underrated classic that should be mentioned more.

 

Love Louis, his combination of accurate, fast and hard combination punching from mid and
short distances is yet to be duplicated at the heavyweight limit. (But Tyson was close)
But watching this, and many of his other fights, I can't help but think of the serious
issues he would have fighting Joe Frazier.
Louis's weaknesses played right into Frazier's strengths.
His foot movement, his hand placement , especially his right hand , it being
slightly forward defensively could prove disastrous against the quick left
hook of Frazier.
Also Frazier likely would be able to out muscle and push Louis, controlling
distance, fighting from his optimum range.
Watching the aggressive and physical style of Galento ,his ability to land
his left hook repeatedly and forcing Louis to the ropes multiple times
early in this fight, got me to thinking Frazier should be the favorite in
a prime vs prime fight against Louis.

 

I know some here consider it sacrilegious, but it would play right into Tua's strengths too. If the slower, sloppier, less skilled, less powerful Galento had that success with those wide hooks...

I've wondered in the past though whether Louis was distracted early on or failed to take Galento seriously enough or something.

 

Very possible he didn't take him seriously. But hand placement is instinctive brought
on by years of repetitive training, what we see him doing against Galento more than
likely he does at some point at every fight he was in.

 

Imagine Will, if that had being Tyson, even past his best, in place of Tony!?
And Tyson connect s with Louis like Two Ton did!!?

 

Louis later claimed that Galento got under his skin, and he wanted to punish him, and got careless.

Up to you whether you believe him or not.