Joe Louis vs. Vitali Klitschko

I've been away, and even when I do participate I don't have the knowledge to add much value to the discussion but this is an interesting match-up.

Essentially you have a huge fighter, with if not one punch KO power, enough to stop many if they are allowed to accumulate, who is kind of robotic and hasn't fought all that great of competition. He's against probably the most technically gifted heavyweight in history, albeit a much a smaller fighter. Now Louis had problem with movers, and I think we can agree that V.K. isn't that type of boxer. So how would a hypothetical match unfold?

Basically Louis would be looking to get inside, and Vitali would be happy to fight from long range. If Louis gets inside, he'll go to the body for likely most of the fight. Just makes sense. Vitali would be looking to land jabs and throw lefts from range.

The secret to the fight would be whether or not Louis could consistently slip Vitali's jab and get inside without getting punshed too much. I suspect given his defensive abilities and his quickness he likely could. But he also likely takes some serious punishment during the fight as well and likely gets hurt somewhere along the line. But regardless, I think Louis would systematically break Vitali down with his constant body punches, something I don't think anyone has tried against Vitali and something he's not use to dealing with. I think what it does, is it ends up making Louis the clear aggressor somewhere along the lines, perhaps mid point there abouts and Vitali starts to retreat to avoid getting hit with those punches as they accumulate. In fact, I think Louis would likely win by landing a bodypunch that drops Vitali, not from that punch alone, but from the effects of taking numerous punches to the same area, likely in the 11-12th round, or thereabouts.

Haven't bothered reading much of the thread, but that would be my best take on this match. But it's certainly possible that Vitali lands hard enough blows to drop Louis, but I don't think he'd be able to land with the same consistency and frequency Louis does. If I were to put odds on this fight I'd pick Louis as about a 65-35% odds on favour to win. Essentially you're talking about skill, power and speed, against power, reach and size.

 

Gomez, Sanders, and Johnson for sure. Buddy Bear was not a great boxer. He was big, stiff, and had a punch.

 

But he wasn't.

He would probably have beaten everybody that Vitally Klitschko has actualy beaten in the real world.

That in itself should tell you how strong Vitally Klitschkos resume is.

 

Buddy Bear was not that talented, yet he almost beat Joe Louis. Baer knocked Joe Louis out of the ring. A miracle happened when Louis who had his back to the ropes was caught by a punch from Buddy Bear. The momentum of the punch flipped Louis body over the ropes in a somersault fashion. Somehow, Louis ended up landing on the outside of the ring on his feet instead of his head, or falling down to the floor outside the ring.

Very interesting. What I wrote before was from memory. I have not seen that one in a while. Nonetheless, Louis had zero defense, did get caught, and did flip around the ropes as I stated. I did not remember Louis glove grabbing the ropes as he fell. Its rare to see a fighter catch himself on the way through the ropes as its hardly a planed event in boxing.

Its obvious that Louis is there to be hit. A person of Vitali's size, reach, accuracy and power would have a field day on Louis's slow feet and lack of defense.

 

This is a preposterous statment.

 

This is where we disagree. Buddy Bear lost to journeyman.

[url]http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=12131&cat=boxer[/url]

 

Ok how about his guard was very low, he did not have much head movement, and he lacked lateral movement. Louis did not have a good defense. Of Course he had some defense which was enough in a era of poor heavyweight boxing.

 

Yes that tends to happen if you fight in an era where there is esentialy no amateur background.

Any world class fighter could have a prety record if they had the kind of backing that a modern fighter enjoys.

 

I think you are selling Louis several miles short.

He employed a low armadilo crouch with a high guard that made him prety much impervious coming in.

He could shoulder roll and parry with the best of them.

The verry fact that Klitschko is firing from long range is going to make things easy for Louis.

 

Klitschko fans.

Fine posters some of them.

Seem to be able see find merit in any disaster that befalls him. If Vitally Klitschko spilled beetroot juice on their carpet they would say that he had gifted them with a work of art.

If he is matched against Joe Louis and Joe Louis walks on water then they would say that Louis only did it to conceal the fact that he couldn't swim.

 

I display it proudly. :smoke

 

If his defense was so hot, why was he stung by so many fighters? He was stung by lightheavies!

Klit, or any elite fighter, firing from long range makes things much more difficult for a guy who had his troubles closing the distance.

That's just bad analysis.

 

How much weight and height does Louis give away? I wont quote, but its enough to give Joe a very tough night. I really think it would be down to Joe being able to slip and break down the big jab being thrown, more than 4 rounds of that big jab occasionally followed by a huge right and Louis would be considered a little guy and another no one on V.Klits CV. Would Louis even of been a decent size cruiser?