Joe Louis vs. Wladimir Klitschko.

As much as I like Joe, I think that he would be eating Wlads jab all night...

 

Why is boxing the only sport where people seriously think that greats from the past could beat today's best??? Every sport that measures performance objectively like track and field, swimming etc. shows clearly that athleticism has only improved in top athletes. Good college swimmers of today would smoke Mark Spitz H2H. But even in sports without such objective measuring like Tennis, it is obvious that Federer, Nadal and the top 30 of today easily beat Rod Laver or Björn Borg. Why are boxing fans so sentimental? Louis is way ahead of Wlad in resume, but he was great during a time were natural cruiserweights by today's standards like Schmeling were difficult opponents at HW.

Wlad's jab and power are way too much for Louis.

 

the question is when has boxing peaked? i think boxing peaked in the mid 80' up about to the early 90's (tyson, holyfield, lewis). those 3 would be a serious threat to all of todays boxers. tennis hasn't peaked in the 70's because they still played with wooden rackets. in swimming they didn't have that training routine and possibilities they have today.
back to the question: wlad would knock him out, louis has never seen a boxer of wlads size with that much boxing ability. he ain't no primo carnera...

 

I don't know what you are hoping to get from this poll. Two different fighters from different eras. Joe Lewis came in at around 200lbs and Klitschko comes in at around 245lbs, not really a fair comparison. Based on the size difference, you can say that Klitschko knocks him out but that's not a given. Old school heavyweights were tough and trained for 15 rounds. The bigger man doesn't always win, mental toughness, stamina and other things also play a part.

 

It always interesting to compare fighters from differents eras. I think Ronnie
Hornschuh has an interesting point. Boxingdevelopment aren´t always linear.
More modern fighters aren´t always better than the oldtimers.
Wladimir haven´t meet any fighter with such a tremendous impact and very fast righthand as Joe Louis´s. Maybe Louis would eat some leather in the beginning, but after a while, he would tried to reach Wladimir´s chin with his right. After that it would be good night for Wladimir.
If you analyse Vitali Klitscko - from a technical point of view - he have a very bad and lousy jab, compare to Ali, Johnson, Holmes, Tunney and so on. Vitali have the same boxing style as Jess Willard. He is not the peak of boxing history.

 

If Louis' chin wasn't shaky as hell he might have an alright chance, but it is.. so he probably wouldn't even last 6 rounds.

 

Louis' chin is shaky but Klitschko's isn't?

 

Klitschko obviously has a huge chin problem as well as a stamina issue, but it doesn't really matter in this matchup. Wlad doesn't need a great chin to succeed against Louis, but Louis does need a great chin in order to succeed against Wlad.

I am not a Wlad fan by the way and I would pick many ATG HW's against him.

 

Exactly! Klitschko has never seen the balanced precision combos that Louis would show him. Louis of much tougher teak, would ko Wld in 5 rds.

 

This is ridicolous, what could Louis do to win? Outjab Klitschko? Do you envision Joe getting past that endless jab? The comparison with Carnera is pathetic, as much as I respect legends from the past, this would be a mismatch.
But ehy, just beacuse his myth is untouchable, I suppose we are all expected to say that Wladimir wouldn't last a couple or rounds.
And no, I'm NOT a Klitschko fan.

 

I couldn't have said it any better...I wish my English was good enough to explain it the way you did.

 

Wladimir Kilitschko KO.

 

joe ko3 the big fella

 

u could also argue about wlad coming from russia 2 fight joe in the states in joes prime and also his era...and vica versa joe coming 2 wlads era and wlads prime...dunno these questions always **** my thinking up...