Joe Louis was a great fighter maybe the greatest Heavyweight ever!

Prime Louis v.s. Prime Marciano, who wins?

 

One of the best combination punchers at heavy all time .

 

Prime Louis beats Marciano by UD in my book.

The HBO doc on Joe Louis was fantastic, a real eye opener. Opened the door for me to learn about Billy Conn too.

 

1. louis
2. everyone else

 

I have Holmes around 4 too. . . Heh, I can never come to a conclusive determination because just when I think I got a pretty solid list, I'll be convinced, and swayed by the argument of another. . . Lennox, and Evander are some of the most underrated HW's, IMO. They both definitely belong in the top 10, and above Tyson (have never understood the logic of having Tyson higher tahn these guys).

Also, for me, there is a pretty big difference between ranking HW's in terms of their "all time" place, and actually breaking down hypothetical head to head matchups between HW's from different fistic eras.

For example, while Louis deserves to be ranked higher than Lewis, Holmes, Tyson, Vitali, and Wladimir Klitschko, I think they would all beat him in a head to head match. . .

 

I have Holyfield and Tyson vying for that number ten spot on my list; I can never make my mind up; to be honest Wlad K isn't that far off either.

I agree that Louis doesn't do great H2H, too small and too light, just the product of a different era. P4p discussion brings the argument back to skills and he stacks up very well though.

Ali
Louis
Lewis
Holmes
Foreman
Marciano (Based on accomplishment really)
Frazier


After here I get quite lost and swap alot of guys in and out. (I don't include Tunney or Charles, because I'm not educated enough)

The final 3 alternate between :

Tyson
Liston
Dempsey
Holyfield
Wlad K

:huh

 

I pretty much got the same, except I got Holyfield above Frazier, and Foreman. . . My top 8 looks like this, and for the last two spots, I can't decide between all those guys you listed. Yeah, I don't really have the knowledge about Tunney, Charles, Johnson, Langford, and some other throw back guys. . .

Ali
Louis
Lewis
Holmes
Marciano
Holyfield
Foreman
Frazier

 

Sure Louis is more of a CW by todays standards, but his skill level was off the hook. You don't see ANYONE today with the speed and combination punching he had with power to accompany it.

 

I guess the reason why I go 1) Ali 2) Louan is is because I feel that if you placed the two in each other's era, Ali would produce a similar reign to Louis, and probably wouldn't sustain a loss to Schmeling when he was coming up the ranks.

That being said, a rating of 1)Louis 2) Ali never causes me to blink my eyes and write the message "Could you explain this rating, please?"

 

Glad to see the TS is brushing up on boxing history.

Joe Louis ranks #1 on my list.

 

Welcome my son. You have found the light. We welcome you with open arms.

Anyone that hates Joe Louis is a ****ing ****** and I hope you die a marvelous death. That is all.

 

Nah. Prime Marciano would have beat Prime Louis. If not for anything, great swarmers are very much so effective against great boxer/boxer-punchers. Even Louis said so himself. Regardless, Louis is a great champion, for every human being worldwide, that every urban kid that grew up in a ghetto across the world should appreciate. Again, if you don't appreciate Louis, just go ahead and stamp your ticket to hell.

Mines too. My favorite boxer of all-time. A hero of sorts that was Joe Louis.

 

:good

 

Louis was a great fighter during his time. He does not "beat both kilts" though. He has been dead for 30 years.

 

In terms of career accomplishments it's hard to top Louis, but he fought in a weak era compared to Ali and Lewis against fighters who'd be considered cruiserweights or light heavyweights today, albeit some of them were skilled. And he showed plenty of flaws and defensive holes during that time, too many to think that he'd be able to beat any of the top HWs of the past few decades in a H2H.