https://streamable.com/sgj8 Look at him destroy his sparring partner, and pick him up to start beating him again. :scaredas: Joe wasn't ****ing around that day!
Quite distasteful I have to say. Nothing bad ass in brutalizing your sparring partners. Most good fighters can do that. Great fighters shouldn't feel the need.
I love Louis, but that was savage! He picked the guy up from the ground, and stands him up so he can start punching him again! Louis must've been training for a really serious fight. Schmeling II perhaps?
Not sure. Curtis Sheppard stopped working as Louiss sparring partner, because he said that no amount of money made it worthwhile. In Louiss defence, the sparring was a lot more vicious back then, and the sparring partners were typically better fighters. I think that Louis used Willie Reddish as his main sparring partner for Schmeling II.
Louis clearly wanted to practice finishing. And found some people willing to take it for a pay raise!
Headguards are to protect against accidental cuts. Louis had a big fight coming up, so he was wise to protect against cuts. The sparring partners probably best off without a headguard, since the headguard obstructs the vision, and they earn their money in sparring, not in the fight.
Nothing wrong with what Joe Louis was doing there, assuming that's a paid volunteer sparring partner. The moral disapproval on this thread is interesting. Everyone has their own POV I suppose.