Joe Louis was a savage!

Seems like pointless, thoughtless and maybe classless abuse to me. Sparring partners don't get paid nearly enough money to take unnecessary punishment like that and it's not necessary for Joe's skill or tactical development.

 

Maybe he was testing his punching power. Maybe he was exercising his killer instinct.
Maybe all boxing is pointless, classless abuse.

Maybe LIFE is pointless abuse.

Anyway, point is, Joe Louis wasn't a charity.
Also, the camera was rolling and possibly members of the public paid to see him train that day.

Muhammad Ali was known to take it fairly easy on sparring partners usually, and apparently used to let sparring partners beat on him, especially in later years. He took too much pride by then in conditioning himself so toughness and showing his ability to take punches, to head and body.
It made a mockery of his own skills and accounts for the way he ended up.
I find Joe Louis's approach far more palatable.

But, as I said, everyone has a different POV, and I respect that too. :good

 

Perhaps it staged for PR or for the benefit of his next lucky opponent.

 

Yeah, not sure what all the fuss is about either. At least we know Joe studied Dempsey, helping his opponent up and all.

 

I don't think there was anything wrong either and 99% of fighters will tell you they've been hurt more in sparring than in most fights.
Agree on your assessment of head guards, I'm sure they restrict head movement.I never wore one anyway

 

Ali who was known to go really easy on sparring partners used to say "what is the point of beating up the hired help?"

 

Bit of a vulgar display of power.

 

Exactly, and he's the classic example of how not to do it.

 

Attitudes on sparring have and are undergoing major changes.

 

Yeah. I mean I don't think louis was hitting him full force. Just looks a little off, like the display is for the cameras. Just an impression though as I'm the one not being hit.

Some guys are just kinda rough like Dempsey or Mayweather in a way.

 

It has generally always been common practice to let a "killer" like Louis, Dempsey, Liston, Foreman, Tyson etc. loose in sparring on occasion, have him shown his killer instinct and exercise his meanness towards the eve of a big fight.

Or perhaps it was personal, or maybe Louis had had an argument with the wife.

 

Louis was so great. Off the charts.

 

Well killer instinct is there or it's not. Beating up a sparring partner isn't really going to sharpen it.
I don't have a problem at all with rough sparring sessions or cases where the star occasionaly lets loose on a sparring partner, but that poor fella was out on his feet more than once, and didn't even have the benefit of headgear.
Louis must have paid really well, because to volunteer to get hammered like that every day is basically begging for brain damage.

 

Picking someone who is semi-unconcsious up for hurting him so more isn't going to do much for your finishing skills since you can't do that in the ring - at the most it will satisfy your ego and/or sadistic urges.

That's true no matter how black and white the footage and compact the combinations are.

 

You don’t know the format of the sparring session, what he was trying to train for, or what he would have had to do to get another sparring partner.