joe louis

Larry Holmes comes to mind.

 

Naw. You'll probably have an easier time making up a list of champions who never got up to win. (Are you referring to complete careers, or performances of defending titlists exclusively?)

 

I idolized Louis growing up, but as a New York kid, I almost hit the ceiling when one of our own, Tami Mauriello -- withered leg and all -- dropped Joe in the first round. It was short-lived excitement, but thrilling.

 

I don't know if you answered this in the other thread (I was having trouble with my account) but did you ever see Marciano fight live?

 

For me, getting knocked down a lot is not so much of a problem if you get back up. I think getting knocked out brutally like Louis did against Max Schmeling is a bigger problem for his repuation than getting knocked down. Louis was taken to school by Schmeling and in my opinion that knockout loss haunts his legacy as great as it is. If he had never lost a fight by knockout until he was knocked out by Rocky Marciano my opinion of Joe Louis would be much greater than it is, and it's pretty high right now.

It was suprising that he was knocked down by J.J. Braddock. I guess he was nervous. It was his first title shot. The knockdown Galento scored was also surprising. Maybe Louis took Galento lightly.

 

The 1930s is a bit before my time; I'm 71.

 

Good question?

There are two components to durability. One is chin and the other is recuperative ability. Louis is a clasic example of a fighter who did not have a superb chin but had insane recuperative powers.

When you average the two factors out he was a verry tough nut to crack. Perhaps harder to knock out than Sonny Liston or George Foreman.

 

Saw him train in the Catskill Mountains and his fights after '49 at the Polo Grounds, Yankee Stadium, and Madison Square Garden.

 

The first time Godoy fought Louis he was cautious, even nervous. He fought to survive, hanging onto Louis like a frightened child onto its mother and somtimes crouching so low that his elbows almost touched the canvas.

In the second fight he was enboldened to try a more agresive strategy due to his sucess in the first fight. This partly explains the diference in result.

 

Very cool, john. I wish I could say that.

 

Interesting.

People who criticise Louis's chin (objectivley or otherwise) often bring up the knockdowns that Braddock and Galento inflicted on him.

I get the idea that Maurelio hurt him more than either of them yet we never hear about it.

 

Agreed. A guy like Frank Bruno is very hard to knock down, but once he was hurt he rarely recovered. Joe Louis is a bit the other way around.

 

I met Tami, as an older man and i was a teen, Tami was a puncher and went in and took his shot against joe, he had one leg shorter than the other but could wallop, the fight vs Joe was short lived but memorable