Many thought Franklin hit harder than Joe Louis. His problem was a lack of a Plan B... Much like Tommy. Schedule this for any number of rounds cuz it won't matter. Who comes out on top AND why? Prime for prime.
Franklin tended to blow his wad early,if he didnt get you out by then he often came apart and was stopped. Pretty much mirror images.
I’ve never seen footage of franklin but his winning streak in the early 40s looked impressive in paper. Twice beat Abe Simon, Lee Savold and a few others. He was spotty throughout his career though from what his record suggests. Morrison wasn’t the most accomplished fighter ever but we have plenty of footage of him. We saw his ample punching power in action. He was primarily beaten by top flight men with the exception of Michael Bentt who was at least a good amateur. Tommy’s win list is thin but I’m willing to bet that his victory over a resurgent George Foreman topped the best wins of Franklin. With nothing else to go on, I’m leaning towards Morrison by a KO.
Franklin deserved a shot from Louis. When you consider how hard Franklin hit, and the fact that Louis was stunned, or floored by lesser men, the fight that never happened defines the puncher's chance. Morrison gets short changed by some on this forum. Okay, he was no match vs a prime Lennox Lewis. But outside of that fight was he ever really out boxed? Nope. Mercer won because he was ultra durable, most other heavyweights including Franklin would not have lasted that night. So I'll go with the guy with better size, speed and skill, and likely better power here.
This was essentially a trick question... no wrong answer, no right answer. Anyone know how Lem Franklin died? He wasn't even 30 if I recall.
Hurley was associated with him for the last fight. Have you read the Ochs books on Hurley? Franklin is a prominent part of the second book.
Hah...im halfway thru it. It hasn't picked up Len again. I read the 3rd book second cuz I used to live in Seattle. Edit... And 2 pages later the book tells me all I wanted to know.
