'Primo seemed to have no heart in his work. After I'd given him a couple of stinging punches to the body, he seemed less interested than ever. He retreated with a miserable sort of air, and I followed up with a double-handed attack as fast as I could. He didn't seem to like it all. Big as he is, he knew all about those punches; I could see he was getting hurt. He tried to cover up, but couldn't, and at the end of the round his ribs and chest were red and painful... ...So I forced the pace, and I didn't give Primo the slightest chance to bring anything off. I noticed that it was very difficult to do him any harm; I'd already hit him harder than I'd ever hit most of my opponents; he knew he'd been hit, but it didn't seem to weaken him. Still, in the third round I loosed a lovely left hook to the solar plexus - it's a punch I'd rather give than take. They reckon that he'd rather have loosed it at me than taken it himseIf, too. He shouted; 'Ooaahh!'; his great arms fell, and he staggered, it looked as if he were going to sit down. I balanced myself on my toes and tried to land a left hook to the jaw. It was a long way, but when I connected Primo retreated, and I saw that there was some bIood on his lips. After this Carnera took some terrible punishment. He was so big and so slow that I hit him where and when I wanted. As for the rest of the bout, I wasn't keen on it, but if I hadn't socked him he'd have socked me. I tried to finish him as soon as possible. In the sixth round he was staggering like a drunken man. His jaw dropped, and, with his mouth wide open, the bIood was streaming from his burst lips all down his chin. It wasn't a pretty sight. He was panting hard. I hit him again, and he fell backwards against the ropes, which stretched under his enormous weight. I followed him; he saw me, and tried to get up and to raise his hands, whilst his great chin fell lower than ever. I hit him on the jaw, and he was down, his great body shaking, beaten to a standstill. He turned his eyes to the referee and then to me. Then miserably he shook his head. He'd had enough.' - Joe Louis
Louis's speed and power were amazing. I think peak Louis would demolish any large heavyweight out there. Great quotes.
Fantastic quote. Thank you. Primo displayed incredible courage but ultimately, enough was enough and no shame in calling it off himself. The power in Louis punches were incredible, including appearing as if they were also detonating on impact, such was the snap and immediate transfer of power. While it was Carnera, this another good example of a fight in which a very young Louis displayed more highly effective mobility than we often see otherwise. No wonder other fighters **** their pants at the prospect of fighting Louis. No contrived affectations for the purposes of intimidation required - the fear was based purely on seeing what Joe had already done to others in the ring.
Give me a great trainer and a time machine and I'd go back to 1935 and put Joe Louis in his place in a boxing ring
