Monzon vs. McCallum

It's hard to believe that a fighter as near perfect and lethal as the Joe Louis who outclassed and destroyed Max Baer could be considered a year later "green" when fighting Max Schmeling in their first fight.

 

He certainly became better at handling Schmeling.

 

Max Baer was not Max Schmeling though. Baer was made for Louis while Schmeling was a difficult stylistical match-up that a relatively inexperienced Louis could yet not overcome. By the time of their rematch Louis had made the necessary adjustments to beat him, and I believe he kept getting better until going to the army. It was the destructions of Buddy Baer and Abe Simon in rematches that arguably saw the best of Joe Louis, then a matured 208 pounds yet as fast as ever.

 

The thread is coming a bit derailed here. I was just using it as an example of how almost everyone can be construed as green if one wants to bad enough. I wouldn't call Louis green, but he surely had not met a boxer of Schmeling's calibre and he would make important adjustments in the rematch.

This "prime" concept has a way of making a reasonable discussion impossible. Fighters come into their primes and drop out of it almost instantly it seems - if they're popular enough.