Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Louis prime for prime.

Ali by a tough split decision. Both men would get knocked down, and Louis would facially look worse at the end.

 

Ali, easy work, he outmoves, outreaches and outjabs him pretty easily, the speed difference is huge also

 

Conn and Walcott outboxed Louis and they were smaller and slower than Ali. I think that Joe has a great jab, speed and power, he could drop Ali but I see Ali getting up and stopping him late in the fight.

 

If forced to choose I would go with Muhammad Ali by a close decision. But I have this fight as being very close to even. Ali had the faster feet. Louis had the faster hands. Ali had the better jab and right cross. Louis had better combinations and hooks. Both could go fifteen rounds and had pretty solid chins. Louis was great at cutting off the ring while Ali was effective at USING the ring. Very tough fight and one that would be for the undisputed title of GOAT

 

I agree, though I'd love to see the winner fight prime Holmes.

 

I think Ali and Holmes would be a boring fight. Two boxers trying to out jab and out move each other. Louis vs Holmes would be more interesting

 

Very close fight. Ali has the edge in speed and Louis in power. Louis still has enough speed to trouble Ali though. One of Ali's toughest fights since Ali has rarely met a prime boxer-puncher like Louis. Ali defeated many good punchers, but not ones which were fast, mobile, high-stamina, and had good combos. Louis was much smarter and patient. I think Louis would absorb a lot of punishment, but would spend the time measuring Ali, and occasionally trapping Ali in the corners and on the ropes and meting out equal if not greater punishment to Ali. This is a fighter Ali could neither easily outbox or outslug. Ali SD in a battle for the ages.

 

Could be. But I imagine that both fighters would know and respect each others jabs and abilities and know that the other had such a good jab that he would have to do more than jab than win.

 

perhaps. Neither guy was a slugger. Both were durable and both moved around a lot. I can’t see any knockdowns are huge punches landed. The decision would probably be close. That’s usually not the making of nail biter

 

Louis takes a close decision!

 

I think Ali beats him quite convincingly, the difference in hand and foot speed is just insane

 

I used to have Ali winning this, but in recent years I favour Louis more and more. His combination of hand speed, power and accuracy looks frightening on film. Add to that his combination punching, his counter punching and IMO really underrated foot work. He won't plod around following Ali but will instead stalk him with small shuffles similar to how Napoles did his opponents.
Ali wins the early rounds but Louis gets closer and closer and starts working those hurtful combinations. I don't see Ali being stopped but I think Joe Louis wins most of the 2nd half of the fight.

 

If you think that, then it is probably time to watch more footage of Louis!

 

Ali by UD.

Joe showed vulnerabilities against every clever boxer type with good feet that he fought. Add Ali’s size advantage, reach advantage and his great durability and fighting heart and I cannot see Joe beating him. Louis was a truly great fighter and a great combination puncher with excellent hand speed so I wouldn’t write him off but I believe Ali would win say a 12 rounds to three type decision.

Pastor, Conn, Charles and Walcott all gave Joe trouble ( I know Louis was last prime when he fought Charles and Walcott ).

Joe was too methodical when facing boxer types and he was no defensive wizard. Stalkers tend to really struggle against movers.

Styles make fights and Joe didn’t show me enough to pick him against a prime Ali.

As a last comment Joe didn’t have bad footwork by any means, for example against Baer his footwork was minimalist but spot on. Then again Baer was a stationary target with very slow feet. Joe could punch moving backwards too, a rare skill for a heavyweight.

Cheers All.