Prime Joe Louis vs. Ezzard Charles

In his autobiography Louis said he thought he would have beaten Charles in about 7 .8 rounds.

 

As was the case in the Greb vs Louis thread, you've not only selected a bout between 2 of my favourite fighters of all time, but 2 I rank in the top 10 p4p of all time.

In prime for prime contests between 2 of the greatest boxers of all time where a significant size difference exists, I think the smart money is on the bigger man.

I'd pick Greb over Armstrong. Charles over Greb. Louis over Charles.

 

Louis via KO is the pick but I leave room for Charles via decision as he is better than anyone Louis beat.

Louis based on results was that far gone and winning significant matches post Charles. I gave Louis one round vs Charles 14-1, a near shut out. You could score it 13-2 or 12-3 if you are being generous.

It too bad they did not meet sooner.

 

Louis would beat Charles at his best.

 

Yes I’d favor Louis to win. In his prime he was excellent at cutting off the ring and had very fast hands. A lot of the diminished later. The Louis who fought Charles was the worst version. He had been retired two years and was a career high 218 lbs. at least later against Marciano he was fighting actively and managed to get down to 213.

 

While he was diced up an old , inactive Louis busted up Charles face pretty good. A prime Louis stops him.

 

Louis stops him inside 6 rounds imo. Charles eye was a grapefruit against a very slow Louis that couldn’t pull the trigger. Prime Louis is bad matchup for Charles.

 

Easy to agree with the consensus here.
Size advantage + much greater speed & reflexes than when they fought + no stylistic advantage for Charles...
Yes maybe 7 rounds.
Great as Ezzard was.

 

I love Charles, but he goes out on his shield against prime Joe Louis after a courageous effort, not unlike Billy Conn.

 

He’d have to knock him out because he isn’t outboxing Charles, but I suspect he could impose his size and land, he did so against Walcott in the rematch who was harder to land successive punches and combinations on considering how unorthodox he was and how much he utilised feet and upper body movement, Charles would use blocking a lot more than Walcott which would means Louis could fit that bodyshots and uppercuts in through and around the guard where Charles doesn’t see it coming.

 

My grandfather was convinced that Louis beats Charles but Charles beats Liston. I think some of it was he grew up in the era where Louis and Charles were champions.

 

Imo,as good as Ezzard was he might be a little vulnerable to modern-classic fundamental type boxers like Johnson and Louis,if Joe can impose his his size and wear him out, Ezzard is free to be ko'ed.

 

Prime Louis wins by KO. The Louis that Charles met was shot, slow motion, and didn’t even want to be boxing anymore, but was forced to do it because of what he owed in taxes.

 

Better than Walcott? They split their 4 fight series but Walcott won the last 2 including the only ko in all their fights