Prime Joe Louis vs Joseph Parker

In my opinion Joe Louis was the best heavyweight of all time (along with Ali) and he was too skilled for Parker and the New Zealand fighter would have lost by a wide margin if not inside the distance.

 

Exquisit bait thread. Louis by late stoppage, though to be fair Parker would definitely rank among Joe's toughest opponents.

 

Weird - I think you’ll see that Louis is the favourite here, that he’d probably win by KO or something which I do believe but the same people probably say Tyson, Foreman, Holmes etc are “Too big” etc.

 

I don't know what to tell you, the topic asked for a prediction on the fantasy match between Louis and Parker and I limited myself to giving my opinion on that.

 

Not having a go, just an observation on my part that we are willing to say Louis would KO JP who was like 60lbs heavier and has an amazing chin, one of the most proven… however guys who outweigh him by 10-20lbs are off limits due to legend status despite Louis virtually being more skilled then any HW ever, but those guys are “too big”… I think Joe Louis is the 1# guy at HW and agree with your prediction I think he clubs all the best HWs like baby seals Ali, Tyson, Liston, Foreman, Frazier and Holmes you name them.

 

To be honest I think this far tougher fight for Louis than people think even though Louis was greater fighter in his era than Parker is in his.

 

Louis was about 6'2 207 lbs vs Baer in the second fight which i think was his peak.

I don't see Parker winning. Parker at his current weight is far too heavy. If he comes after Louis aggressively, Louis will beat him to the punch with faster straighter shots.

Louis at 207 carries plenty of power. Remember the majority of the hardest hitters in heavyweight history weighed between 210-225 lbs at their peak such as Tyson, Foreman, Shavers, Coetzee, Wilder, Baer etc. Louis is only a few lbs lighter.

Parker is not especially quick footed. He has reasonably quick hands compared to a lot of heavies today. Louis had extremely quick hands. Parker couldn't beat him to the punch.

If anyone picks Usyk over Louis, i have no problem with it. If anyone picks Wlad over Louis, i can understand that too even though i dislike Wlad.

Parker will have some decent success with his jab, one-two, maybe even scoring a flash knockdown via an uppercut. But Louis is much quicker handed and will hit hard enough to earn Parker's respect. Since Parker isn't quick footed enough to escape Louis, he will be forced into exchanges where the smaller, much quicker handed man will break him down.

Louis tko 10 or UD in a good fight. Parker is very good and i like him but he doesn't do anything exceptionally well. You are not beating Louis unless you are exceptional at at least a few things.

 

And before anyone argues size, please remember that 213 lb Michael Hunter stopped 256 lbs Martin Bakole - a 43 lb difference.

And not only that, Louis himself gave away 35 lbs to Budy Baer.

 

Picture Parker fighting the Joe Louis who destroyed Max Schmeling in one round in their second fight in June 1938...You would all be accessory to murder! We're talking Joe Louis here folks....how old are you people? Champ from 1937 to 1949...25 title defenses...THE most perfect puncher of all time...Poor Joe Parker...what did he ever do to you?

 

If this is the younger Parker who used his legs, this could be a frustrating night for Louis. Parker is bigger and stronger than both Billy Conn and Walcott with a longer reach. If Parker comes in weighing say 235-240 when he was relatively lean and had good lateral movement, Louis might have issues being able to land clean flush bombs (at least early on) with his more plodding but methodical stalking style.

On the other hand, the Parker who fought Wilder showed both guts and some nice shifty upper body movement. He would either stay just outside Wilder's punching range, or he would get close smothering him where he was less effective. I am not remotely suggesting Wilder is comparable to Louis in terms of boxing ability, only that Parker has several dimensions to his game and is not simply a stick and move fighter.

I would favor peak Louis, but this is by no means an easy night if we're picking the best versions for Parker. Bit of a tense clash of styles given the type of opponents who troubled Louis.

 

Good way of putting it modern heavyweights are constantly underrated over and over again in these matchups most the time.

 

Uh, are you talking about the same guy that got beat up by Joe Joyce?

 

I agree. That’s why I try to avoid these match ups. The same people swearing Wilder was a bum, also swear that Buddy Baer were the best super heavy today and would go through the division like a knife in hot butter.

 

Maybe not the mismatch some say but Joe Louis isn't losing imo.