PRIME Joe Louis vs PRIME Usyk (15 rounds)

He was never in position to even give southpaws a chance at the crown so his preference didn't come into play.

 

He still ruled out fighting them all-together after sparring Bettina. Had he not gone to war between 1942-45 Bettina probably should’ve came up as a potential fight given how hard of a fight he gave Bivins.

On a different note, according to a forum user, Louis himself claimed that Bettina is the only man he purposefully avoided:

For whatever it’s worth

 

Oleksandr Usyk has made a believer out of me but NOT to the degree that I believe he could beat Joe Louis! Boxing may have slightly evolved but not THAT much!

 

Not moi! Sacre Bleu!

I can qualify myself also in so far as me also not seeing Louis as the easy prey many see Joe in a prime vs prime match vs Ali - something I’ve argued for several times previously.

I’ve said before, the ATGs of the past (far more skilled than today’s slow, plodding behemoths with tiny fuel tanks) who are closer in size to Usyk are the ones who give him the greatest trouble - and some of Usyk’s tougher fights at CW support and lend to that conclusion.

Usyk’s hands are/were very fast. Louis’ were lightning fast. Usyk is known as much for his work rate as his hand speed.

For all his mobility, Usyk would still present as a larger target - and Louis didn’t discriminate between attacking the head and the body.

Usyk can negate good jabs but that doesn’t translate to him completely taking away great jabs coming from faster, far more skilful men.

Among the so called SHWs and their demonstrated skills sets (more correctly, lack thereof), boxing has de-evolved - and it has been Usyk’s successes against those
very same slothful SHWs that have been primarily employed to conclude his advantage over past ATGs - therefore, the aforementioned conclusion is highly flawed.

 

Assuming the rankings didn't change without the war happening, Bettina would be the number 1 contender in 1944 and then we would see if Louis would avoid him or not.
I don't see the argument for it though. Louis didn't like fighting swarmers and boxers either but he never denied them the chance when they deserved it. Had Bettina been the mandatory during Louis' active years, he would have gotten his shot, the same way every no.1 during Joe's reign did.

 

I think Louis would beat Bettina rather comfortably then again I also dont know the exact reason why the southpaw stance was so uncomfortable for him. If only we had footage of the spar itself. Crafty Southpaws have a way of making you feel like you’ve never been in a ring before.

 

If I'd take a guess it'd have to do with the rarity of good southpaw HWs/LHWs at that time.
It would help Louis if the conditions of this hypothetical match up allowed the fighters to prepare beforehand.
Blackburn would have cooked something up.

 

Louis's entire offense is based off of his jab. As great as he was, he

Shay, it has evolved plenty. For one, there were not southpaws back in Louis's era. Louis's entire offense started behind his jab. A southpaw like Uysk would totally take that punch away from a conventional fighter especially one that never fought one before. Back when I was younger, my coach would make us spar southpaws at least once a month because it is so different. You have to approach your offense in a totally different way because of the lead hands being in the direct path of each other.

 

You don't just learn to fight southpaws that quickly, especially at that level.

 

Usyk might win the first fight, Louis takes the rematch

 

Since it's a fantasy fight, we bring prime Moorer to spar with Louis. Moorer wasn't as good as Usyk, but still a world class southpaw.

 

He was looking out for that right though.

 

Usyk is like a shiny new toy for posters here since that fight ... I may have to take a sabbatical or either summon up all my willpower to avoid these fantasy fight scenarios with him until the madness dissipates.

And no, I'm not saying he's a jabroni. I've said repeatedly that I don't assess the ATG status of any athlete in any sport until they're done, although I am certain when he's done he's gonna move ahead of some people on my list.

But IMO everyone is too overexcited and hyperventilating and getting ahead of their skis ...

 

The southpaw question kind of cuts both ways.

Louis fought in an era when southpaws were few and far between, and he clearly didn't like them, so he took the easy option.

However if he had fought in an era populated with southpaws, he woudl have had no choice but to grasp the nettle.

In that scenario, perhaps Jack Blackburn simply turns him into a master southpaw killer, as he did with every other style that troubled his student?

We just don't know how it would have played out.

 

Thank you.