Rate Joe Louis' defense

The thing about Louis is he was usually attacking so he sacrificed some hittability to get his own shots in.

 

If I had to be picky, I'd include a "Good" option between Decent and Very Good, and I would select that option.

Edit: On second thought, "Very Good" is a good choice for me!

 

If there was an option between somewhat lacking and poor, say below average, that would be my pick.

Defense, in terms of making the other guy miss, or making yourself harder to hit was a weakness of Louis.

Just watch the films, you'll see a low guard, a stick your chin forward and sometimes high, and slow footwork with limited lateral agility.

Forget photos, those can be cherry-picked to a narrative for the most part.

Just watch the films.

Louis was hit by jabs and right hands rather easily, and often by smaller men with less reach. He also had trouble with faster / skilled fighters too, lucky for him most of them could not punch.

 

This sounds weird coming from you, when you think Baer only hit Louis with a few jabs throughout their fight...
Personally, I'd feel more comfortable if you were to rewatch the films, rather than the other way round.

 

Okay, then watch them and count how many of Baer's jab actually land. My guess is you wont need more than two hands. Its only a 4 round fight, so invest 12 minutes of your time and get back to me if you don't mind.

Like I said before this is probably Louis best filmed fight. He even ducks some punches, which you don't see in most of his other matches.

 

Do you honestly think that Max Baer landed less than TEN jabs in the Joe Louis fight?
Like you're not exaggerating, and you're being literal?

 

Can you count the jabs for me? Baer was very poor in this fight. Did you know:

Going into this bout, Baer was hampered by hand injuries. Jeremy Schaap discussed in his book, Cinderella Man: James Braddock, Max Baer, and the Greatest Upset in Boxing History, that Baer was having trouble with pain in his hands, which forced him to take an injection before the fight. However, the fight was delayed by a thunderstorm and the novocaine started to wear off before the bout started.

Though both men threw bombs as expected, Louis' punches were shorter, faster, and more accurate. If Baer kept his promise to train diligently for this fight, he never showed it. His punches were looping and amateurish and at no point did Louis show the effects of Baer's fabled power. Both men traded punches for three rounds, Joe clearly getting the better of the action. In the fourth round, looking exhausted and resigned to defeat after taking a hurricane of punishment from Louis, Baer dropped voluntarily to his knees.

It was the first time Max had gone down in forty-eight professional fights. He rose to fight on but was quickly
flattened to the floor by a left-right combination. Though Max made it up to his knee, he could not rise in time and suffered his first knockout defeat. "I could have struggled up once more," he told reporters after the fight, "but when I get executed, people are going to have to pay more than twenty-five dollars a seat to watch it." He subsequently announced his retirement from boxing

 

It was very good from a technical standpoint, for what he was.

The problem was that his style, inherently put him in harms way.

You could not do a lot to improve it, without taking a less offense orientated approach.

 

He landed 25 jabs, so you're not too far off.
It's unbelievable how sharp Louis' defense is in this fight actually.
However, Baer landed even more power shots than jabs.

You're exaggerating how bad his performance was.

Can you show me the looping and amateur punches?
https://streamable.com/8p6jt
These are beautiful power punches.
Starting from the positon of the fist and only going forward.
Not pulling back, telegraphing, or winding.

Joe Louis performance outshines Baers, like 10 to 1. It's one of the greatest displays of boxing ever, in the vast rich history of the sport. But it's incorrect to say that Baer wasn't landing punches. You don't survive 4 rounds against Louis without landing punches. There was something stopping Louis from finishing it in 30 seconds, and it sure as hell wasn't Max Baers head movement.

 

I think this is basically what I said.

 

Baer looks amateurish. Okay if you say he landed 25 jabs, I'll take your word for it. About 7 landed a round.

However the concept of setting up his big right hand from the jab or using his reach seems lost to Baer, who as I mentioned had sore hands. The report said Baer looks amateurish, and I agree.

 

Louis reflexes were such that if Baer committed to landing the jab, he'd be set up for a power counter.
That's why he was extremely timid with it.

Baer felt Louis' reflexes right away. That's what he's reacting to.
Baer was landing short hard power shots throughout the fight.
Not wild.

It was just Louis being way faster, way more powerful, way sharper, next level reflexes and head movement and defense. Incredible.

Louis was just perfect that fight. He'd make just about anyone look their worst there.