Was Jack Johnson superior to Joe Louis in anyway?

I'm not positively saying you are wrong ,just that in the biographies I've read on Johnson,no mention is made of him being blindfolded in any of his early fights.

 

Fair enough. But I think if I was blindfolded and fighting intellegently I'd imagine it would look like Jack Johnson.

 

I wont argue with that idea.

 

I had no idea, thanks for the info. That's pretty freaking cool actually, fighting blind to sharpen the senses.

 

It's hard with these old fighters. And when I say old I mean the pre 30's guys who suffer from bad camera footage.

Me personally, I don't believe there was a huge increase of quality, I think the guys who were great then would still be great now. It's just you need a bit of benefit of the doubt when watching jittery footage.

For Johnson though we have a few guys we can compare him to stylistically. Walcott, Byrd and Young. I've never heard anyone allude that he's below those guys in quality.

So worst case scenario you have someone who is good to be a champ in the early 50's, a solid contender in the mid 70's and the best of a bad bunch in the mid 00's.

From there it's a question of how superior you think he was to those. In particular the style clash with Louis.

We know Louis had Walcott's number, he went 2-0 with one being a brutal knockout. Walcott had successes but he wasn't good enough to beat Joe. Put Johnson in that same ring that night and I think he does beat Joe. Particularly given how Joe has faded by that point.

He has better ring IQ than Joe, better speed and reflexes and better defensive ability. All of that is a no brainer to me. Was he as accurate, or as good a combo puncher? I don't know. I'm gonna hazard a guess at no. Was his footwork superior, not for me.

I am quite confident saying Louis is better than Johnson. But I think Johnson would pose a very tough matchup for Joe. I think he'd nick a fight first time out before losing the rematch. From 1903 - 1915 he was a phenom.

 

Strength, Ring Generalship, Fight IQ, Footwork, All around speed

 

I think gamesmanship as well.

Johnson was a talker in the ring, he would mock his opponents and their handlers. This may have created anger in them and opportunities for Johnson to exploit through rash offensive moves by them.

 

Great article. Thanks for posting. I learned a lot and didn't know his dad was a wrestler which probably explains parts of Jack's great inside game. I'd bet Pops showed him a move or 2

 

Oh sweet, Rez is back. What you been working on homie?