Were does Joe Louis rank in a all time P4P ranking?

By modern divisional standards, Joe Louis did beat alot of people who should've been multiple weight divisions above him

 

Most of his opponents were his size or smaller, many of whom were moving up from LHW. He beat around 4 guys iirc who had a size advantage over him.

 

Precisely.

 

Yep everyone else was around his size or smaller

 

Yes, Louis won 6 x fights against world ranked contenders who had at least 33lbs on him, including one who enjoyed a 65lbs advantage.

Arguments about the quality of his opposition relative to that of other top p4p ATG greats can be made against him, but lack of wins over substantially bigger ranked fighters can't. In fact, I can't think of another contender for a top 10 ATG p4p slot that has wins over multiple world ranked fighters when they were so severely outweighed (Mickey Walker being the closest, off the top of my head).

 

I would take that P4P concept concept with a grain of salt, especially when it comes to heavyweights. I mean, what could Louis realistically have done much better? I don’t see much room for improvement anymore. Nowadays, I think the majority of people would rank Ali above him, but what exactly should Louis have done to be ranked above Ali?

Maybe he could have beaten Schmeling right away. But does not every great champion have the right to lose once in a while? And didn’t he prove his critics wrong in all his rematches?

And what about Robinson, Armstrong, Greb, Langford, etc.? What could Louis have done to be ranked as high, or even above them? Maybe beating Charles and Marciano?

But is that really something desirable for his successors, to look so weak? I mean, "Louis was 75 years old when they fought” (Eddie Murphy) and was already the longest-reigning lineal champion ever…

But of course, all of this is nonsense. You can come up with lots of wild theories on paper if you want. Fact is, that there are human limitations, such as aging. For that reason, I think Louis’s career was already close to perfect. And nobody is perfect, also not Robinson, Armstrong, Greb…

Thus, I think he stands on his own as the longest-reigning lineal champion in the marquee weight class.

 

It is completely unrealistic to say Louis could've buckled up 50 defenses, it is physically impossible for a man to have this much consistency against opponents of the highest caliber.

 

Nope I stand by that line. The next 25 would have been easier then the first 25. If theres 2 halfs of a challenge and someone does the tougher part how is the easier one impossible? It was doable. Especially when you allow him a slip up and regaining the title.

I did a thread a year ago where I listed a whole 90 something guys Louis could have fought. It was the deepest HW division ever the opponents were there he wouldn't have ended up relaxing into 1 defense a year like fighters do now. No one really stood out as "a threat" to him but the opponents were there.

IRL he added a final 2 in 1951 a whole 9 years later after retiring for a few years losing to Ezzard etc. Theres room for him to go beyond 50 defenses.

50 defenses sounds bold but in this instance it was not.

 

Who voted "Top 40"?

 

Top 10

 

When it comes to p4p and you talk about the size of some of Louis' opponents, it should be noted that Abe Simon was not only soundly defeated by Louis at his size, but also Louis had traveled to Thailand and interrupted Simon at a cathouse there, and thrashed him with the butt of a pistol, until he agreed to get sexed on by the madame who had some kind of bat measles or something. And he grabbed him by the hair while it was happening and whispered into his ear "I am doing this...to demonstrate my pound-for-pound supremacy over you." And Abe Simon, if you look up the old newspaper decision of that Thai fight, did in fact die of those Thai bat measles. And, some say,...a broken heart.


The madame ended up getting some kind of experimental antibiotic made from Yowie bones that they'd imported from the Northern Territory and she was cured. Some think that story was too scandalous but it's how a lot of unsanctioned foreign fights were won prior to 1950, when NYSAC created the cathouse sex fight rule. "Fights cannot be won nor lost through exertion of dominance over an opponent outside of a boxing ring through the forced relations of a third party with any aggressive communicable disease." was their ruling. Other sanctioning bodies followed suit.

 

Top 10 .