What Ace Would Joe Louis, Hold Over Larry Holmes?

He’s just a LOT better then Holmes…

 

I personally see Larry beating Joe but if he had a chance it would be Louis timing a straight right hand after a Holmes jab. With that said, Holmes had a pretty solid chin and more than that he had tons of heart to climb off the floor which he did more than once in his career.

Larry was bigger, faster and moved better but Joe had impeccable timing and had that lethal right hand which would always be dangerous against a conventional fighter that used the jab like Larry did.

 

Agreed. That is what made Joe Louis so incredibly dangerous. It wasn't so much that he hit hard but it was how and when he delivered that power. And once he hurt you it was over.

With that said, the blueprint to beat him had been layed out by Conn. He did not like guys that could move laterally and really liked to fight guys that were in front of him so he could set his feet.

 

Exactly. The right hand would be the equalizer, but I also must bring up Joe's combinations. If he lands flush with the right over the left....even if Larry can stay sensible, Joe's follow up combinations would be hell.

I might be the biggest Holmes fan here, but though I think Larry would really befoozle Joe and make him look bad in the early rounds, by the middle the right would land flush and things would take a turn for the worse from there.

 

I'm not buying for a minute that Holmes was faster than Louis.

 

I agree that the Louis right hand might be the best weapon here but he'd have to time it against perhaps the best HW jab. And I agree completely that Holmes was faster than Louis, both in his hands and his feet.

 

Actually, the "ace" Joe Louis would hold over Holmes was Joe's jab.

Larry Holmes was one of those classic boxers who had trouble dealing with a jab, himself.

Ken Norton's jab was his secret weapon against Ali. (Futch taught Norton to jab with Ali and it upset Ali's rhythm.) Ken jabbed with Larry, too. And their fight went to a split decision after 15 rounds. Weaver used a good jab against Holmes and nearly upset him. Witherspoon nearly closed Larry's eye with the jab in losing a razor-thin decision. Carl Williams had a really bad chin, but he had a jab. And he shut Larry's eye and arguably beat him. Even when Larry was old, Maurice Harris outjabbed Holmes and arguably deserved the win over him, as well.

Hell, even Lorenzo Zanon, one of the worst title challengers ever, lasted longer than a frustrated Holmes wanted because he consistently threw and landed a pecking jab.

If you bore in with your gloves over your face like Shavers, Holmes would jab you to death and unload on you. If you jabbed with Holmes, it threw him off. That's why Holmes tended to avoid jabbers (see Thomas, Page, etc.)

But Joe Louis, even when he was old and had nothing much left, still had his left jab.

His TV fights in the 1950s were mainly him just throwing jabs.

And the left alone was good enough, in Joe's last fight, to bust up Marciano's face and cause Rocky to praise Joe's left as a weapon.

 

Better combination puncher, more punch variety, harder puncher. Holmes could also be vulnerable despite being a great champion , and if Louis got Holmes in trouble like Snipes, Shavers 2, Witherspoon, did. Then Louis who is one of the best finishers, could literally finish Holmes off right there and then. Finally Louis had a tremendous right hand which Holmes could be very vulnerable to.

Overall though I do see Holmes's jab, movement, being major issues for Louis, and I could see Holmes winning. But if Louis got Holmes in trouble then that could be the end of the road for Holmes, and whilst Holmes was a brave man and could comeback from sticky situations. He wasn't in there with a fighter like Louis ,who had some of the best finishing abilities ever.

 

Louis by TKO.

 

Hands??!! Have you ever watched them fight?

 

His most obvious advantage is power.

That can be a game changer when all else is equalish.