What if Ezzard Charles was in his prime in 1940 and took on a 26 year old Joe Louis

Assuming Charles was not involved in the tragic death of another fighter; Charles would need all his heavy guns and will... to hang in with 1940 Joe Louis.

This Joe Louis, Charles would have beaten in 1940:

1940-02-09 : Joe Louis 203 lbs beat Arturo Godoy 202 lbs by SD in round 15 of 15

• Location: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York, USA
• Referee: Arthur Donovan 10-5
• Judge: Tommy Shortell 5-10
• Judge: George LeCron 10-4
  
• Post-Fight Quotes
  • Joe Louis: "This was the worst fight I ever had."
  • Arturo Godoy: "Of course, I think I win. Certainly, I should get no worse than draw."

 

How about choosing the Louis of 4 months later?

• Godoy's face was badly battered. The Associated Press reported that his face looked like "barbecued beef."

• Godoy was floored late in the seventh round. He got up right before the bell rang to end the round.

• Louis dropped Godoy twice in the eighth round. After the second knockdown, the referee stopped the fight without a count. Godoy tried to go after Louis when he got up, but he was restrained. Later, when he had calmed down, Godoy shook Louis' hand and congratulated him.

• "That's the worst beating I ever gave a man," Louis said after the fight

LOL!

 

Louis could be "all over the scale". 168 lb Conn giving him a boxing lesson?, until Conn got stupid.
In real life Charles probably saw that too.

 

The same thing that happened to everybody who fought Joe Louis around that time.

A sore head.

 

That is the reason in boxing, each fight needs to be just judged on its own. (In baseball, the good teams win 2/3, the bad teams win 1/3, playing a 3 game series most often. The math difference is only a one game swing difference, from being considered good or bad).