Ol' Joe Louis had had some exhibition bouts before stepping into the ring with Ezzard Charles. But he didn't have a proper tune up fight. Do you think, the great Brown Bomber could beat The Cincinatti Cobra if he had some more fights beforehand? He looked pretty good for his age on the comeback trail before being ran over by Rocky. Charles was beating him to the punch all night, but would his reflexes be better if it wasn't for the ring rust?
Still think he loses but perhaps the cards are closer. Charles Had to beat Louis to prove he was the man.
I don't think that he was capable of beating Charles or for that matter Walcott at this stage. He walked away at precisely the right time after the Walcott fights.
He messed Charles' face up pretty badly, wouldn't be surprised if the Louis from the Walcott rematch beat him
The Charles fight Louis is by far the worst version of Louis there is. 218 lbs, two years retired, 36 years old, it doesn't get worse than that. I'd say the Louis who rematched Brion, Agramonte and beat Savold would have been the best comeback version. He was too drained for Bivins at 202 and he put 12 lbs in one month leading up to the Rocky fight, essentially gaining back those pounds he worked so hard to shed the previous year. At 208 lbs, 1951 Louis would give Charles a good fight and lose on the cards by something like 9-5-1 or 9-6. However, even the best version of comeback Louis couldn't KO Agramonte and Brion in two tries, it was the first time ever Louis couldn't finish his opponents in rematches and it happened both times he rematched someone in his comeback. It is evident that pre 1950 Louis was never coming back, regardless of conditioning. He wouldn't be able to time Charles with his right and even if he busted him up with jabs and hooks, Charles could always go on the defensive and prevent Louis from ending the fight. Since the outcome would be determined on points, Charles being the younger, faster man would be the one finding more openings and having the stamina to keep doing so for the duration of the fight. The more interesting question is what would a 1948 Louis vs Charles match look like.
Charles was notorious for beating fighters bigger than him,I think he can possibly beat Louis in the first fight,second fight not so sure.
If he got down to around 200lbs and was motivated, he would’ve had a chance, the reason Walcott was able to beat Charles at an even older age than Louis was was due to him having the hunger still, people are underrated that here by saying ‘Louis didn’t have a chance anyway at that point’. Louis was fat and was fighting solely for the money and it showed in the ring. Also Walcott actually had a much worse style for longevity compared to Louis to top it off.
