Which of these fighters would give Joe Louis his hardest fight..

Outside of Wills the other black guys were all very past prime......and Wills, well, we had the discussion about this on the forum quite a few times already, and almost everyone count this against Dempsey, but let´s not exaggerate....

 

It's just you.

Johnson never saw anything in the league of a prime Louis.

 

I see Liston and Johnson giving Joe most problems.

Joe beat many opponents before entering the ring by his aura and stoney emotionless demeanour, Liston had that and more, Listons armoury were heavier than Louis, he was bigger and stronger, so the matchup would have been a tough one for Louis.

I put Johnson as a hard fight for Louis as i believe he had a boxing skillset that layed untapped as fighters he fought were outclassed so easily by Johnson, a inshape Johnson was a impressive fighter, Louis did not shuffle 11 inches if 10 inches would suffice until time came to pounce, likewise Johnson only showed his better skills if opponent required it, he won whilst toying with opponents so often.

However on issue of Johnson, the lack of quality film of his bouts requires judgement to be made on a informed basis from literature and reports from boxing 'oracles'/historians.

 

I think the mere fact that someone throws fast, straight punches and possesses a thundering, world class heavyweight jab is enough to put Lil' Arthur off his game.