WHO BEATS A PRIME LOUIS.. YOUR OPINION?

Ali is a tough matchup & likely his toughest challenge on paper. I do think Joe would win 1 out of 3 though.

Some folks think Dempsey & Marciano are no easy night's work and he could lose to one of them. I could see that. Lets add Tyson to those 2 guys and Joe loses to one of them. Lewis might surprise him, or say Vitali. 1 of those 2 is going to cause style problems for sure. But not sure about a W.
Some folks think Liston, but I don't. Same w/ Frazier. Holmes he catches. Some folks think Jack Johnson would have been tough. Maybe Tunney as well--his style sure doesn't play into Joe's. Whether that means a win is another story, but the easy to hit guys won't last. A defense or style thing is mandatory.

At the end of the day, one tough guy to match up with and be the guy with their arm raised & not Louis'.

He might be susceptible to a southpaw like a Byrd or Corrie Sanders. I actually think Sanders would be as dangerous as a Dempsey because of that southpaw stance & those old guys never faced the lefties. The other type guys that might get a surprise shocker win would be the on a certain night types. Bowe or a Page.

The amount of years in the sport Louis was relevant is really incredible. He was off to such an early start and his level of competition before winning the title was very very impressive by itself. That was extremely fast development in there.

 

I don't think any of the heavyweight ATGS would beat him but every fighter always has someone out there that can beat them. Louis lost the Schmeling once around his prime, so there would be others capable perhaps.
No one's invincible.
I'd favour him over all the usual ATGs though, he had a great style to cope with all of them.
Muhammad Ali probably has the best chance of the great ones.

 

I had always believed Louis to be almost unbeatable because I had only seen highlight videos of him that were shown on television. In those Louis would hit former champs and they'd collapse. Then, Youtube came along and I saw Baer, Carnera, Braddock, etc. fight. They didn't look good, and certainly not good enough to compare Louis' performance against them to how he would do against fighters like Holyfield, Tyson, Holmes, Ali, Bowe, Lewis, etc.

Louis fought the best fighters in his career after he was past his prime. Walcott, Charles, and Marciano were the best he faced and he was not at his best. If he had fought them earlier (not Louis' fault) it would be easier to gauge his career. To me, his competition early in his career was weak. Maybe Louis would have upped his game if he was fighting better fighters and would have still dominated for a long time, maybe he wouldn't.

 

off top of my head i would favor ali, holmes, tyson, holyfield, bowe over him... probably lewis, liston and foreman also.
guys like ibeabuchi, klits, tubbs, ruddock etc. also have a good chance imo...

joe was a great champion and has an amazing legacy, but h2h i don't think he matches up good with these big, skilled boxers... suspicious defense and chin, cement feet, only 200 lbs in his prime...

 

Would
Dempsey
Johnson
Ali

Might
Lewis
Liston
Holmes
Tyson
Tunney

 

Langford might turn the trick too.

 

I could see Johnson beating him

 

Prime Ali certainly would beat Joe. If far inferior movers could make it difficult for him or beat him, what is a prime Ali doing to Joe besides beat him decisively?

 

Vitali
Wlad ( 50/50)
Lennox
Tyson
Ali
Marciano
Dempsey
Holmes ( Perhaps)
Foreman
Frazier
Baer ( without Broken hand is 50/50)

Louis is better against boxers, swarmer's cause him issues, also he will have problems controlling the distance against the very tall boxers with good jabs.