Why would Joe Louis be too small for today's heavies

If his chinny chin chin held up he would not be too small at all. This era sucks.

I am a realist, and am not saying that he would walk through Joshua's punches or have not trouble with Fury's jab, but he is good enough to be in the mix.

 

Steve Cunningham was 210lbs against Tyson Fury was that a prime Fury? If it wasn’t it was very close.

 

Interesting with Evander Holyfield and Joe Louis one of them trained off weight and was about 195-200lbs at his best likely with a little fluid depletion the other used “concoctions” to reach 205-217lbs at his best but only one of them could fight today according to some people.
The “Brown Bomber” rowed, hit the bag, ran, boxed and did basic floor work whilst eating to not lose excessive weight he was basically doing endurance training day in and day out “The Real Deal” lead raids to Burger King, employed bodybuilders and tried very hard to gain weight during camp.
Would you wager that if he’d picked up the fork taken some “vitamins” he could put on 10-20lbs? That’s low balling it and I think you’d also say it wouldn’t do much… which is my point.
Haven’t many folks called Bert Cooper the hardest puncher they fought? What did he weigh at his best a squat 190-215? Wasn’t it James Toney who stopped Evander Holyfield and not “Rockman” Rahamn? It’s landing good punches that hurts people and it’s why Billy Conn could hurt Joe Louis.

 

He wouldn’t have been.

It’s just that we have a significant percentage of ignorant fans, who believe that everything bigger and more modern is superior.

 

Because nowadays there is the 'Klitchko Syndrome': the idea that you need to be 7 ft tall, 250+ pounds and roided up to your sinuses in order to be competitive.

 

Holyfield would be too small for this era of HWs. He was barely big enough for his own era.

Not saying fighters Holyfields size can no longer succeed but being what he was I think hes too small to be one of them. Louis dominated his fairly large era(before fighters got small in the 40s) so I'm more inclined to be more forgiving. If Usyk can be the top guy, Louis can be the top guy.

 

I think Louis’s chin/durability has been overly criticised at times but, being realistic, Evander’s own chin and durability came into play big time when he was banging along with the big boys.

It’s true that Louis wasn’t so small, certainly not for his own time. H2H I think he matches up pretty well in more modern times but a careers worth of fighting opponents that much bigger than yourself would wear that much more overtime.

I see Usyk’s foray into the HWs as similar, notwithstanding the successes, being a bit smaller, his longevity at HW was/is always going to be limited - and Olek has certainly had to uphold a great chin and durability in general to help buoy his quest among the bigger boys.

 

One of the best guys around today is 6ft2-3 and about 220lbs with a bit of spare weight to lose how is Evander Holyfield too small?

 

Somewhat. He certainly wouldn't be as dominant as he was in the 30s, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't be out of the top 5 of the modern division.

It's likely that his career would be much shorter due to fighting heavier, skilled opponents on a constant basis. If Louis does win the title, he definitely wouldn't reign for 11 years.

 

Joe Louis certainly sleighed a few giants in his own time. Granted they weren’t exactly spectacular in a lot of aspects. But the possibility of him having varying levels of success in every era isn’t out of the question. I think he’d be a champion in most eras and a top player in all of them

 

Why not just terrorize the CW division? That would seem the best fit for him.

Or take up weight lifting.

 

Where’s the money in that thought?

 

This more or less encompasses the reason why I tend to have a hard time around here. I tried to illuminate some folks with the "Golovkin vs Louis" idea but it seems that Classic has a problem with style analysis and era comparison.

So let's start off with some basic facts.

Louis was one of the bigger men in his era. He usually held a weight advantage. He came to a fight to KTFO the opponent. He relied on excellent kinetics based on being set when he punched, and excellent combination punching. In his day he hit extremely hard and often. Exchanging with Louis was not a good idea.

Usyk is bigger than Louis. He is not, however, a big man in today's division. Indeed a lot of people have suggested in the past that he is too small for the heavy ranks. Usyk does not come to blast out the opponent. He comes to box. He uses footwork and angles to create favourable situations for himself and to keep the opponent off balance. He is exploiting his lack of size. He does not hit as hard as Louis because his kinetics are not good. He doesn't set his feet. He doesn't usually use a kinetic chain. He often throws cuffing shots which (and this may be where he got his nickname from) look like a cat batting at a mouse. He's more intent on defence and disrupting the other guy's timing so that he can exploit those errors.

This fundamentally different approach explains why Usyk has success in the modern heavy ranks where Louis I think would not have the same success that he did in his time. Louis would be looking at forcing an exchange with guys like AJ, Zhang, Hrgovic, Fury, Wilder, Parker, Chisora, Joyce all of whom are giants compared to the typical 1940's dudes and who would welcome the opportunity to fight some small guy with a worse chin than them.

Am I saying that Louis couldn't have success?

No. He was a great fighter and great fighters like him often find ways to win when the odds are stacked against them on paper.

However, he'd also lose a lot more, because he is trying to row upstream here. He is playing a big man's game against bigger men. If Louis had to fight a steady stream of these big guys I am of the opinion that he would be ground down through cumulative damage much much sooner than he was in his own era.

 

This is an understatement, especially in the case of Simon. He has to be the least skilled Heavyweight Title challenger, since, well, the Joe Louis era. If it wasn't for Joe Joyce, Simon might be the slowest Heavyweight I'd ever seen. Little to no coordination, little to no defense. It's almost impossible to believe that this dude KO'd Jersey Joe.

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