Great fight! Will be a war, I'd go for Louis' better placed punches to get to Holy by the end, but he will have to go through absolute hell before then, probably behind on points.
This. Avoiding the jab was never a Holyfield strength and Joe Louis had one of the great jabs. And if he is hitting you with the jab, he has every weapon known to man to bring behind it.
Dream matchup. Holyfield would do well to survive, but if he did, he’d lose on points. I think Louis probably stops him late. It would be great while it lasted, though, and Holy would definitely have his moments.
Ill be the outlier and pick holy. I think hes tough enough to survive louis bombs, and his counters would accumulate enough damage to force a late stoppage
It's not the one bomb he has to worry about. It's the fact that Joe put together the best combos ever. Also, one thing Louis had over Tyson - Louis was much better at throwing short punches. Tyson was essentially a mid-range puncher, so it was prudent to smother him. Trying to smother a prime Louis would play out much worse.
I can see it. But still, holy had an incredible ring iq. He almost made it a draw against a long range bomber in lewis after getting humiliated in the first fight. I think he manages to disrupt louis rythm with his counters and headbutts ()
Might be the new-time bias talking again, but I pick Holyfield. I know single fights aren't a good way to predict a bout, but considering how well 173 lbs Billy Conn did against Louis exchanging with him, I could definitely see Holy doing the same and more. Louis' inside fighting technique was superb, but it was made to look even better by the likes of Max Baer who threw looping shots. Conn was skillful in his approach which I believe was the key against Louis, and Holyfield would do the same. Now of course Holyfield was never in an easy fight and if Bert Cooper nearly took him out, Louis could too. But I'd lean towards Holyfield
Holyfield would fuck Louis up. Louis could beat cruiserweight cutting weight Holyfield. That would be a competitive fight
There's zero evidence outside of Holy fanboyism (Neil's hallmark) that Holy, as hittable as he was, and as much as struggled against solid jabs, would "fuck up" the best offensive fighter who ever lived. Again, facing a post-prison Tyson, whose footwork had gone to shit compared to the 80s, is not the same as facing a prime Louis, who masterfully turned guys and nailed them from different angles once he had them in even slight trouble. Holy ALWAYS got hurt. He was a survivor, but Louis was quite literally the best finisher ever. BTW - Louis stops the cruiserweight Holy inside of 5 or 6. There's no "it would be competitive." Fucking shot midget Qawi took Holy to the brink at cruiser, and you think he's competitive with a prime Brown Bomber? Lmao. It would have to the stronger, and more mature heavyweight Holy for Vander to have a chance. Ugo's prediction was more tempered and a bit more objective of Louis. Holyfield "fucking up" a prime Louis is fantasy.
