There was a good thread on this at Boxrec; I posted my opinions there, and do not wish to deign to post my opinions in this shithole.
Liston would fuck him up! Louis was a terrific fighter in his day dont get me wrong, but he was just too small and weak of chin to have dealt with a Liston type. Guys like Liston, Foreman, Tyson, and Lummox are guys who IMO would have absoloutely murdered Joe Louis.
Tyson was 60 pounds heavier than Hearns, while Louis and Liston were 198-207 and 205-219 in their respective primes. Most would argue that Liston was at his best at 212 and Louis was at his best at around 205. When Louis melted down to 199 to face Conn in 1941, he was pretty badly weight-drained, and had trouble in the fight. The size difference between the two is minimal, and you were just too stupid to realize it.
How ? To outbox Liston you have to be significantly faster then him as Ali was . Louis with his patient style would have a lot of trouble outboxing a guy with Listons reach & jab.
Yes , Louis and Liston at their best weights were not far from the same size. About the same size in height and in their primes and about 10 pounds difference ... Anyway , Liston had an extrmely long reach . I think Louis would have problems getting past the jab .. There is also Louis's chin ... There is also Listons lack of heart .... It's a hard call ....
Joe Louis thrived off of slipping the jab and countering with power punches. Watch what he did against Carnera, who had an even longer jab than Liston, or against Schmeling in the rematch, Baer, Simon... While Sonny Liston's style would be a nightmare for nearly any heavyweight, Louis was built to get inside.
If Liston couldn't put any serious hurt on Louis within the first six rounds, I think 'Brown Bomber' stops him late.
We base Liston's invincibility on what. His destruction of Patterson? Williams? Roy Harris or Wayne Bethea. We are talking about a guy that was stopped with one punch from Ali. A guy who quit in the first fight. The guy made one successful defence of the heavyweight title and was against Patterson, whom he already knocked out. Admittedly his best years came before he fought for the title. Admittedly he waited too long for his shot. But Louis dominated top guys before his title shot too. Louis dominated top guys long after as well. He was many years past his prime before he lost. And he never quit.
Not really. Louis consistently ducked all of the top black heavyweights of his era. Out of 25 title defenses, he only fought two black heavyweights, an old light heavyweight and Jersey Joe Walcott, who beat him.
Admittedly Walcott deserved the first fight. But like Ali-Norton-Young the champ got the decision. Wouldn't you agree "The Brown Bomber" was past his prime by then. Anyways Joe took Walcott out convincingly in the rematch. And what about John H.Lewis, he was a top fighter at the time Louis fought him(It wasn't Louis fault about Lewis's sight problem) Louis was forced to fight the white guys because back then society(the powers to be) was still looking for the GWH.
I'd question whether the black thing is a big issue for Joe. Joe actually fought in a time period when there wasn't as much depth among black heavyweights. The best of the bunch came along while he was away at war. Had he not lost a couple of years late I don't think he would have avoided guys like Bivins (and I don't think Bivins would have beat him).
That's a common misconception. Joe Louis Turkey Thompson Jimmy Bivins Ezzard Charles Joe Walcott Roscoe Toles Archie Moore I'd take them over the top white figthers Joe Louis's championship.
He fought three and two were at light heavy for most of the early 40s (hell, Moore was losing to Burley and getting drilled by Charles regularly back then). Again, he likely faces Bivins while still champ if not for a long tenure in WWII
Actually, I said that two of his defenses were against black fighters, not two of his total number of title fights.
and actually you made a mistake there since three of his defenses were against black fighters because he fought Walcott twice
Technically, I said that in 25 defenses, he only fought two black guys. It was late and I was tired last night.
