BoxRec

Select 5 fighters who you give the best chance of beating Louis.

This doesn't mean you think they will beat him (but maybe you do). I'm asking who has the right traits and style to cause him the most problems.

Louis struggled with opponents who had great foot work and great defence. The Schmeling fight also showed a susceptibility for right hands. This wrinkle was ironed out to some degree but Joe was still dropped by some rather average opposition...

My 5

Johnson
Tunney
Dempsey
Corbett
Young

Ezzard wrote:Louis struggled with opponents who had great foot work and great defence. The Schmeling fight also showed a susceptibility for right hands. This wrinkle was ironed out to some degree but Joe was still dropped by some rather average opposition...

My 5

Johnson
Tunney
Dempsey
Corbett
Young

Good list Ezzard, although I don't see Young having a chance in hell . . .I'd replace him with Ali.

Come on, Ali is way too easy a shout!!!

What about someone like Loughran? Think he'd have a chance?

Foreman
Vitali K
holmes
johnson
wills

Ezzard wrote:Select 5 fighters who you give the best chance of beating Louis.

This doesn't mean you think they will beat him (but maybe you do). I'm asking who has the right traits and style to cause him the most problems.

- Best Louis was undefeated, from his first defense to his last defense before WW2.

He was getting KDed some, but never seem hurt for long. His competition was often modest because of the volume of defenses he was making, but KOs quickly squelched any controversies.

Working back, the 5 with best chances would be Wlad, Vitali, Tyson, Ali, and Dempsey. Again, I'd guarantee a Tyson victory. Dempsey and Ali would both be the most natural and popular bouts and the most competitive with a good matchup of styles.

Ali - Fluid, tough (though perhaps not as tough at his peak as in later years?), speedy with his feet as well as his hands, ever-mobile, & an adaptable adversary. Quite possibly the most difficult of all the greats for Louis to have tackled.

Holmes - Much the same as above, though slower & more technically sound, with fewer unconventional errors in his game than Ali (though not as much versatility or ability to daze the opposition). Methodically lethal to a tee.

Tunney - Many will overlook him for other options, but he would run Louis a merry chase indeed. To an extent, he combines the best of both Ali & Holmes. He was more resourceful & attentive to detail than either of those men, & had similar attributes in quickness, ring-intelligence, & mobility. He was also teak-tough, with a great set of whiskers.

Foreman - It was a tough call between he & Liston, as both would make Louis work awful hard. He had a lot of size on Louis & also the ability to close on an opponent from the opening bell extremely quickly --- people horrifically under-estimate the speed of his early assault. A classic finisher with thunder in his gloves like few men in history. It'd be awful hairy if Louis did survive.

Dempsey - Dempsey's chances, I consider to be the worst of these five, but still damn good. Like Foreman, he was absolutely electric when the bell rang for round one. He was shy to a good jabber (Louis' lead left was probably the best all-round jab in HW history), & he did often hold his mitts low, but, boy, could he seek & destroy --- & the angles he utilised are so under-appreciated. I think he scores a knockdown en route to being stopped himself, but who really knows?

Just outside these five, I had Liston lurking as the next most poisonous Louis adversary. Lewis is another who would have a pretty handy chance.

Like the Ali '5' these guys would not have
an easy night.

Larry Holmes
Muhammad Ali
Mike Tyson
Evander Holyfield
Ezzard Charles

Are the 5 men I would select at this time if I had to
throw money at it.

Ali
Johnson (apparently Louis's trainer said that he wouldn't beat Johnson)
Tyson (I definitely give Louis the edge, but I think Tyson has a good chance if he takes it early, but then gets KOd in the rematch)
Holmes
Lewis (Louis by KO is the obvious result, but I think that Lewis on his best night would give Joe a lot of problems)

Ali of course. Huge sluggers like Foreman and Shavers would have a chance. I think a really good boxer like Tunney might do well. Johnson would give him a lot of trouble.

Adamj1987 wrote:Foreman
Vitali K
holmes
johnson
wills

Just intrested why Vitali and not Lewis?

My list would be

Ali
Holmes
Lewis

I would pick these 3 every time (I admit i may rate Lewis too highly)
but also to give Louis real problems and possibly beat him

Vitali and Wlad
Tyson
Dempsey
Foreman
Johnson
Shavers
Frazier
Tunney
RJJ (I know many of you may call me stupid but RJJ footwork and speed would cause problems and i think of a series of 3 he would win the first 1)

Pill_85 wrote:

Adamj1987 wrote:Foreman
Vitali K
holmes
johnson
wills

Just intrested why Vitali and not Lewis?

i think vitalis style is more akward than lewis he also has a similar skil set and his chin is harder than lewis's
lewis i think would have been in 1 of his more cautious aproches to a fight against someone as skilled a joe louis whilst vitali would atempt to take control from the off and would win by keeping a similar work rate to louis but would have ring generalship in his favour whilst lewis wouldnt try and dominate until around 4 by then i think louis would have done enought to have a 3 round lead and teh rest of teh rounds seesaw between the 2

Ambling Alp wrote:Ali of course. Huge sluggers like Foreman and Shavers would have a chance. I think a really good boxer like Tunney might do well. Johnson would give him a lot of trouble.

Shavers!?

Jeez, maybe, but it's an awful long-shot, Alp. I don't know how you class Shavers, though. I consider him to be shockingly over-estimated. The best thing to ever happen to him was to challenge twice for the Heavyweight crown when two of the division's finest were champions.

In truth, it would've taken a hell of a lot less than Ali & Holmes to prevent a one-trick pony like Shavers snatching the belt. I rate him as cannon fodder for Lewis, Bowe, Tyson, Holyfield, Dempsey, Frazier, Louis, Foreman, Liston, Jeffries, Tunney, Marciano etc. etc.

Dempsey
Liston
Ali
Foreman
Johnson

Goodnight, Irene wrote:

Ambling Alp wrote:Ali of course. Huge sluggers like Foreman and Shavers would have a chance. I think a really good boxer like Tunney might do well. Johnson would give him a lot of trouble.

Shavers!?

Jeez, maybe, but it's an awful long-shot, Alp. I don't know how you class Shavers, though. I consider him to be shockingly over-estimated. The best thing to ever happen to him was to challenge twice for the Heavyweight crown when two of the division's finest were champions.

In truth, it would've taken a hell of a lot less than Ali & Holmes to prevent a one-trick pony like Shavers snatching the belt. I rate him as cannon fodder for Lewis, Bowe, Tyson, Holyfield, Dempsey, Frazier, Louis, Foreman, Liston, Jeffries, Tunney, Marciano etc. etc.

Of course Shavers would be the underdog against anyone that good. He isn't going to beat Joe louis 50% of the time. However, he would have the ultimate "punchers chance". And he wasn't nearly as bad as you like to think.
The best thing to happen to him was to challenge for the title against two of the finest champions? Had he nailed almost anyone else with those shots he would have won the heavyweight championship. Had he been a challenger in many eras he probably would have been the champion for a short time.

I disagree. He only hit Ali repeatedly because the champ was a shot, formerly great fighter clinging to fading remnants of what he once was.

It was blind luck against Holmes (the proof being in twenty-four rounds, he landed that shot on him just the once).

Would he have the ultimate puncher's chance? Not really. He may've been the ultimate puncher, but with relatively poor balance, a sub-par set of whiskers, zero adaptability, no left hand to speak of, unremarkable stamina & pourous defense, he could only be champ if he landed a very rare lucky super-shot (ala against Holmes, but against a lesser title-holder) or, more likely, if he challenged against an especially weak champ. The man wasn't even a very good finisher, only average in quality (aided in this department by the raw dizzying power of his hammer-blow).

I would favour peak versions of the below-mentioned HW champs to beat Shavers...

Ali
Baer
Bowe
Braddock (Close)
Charles
Corbett
Dempsey
Fitzsimmons
Foreman
Frazier
Holmes
Holyfield
Jeffries
Johansson (Close)
Johnson
Lewis
Liston
Louis
Marciano
Moorer (Close)
Patterson (Close)
Schmeling
Sharkey
M. Spinks
Tunney
Tyson
Walcott


He gets my nod of favouritism against...

Briggs
Carnera (Close)
Douglas
Ellis (Close, as their real fight was a swing-affair for a moment)
Hart
L. Spinks

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt over most versions of the oft-lacklustre Douglas, but the one who dumped Tyson on his trunks cleans Shavers' clock, too. Burns & Willard vs. Shavers would've been tough to call, for mine. I won't pick a fave there. I didn't include Sullivan, because of the lack of footage, otherwise he might've also made the list. As I said, though, I really think Shavers is heftily over-estimated. What could he do, outside of plod mindlessly forward & hope to strike it lucky with his one money punch? Very little, IMO.

i agree i dont think shavers can be ruled out against anyone especialy if he is bigger than them.