People Dont Actually Think Joe Louis Would Beat a Klitschko Do They?

I mean wheres Ashton Kutcher? Am I getting punk'd or something? Joe Louis? Its a joke right? 18 year old Corrie Sanders would have been the THIRD FASTEST HUMAN when Joe Louis fought. Like I can totally understand if people want to talk about greatness and accomplishments etc...but in a head 2 head? Joe Louis lived at a time when people thought a healthy diet for a fighter was 3 meals of steak, a few cigs, and a pile of ash. I mean, I dont even know who I am trying to argue against, because I dont think anyone with an IQ...not even a boxing IQ, not even a specific number, but just an IQ would think Joe Louis would beat a Klitschko. Its like laughable, itd be like putting Lebron James out there on a basketball court in the 1930's, or having Michael Vick playing football...athletes are just different now, we understand a lot more about medicine and about recovery and about nutrition. Want to talk about boxing becoming watered down because of the NBA/NFL...how about because of WWII, or cholera, or the plague or whatever the hell those people died of. Heck, straight up poverty. You think Wlad and Vitali were working on the docks waiting for there shot? Most fighters today get taken in by a trainer or a promoter who sees their skill, pays for everything and then rips them of the rest of their career. Think of the poorest person you know whose not homeless...they probably live better than the top 1% did back then. Decent meals with fresh food, air conditioning and heat, doctors who dont think leaches are the cure for every ailment. Hell, just look at microfracture surgery, which just became popular 20 years ago. Every athlete with major cartilidge gaps and damage would be done or fade into oblivion at a young age back then, now they go in for a safe surgery and can come back. How many athletes back then had to quit sports because of injuries that can be fixed in a few weeks today. Or how many athletes had to take months and years off for injuries that can be done overnight now. Its such a joke of an argument that any of these old timers could hang with a Klitschko. It would be a freaking massacre. Athletes in, I dont know, every quantifiable sport have improved to the level that some middleschoolers are beating world record holders of the 30's in sports like track and field and swimming, but no...no, boxing is the one sport insulated by the effects of modern technology and improvements. Also, who would know better about nutrition than the Klitschko's who have thier doctorates in sports sciences. So again im left completely confused how anyone could actually think Joe Louis would beat a Klitschko...I mean the guys he was fighting also were by todays standards, malnourished, improperly trained, usually cruiser or lhw's, who eithe rby the grace of god never had an injury that required serious surgery or fought through the pain or encumberant of living with that injury etc... Look, Vitali probably wouldnt have had a boxing career if he was born in Louis's time. He had wayyy too many injuries early in his career and he probably would be lucky to be walking without a cane. So I dont see how one could say the division was harder back when Louis fought...it wasnt. It wouldnt even be a fight. I just read several people post this recently and it blew my mind.

Comments (20)

After watching Wlad struggle with Haye I have no doubt. Doubt of what you follower that man was modern who was advanced you idiot joe wasnt and that wasn't the only match wlad had so stop repeating dumb quotes

4y ago

ELHURACAN58

Well thinking about it, I stand corrected. Sports athletes where better physically speaking back then, than they are now. Why do I say that? One reason is that throughthought the years, men have found a way to work less in life, this has allowed for the average human to develop less bone and muscle structure throught the years. If Im right and you look in history books, the average human now has less bones than our forefathers, and we are still losing. So its safe to say back then fighters where tougher than they are now. Second reason is the air contamination, more polluted air means harder respiration and therefore faster exhaustion. Thats why we cant fight 15 rounds these days(though mexicans and other people who train in mountains probably still can.) Third reason, civilization. Though we lose our bones, our brains still develops and we are less primitive, more knowleadgable than our forefathers. Many of our fighters are or where fans of fighters like Ali and Benitez, and looking at how these fighters are now, our fighters have counsciously or uncounsciously been more frightened towards engaging in a firefight.This has made more of our fighters voluntarily quit when the going gets tough.

14y ago

AntonTheMeh

I agree but do you mean Joe fighting today and training today or joe fighting in the 40"s and training in the 40's. As humans evolve we become inherently better at certain things. I always laugh at folks who say things like MJ and Ali and all the past greats would be champs today. This is nonsense for obvious reasons. Now if these guys were around today and had the same access to the same training supplements knowledge etc combined with their WORK ETHIC AND DESIRE TO BE GREAT then we could make the argument that they probably would be champs today. The kilts would easily blow through all past HW's pre Ali IMO I would also like to add that poverty begets greatness. Guys of yesteryear had the great advantage of having no other options in life. lol. dude, they change the rules in basketball because stern wanted a bunch of little mikes. you have no idea how badly Michael would rape the league today. none. Michael Jordan averaged 20 points a game in the NBA at the age of 40, only eight years ago. How is it nonsense that he would be just as dominant today, if not more considering how much easier it is for scorers? Ali was big, he was faster and more athletic than anyone fighting today, video shows that, and he was infinitely smarter than anyone fighting today. It's absurd to think he wouldn't be just as good today. exactly.

14y ago

AntonTheMeh

boxing is a different animal today. obviously primo carnera is no klitcsko, but if joe louis came up in this age, I'd say he probably would have been bigger then the 6'1 or 6'2 he's peg as. if we're talking a straight up fantasy fight; no one knows. some will always have biases for either fighter and Gage their opinion on that, so its dumb to speculate.

14y ago

prinzemanspopa

Yeah like he a dodge the hardest puncher of all time George Foreman? George Chuvalo? Yeah STFU.... George Chuvalo? :lol1: As for Foreman - I said virtually all,not all.Foreman was the one puncher Frazier could not avoid.See,Frazier had to fight Foreman.If he had refused to fight him,he would have been stripped of his title.It was essentially a fight that he was forced into.

14y ago

kendom

LOL at people (specially old men) who believe the blast of the past is better than the crescent of the present. The only places where the past was better than the present is in the music and automobile endurance industries. Everything else, Philosophy Sports Religion technology Art Common knowledge Training Food Is way more advanced and therefore better than the past Im in my late teens and i believe that Wlad would have been koed, its not a case of nostalgia its about doing research and knowing the facts and having a good knowledge of boxing

14y ago

ELHURACAN58

14y ago

kendom

Such absolute ignorance, just because he fought in the 40s doesnt mean he would lose, he fought 15 rounders while most HWs today cant do 12. A liitle more research is in order. Joe Louis would destroy Wlad, he has incredible punching power, he has much better inside fighting skills than Wlad, and would rip him up on the inside by blocking and slipping under his unimpressive jab, feinting, throwing uppercuts and working the body, and Louis was not slow he had underrated footspeed and footwork, Louis destroyed big fighters like Primo Carnera 260lbs, Buddy Baer 250lb, Abe Simon 260lbs. He destroyed these men because he was the most acurate HW puncher, and Wlad's huge body gives off a huge target. Sorry to bust the myth but boxing has devolved, show me evidence that boxing has evolved, were boxers in the past worse because they fought in an era of black and white? boxers in the past had much more experience, better trainers, fighters in the past used heavy bags, rowing machines, spped bags, sparring, weight training and bulking up doesnt increase punching power, it decreases movement and builds up arm weariness. Start doing some research instead of making ignorant assumptions. Again show me evidence that boxing has evolved when our current era of heavyweights is the worst ever and so few boxers employ head movement, bodypunching, infighting skills and effective feinting. Its an absolute myth.

14y ago

CubanGuyNYC

In my view, fantasy fights demand that the same considerations be applied to all the fighters in question. If 1940s Louis were transported to the present and pitted against either Klitschko, he'd probably be overwhelmed. But if Joe was born on the same year as Vitali -- with the same natural gifts, fighting drive, etc., while reaping modern benefits -- he would very conceivably defeat either brother. If Wlad and Vitali were transported to the past, carrying their modern attributes with them, they would murder nearly everyone that stepped in their path. But it's not so simple. There's a reason why very large men didn't have success in heavyweight boxing back in the day. It took decades of sports evolution for big men to become athletic enough to impose their size as a true advantage. The Klitschkos are a product of carefully considered boxing techniques and sports science. It's just another reason why they're viewed as robots.

14y ago

Forza

Nostalgia is a terrible habit of boxing fans

14y ago

SplitSecond

what's the point of making threads like this? all the boxing historians will just get butthurt and tell you how everyone nowadays is too soft and everyone back then was a super-mega-hard puncher and moved with super-mega-light-speed

14y ago

Forza

Carnera had 0 boxing skills. How the **** can you compare him to a master like wlad? Have you seen wlads jab? His defense? His straight right? Carnera was a big man with no skill, a carnival act. Not to mention wlad is an inch taller and 100x more athletic

14y ago

prinzemanspopa

These type of threads bring out the ignorance and biased thinking on both sides.You have the more modern fanbase,who refuse to accept that any heavyweight who fought over fifty years ago would stand even a remote chance against the more recent crop of heavyweights based on size alone,and then you have the classic fanbase,who refuse to see any notable strengths that two certain modern heavyweights possess and will sometimes blindly favour the older fighters based on sheer nostalgia. As always,the truth lies somewhere in the middle.I've absolutely no doubt that Louis would destroy any current heavyweight not names Klitschko.Film shows what type of fighter Louis is,and it shows us that he was a great one.There isn't a single heavyweight today that throws the level of combinations that Louis did.He was a fantastic puncher - one that had wide veriety,fluidity,speed,timing,precision,and,of course,power.I've absolutely no doubt that he would beaten every man on both Klitschko's respective win columns,and I've no doubt that he would be dominating in the same manner that Wlad is doing today. Likewise,I think both Klitschko's would have beaten everybody on Louis's win column.There are fighters like Schmeling and Walcott that were classy enough to create some interesting matchups,but I'd easily favour both over everybody else. And using Carnera and Baer is a very flawed argument.Yes,it's true - both men were of a similar height and weight to both Klitschko's.But Carnera and Baer fought Louis in a manner of which neither Klitshko would have done.Baer was aggressive against Louis,and it's common knowledge that this is the very worst type of fight to use against Louis - he destroyed guys that came directly at him.He gave up his height,gave up his reach and literally fought down to Louis's level.Carnera is a little similar to how the Klitschko's fiight,but nowhere near as adept at controlling distance,in my own personal view.The Klitschko's are both great at controlling distance and using their height and reach to full advantage.Louis wouldn't be feasting on the type of open target that both Baer and Carnera provided.He be forced to think,forced to set traps and a chess match would be likely to develop. It's as equally ignorant to deny a quality big man a chance at competing with certain fighters as it is to promote the idea that a particular heavyweight would succeed based on superior size alone.The Klitschko's are competitive in any era and should not be dismissed against any heavyweight of the past,regardless of how who they are and how great they were. Joe Frazier woulda killed his soul before killing Wlad This thread had absolutely nothing to do with him,so stop referencing him and trying to fit him into a conversation of which he has no business being in. In reality,Frazier would have avoided Wlad - just like he avoided virtually every single puncher of his generation.

14y ago

Forza

wlad or vitali would crush any of those old old old school boxers. Wasn't joe like 6'1-6'2? 190lb frame? Yeah he would die and so would marciano who would look like a midget compared to wlad/vitali. Same goes for other short heavys 5'11 joe frazier and 5'10 mike tyson. Way too short and strumpy to fight 6'6 and 6'7 K bros.

14y ago

mathed

Wow, LMAO at people acting like they know a great deal about boxing and then saying that Louis gets destroyed by both Klitschkos. They don't make them like they used to....those guys fought for pride, hope, legacy, and enough money to scrape by- even normal fighters from the good old days would sh*t all over 95% of the fighters from the past 20 years. Training 3 months for one 12 rd fight....ok, try training a week and a half for a 15 round fight and fighting 10 times a year. Not training in some state of the art facility but in some dark, dirty, run down shack and doing plank situps in a washed out alley way. Having to work a full time job and still train 4 or 5 hrs a day compared to the luxuries that the fighters of today have. The fighters of today would cry to their mommies if they had to endure the lives that those guys had to.

14y ago

gratz_the_king

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWvDao-MpOk

14y ago

slimshandy69

Wlad couldn't stop a cruiserweight who didn't punch, yet he could finish Louis in 3? Lol Ali cgot kncoked out by a light heavy in cooper...thats even worse...

14y ago

THorton

to my knowledge technique hasn`t changed that much and joe louis had a boxer`s heart. that is why i would pick him to win over wladimir.

14y ago

Antonio

Joe Louis by knockout. Wladimir couldn't deal with Sanders' speed even though it was actually slow in comparison. Louis is much faster and uses a painful body attack to chop him down leaving Vladimir's chin exposed. Then, Louis alternates and hits Wladimir on the head and knocks him out. Sanders was a 6'3 southpaw with a straight left that was viscious. It's hard to compare speed because of difference in video technology. Actually I'd say it's almost impossible. But they are two completely different fighters. If Max Schmelling's whole plan was to throw his right hand every time Louis dropped his left to pump his jab then how hard would it be for Wlad to jab and stay out of range. There was I believe an italian fighter who also had good success against Louis when he moved out of range and boxed him. Not a lot of guys tried or were even capable of this. Wlad would stay out of range and jab him to death.

14y ago

Antonio

Primo Carnera was 6'5 and weighed in at 285 lbs..... He was a bum. Most of the big guys back then were bums. People will throw out Jess Willard and it makes me laugh. Boxing has evovled, humans have evolved. Louis is one of the most overrated fighters of all time. Beloved, important figure, great fighter. But head to head he would have lost to many of the top heavyweights of all time. Also his streak is littered with part time fighters and bums. His best win is against a guy who already beat him. And no I didn't go on Boxrec to make this decision. I've probably seen 10 Louis fights. DOn't get me wrong he's awesome to watch. A perfect boxer/puncher. Accurate powerful short puncher. He just doesn't stack up to guys like Ali, Lewis, Foreman, Liston, and yes even the Klits because at some point size does matter.

14y ago