Who had better handspeed: Mike Tyson or Joe Louis?

[butterfly1964]

bump..........

[Brassangel]

Rooney had an interesting analysis of Tyson's handspeed. He said that he had never seen a fighter who could punch as fast as Mike could in terms of thought process/brain signals to muscle action. Rooney would shout a series of punches and Tyson would throw them. Not only were they correct, but lightning fast. Cus once said of Mike that he felt Tyson's hands moved quicker than Patterson's, which was surprising given Mike's heavier build. Tyson also moved around the ring quicker than Louis, making his punches more explosive and difficult to predict.

Louis was definitely more accurate, however.

[Verstyle]

didnt louis have smaller gloves back then?as in size? but ne way,just watch those sparring videos of tyson and u can see the clear winner there.

[Brassangel]

Well, the lighter gloves in terms of speed is close to irrelevant on the wholeshot. In Tyson's day they were built with better/more even weight distribution, so one could make that argument too.

Still, Tyson was faster.

[King Koyle]

From what i've seen,I'd go with Tyson on this one.His handspeed was astonishing!

[aljon]

Is this like a trick question?
I doubt that anybody with some decent boxing knowledge would know that Tyson has much faster hands...

[butterfly1964]

Is this like a trick question?
I doubt that anybody with some decent boxing knowledge would know that Tyson has much faster hands...

It wasn't that much faster. Louis had some brilliant handspeed, too.

[aljon]

It wasn't that much faster. Louis had some brilliant handspeed, too.

Louis was less predictable and had some sneaky punches, that's why it seemed so fast, Tyson was a little more predictable but clearly faster...

[butterfly1964]

Louis was less predictable and had some sneaky punches, that's why it seemed so fast, Tyson was a little more predictable but clearly faster...

So are you tring to say Louis' handspeed was slow?

[aljon]

So are you tring to say Louis' handspeed was slow?

Obviously I'm saying it was slower than Tyson's, I'm just comparing the two...
Louis and Tyson both had good handspeed but Tyson's was clearly better...