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No way does Ali avoid those punches as easily as you think. Ali got absolutely floored by Cooper, who was slower, less accurate, and a lighter hitter than Louis. Ali always got tagged a bit in his fights. He relied sorely on his reflexes and never bothered to employ a sound orthodox defense. This would be hell against Louis who was a master at getting his punches in at the smallest opening.
As for Louis being slow, to put it as my friend Anorak on the other side of the pond might, bollocks. The guy was incredibly quick and threw the right straight as an arrow. He would knock you out with that punch from 6 inches away. He got unbelievable leverage behind those shots. I have his fight with Baer and he lands a ****ing triple left hook before Baer can even put his guard up. He is behind only Ali, Patterson, and Tyson in handspeed but is much more accurate than any of them (except Tyson where it's pretty close with maybe a slight edge to Louis) and threw a straighter jab and right than anyone I've ever seen at heavyweight.
To say he is worse than Foreman is simply incorrect. Perhaps you can make a case for Louis losing to Foreman due to punching power and size (I disagree with that but anyway) but Louis had MUCH more skill. He threw every punch that Foreman could except quicker, shorter, and with more knockout potential. Foreman never knocked anyone out with one punch; he clubbed them into submission with a barrage of heavy artillery. Louis on the other hand routinely rendered people unconscious with a single short right or smooth left hook, sometimes for minutes at a time. His jab alone could hurt or stun you, similar to Liston's or Holmes's jab, except Louis's was quicker. Also unlike Foreman, he fought in a calm relaxed matter and retained his knockout power for the entire fight.
It's sad how poorly this legend is remembered and how little respect he gets on this forum. Have you guys only seen his post WWII fights or something? This is a good fight, and a case for Ali winning can be made, but Louis would be the toughest opponent Ali faced and was much better than either Foreman or Frazier.
As for Louis being slow, to put it as my friend Anorak on the other side of the pond might, bollocks. The guy was incredibly quick and threw the right straight as an arrow. He would knock you out with that punch from 6 inches away. He got unbelievable leverage behind those shots. I have his fight with Baer and he lands a ****ing triple left hook before Baer can even put his guard up. He is behind only Ali, Patterson, and Tyson in handspeed but is much more accurate than any of them (except Tyson where it's pretty close with maybe a slight edge to Louis) and threw a straighter jab and right than anyone I've ever seen at heavyweight.
To say he is worse than Foreman is simply incorrect. Perhaps you can make a case for Louis losing to Foreman due to punching power and size (I disagree with that but anyway) but Louis had MUCH more skill. He threw every punch that Foreman could except quicker, shorter, and with more knockout potential. Foreman never knocked anyone out with one punch; he clubbed them into submission with a barrage of heavy artillery. Louis on the other hand routinely rendered people unconscious with a single short right or smooth left hook, sometimes for minutes at a time. His jab alone could hurt or stun you, similar to Liston's or Holmes's jab, except Louis's was quicker. Also unlike Foreman, he fought in a calm relaxed matter and retained his knockout power for the entire fight.
It's sad how poorly this legend is remembered and how little respect he gets on this forum. Have you guys only seen his post WWII fights or something? This is a good fight, and a case for Ali winning can be made, but Louis would be the toughest opponent Ali faced and was much better than either Foreman or Frazier.
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