Why is Joe Louis held in such high regard?

[GoldenGloveLove]

I'm a huge Wlad fan but Louis was and is the longest reigning champion in any division ever and he had wins over multiple HOF fighters. He was amazing. Walcott>Byrd, Baer>Peter, Conn>Haye, Schmeling>Chagaev, etc. Wlad's resume gets underrated a lot now, but Louis's resume does too. He had a great resume.

[King_]

Joe Louis was an amazing fighter but you gotta love the hypocrisy when it comes to Wlad and any other past ATG Heavyweight. People love to bag on Wlad's opposition, when every single HW champ in the history of the sport voluntarily defended their titles against some bums, Louis included.

[shutupmeg]

Joe Louis was an amazing fighter but you gotta love the hypocrisy when it comes to Wlad and any other past ATG Heavyweight. People love to bag on Wlad's opposition, when every single HW champ in the history of the sport voluntarily defended their titles against some bums, Louis included.

The difference is Louis faced numerous great fighters, and some "bums" sure. What great fighters have Wlad faced?

Overall Louis resume is far better.

[King_]

The difference is Louis faced numerous great fighters, and some "bums" sure. What great fighters have Wlad faced?

Overall Louis resume is far better.

I'm not saying Louis' resume isn't better. Wlad could only fight who was put in front of him - and for the record, comparing their opponents is all fantasy match making and speculation- nobody can say for a FACT that Billy Conn would beat David Haye, and vice versa. What I am saying is, a lot of guys here like to SLAUGHTER Wlad for voluntarily defending against guys like Wach, Pianeta and Mormeck (who in fact WERE the only people available to stay busy against) yet you have a guy like Joe Louis, Ali and every other ATG who have also voluntarily defended against bums regarded just as bad. Yet no mention of it.

Wlad won't truly be appreciated til he's gone.


And Wlad has faced every top challenger there is : Chagaev, Haye, Ibragimov, Peter, etc...... You can call those guys what you want but they were the top Heavyweights in Wlad's era and like I said there's no point in comparing them to the best wins of any other ATG HW because it's all simply opinion (most of the time bias) and fantasy matchmaking.

[jvsnypes]

I agree Louis is an all time great and he has a very solid resume, but to think he would beat a heavyweight with the size and skill of Lewis is very hard to imagine.

[New England]

I agree Louis is an all time great and he has a very solid resume, but to think he would beat a heavyweight with the size and skill of Lewis is very hard to imagine.

you'll find me on the boards educating people on the benefits of size. that said, i don't think louis is going to be too small to compete against a modern HW. lewis never fought brewster, but brewster's got a knockout of wladimir on his resume. brewster and louis share identical dimensions. louis was much leaner. i have no doubt that if you put louis on brewsters training regimen and diet that he would be within five to 10 lbs. is that really an insurmountable gap in size? brewster was 6'2" with a 77" reach, and he was 225 lbs at his best. louis was 6'2", had a 76" reach, and at his best weighed 200-205 lbs with very little fat. as others have pointed out, louis was lean, and train and ate like a weight class boxer. brewster would look soft compared to louis. they're really not that far apart in size. i go back to those dimensions pretty frequently to demonstrate the size of louis relative to the modern HW.

a bigger man in hasim rahman was 6'3", and had an 82" reach. he was 235 or more at his best, and carried a bit of fat. huge man. he knocked lewis damn near unconscious. i know that lewis came in a big soft, and wasn't training at his best, but he still caught a right hand from a much lesser fighter than joe louis and couldn't get up. it happened against oliver mccall as well. mccall was a big guy, but not so large that his size would afford him huge advantages in power over joe louis.


it's kind of a cheap argument to make, but if rahman can knock lennox out silly, you've got to figure louis at least has the ability to do the same.

[Jack Napier]

you still think Whitaker is overrated Larryx? :laugh:

[Boxing Goat]

Because:

1) He's one of the 1st Black titlists and a pioneer.

2) He has the record for most title defenses.

3) He has the record for most consecutive title defenses.

4) He was a beast in a pretty good heavyweight era and beat most of the top guys in his division.

5) He beat Max Schmelling in the political rematch of the century.

Aside from that, he was small and most of those wins were from lesser challengers.

Don't you know that earlier fighters are automatically ranked higher than current fighters? It's just the way it goes. We both know he could not have been champ in today's division. He was just way, way too small.

[New England]

Because:

1) He's one of the 1st Black titlists and a pioneer.

2) He has the record for most title defenses.

3) He has the record for most consecutive title defenses.

4) He was a beast in a pretty good heavyweight era and beat most of the top guys in his division.

5) He beat Max Schmelling in the political rematch of the century.

Aside from that, he was small and most of those wins were from lesser challengers.

Don't you know that earlier fighters are automatically ranked higher than current fighters? It's just the way it goes. We both know he could not have been champ in today's division. He was just way, way too small.

louis was ripped to the bone. if he trained and ate like a modern HW he'd be 220 lbs, which isn't much smaller than the brewster that trainwrecked wladimir.

6'2" with a 76" reach. 200-210 in his prime, ripped like a middleweight. that's really not that small. similar in dimensions to lamon brewster.

[Boxing Goat]

Joe Louis resume is vastly better than Wlads.

He has wins over guys like:

Primo Carnera
Max Baer
Jack Sharkey
Jim Braddock
Tommy Farr
Max Schmeling
Billy Conn
Jersey Joe Walcott

Those fighters were far greater during their time than the opponents Wlad is facing now.

Bad argument, the fighters on that list were not that great actually when you have a real look at who they beat and who they lost to.

Carnera was not even on Valuev's level in my opinion.