Why is Joe Louis Rated so Highly?

[Weltschmerz]

On a list, I would rate Sam Langford higher than Joe Louis. Jack Johnson as well as Jack Dempsey avoided Langford.

[LacedUp]

People that saw both Ali and Louis fight, generally felt Louis was the greater heavyweight.

That says something.

[LacedUp]

On a list, I would rate Sam Langford higher than Joe Louis. Jack Johnson as well as Jack Dempsey avoided Langford.

I think avoided is a bit much.

Especially as Jack Johnson defeated Langford by lopsided decision when they actually fought. There was racial tension then and as Jack Johnson said: "Nobody wants to see two negros fight each other".

At heavyweight alone, Sam Langford is definitely not higher than either Johnson or Dempsey and especially not Louis, that's for sure.

Overall career - then we could talk.

[Ham Porter]

No heavyweight deserve to be rated among the ten best in history, and that includes Ali. Those spots are reserved for fighters that were genuinely great/outstanding in more than just one weight class (a Greb, Langford, Charles, Robinson and Armstrong, for example.)


Louis is, at the very least, then second best heavyweight in history. No other heavyweight, with the possible exception of Ali, beat as many ranked contenders as Louis did. He was fighting them within five or six months of turning professional

[Heavyfist]

Give me an effing break. Anyone who claims they know where to rank Jack Johnson is someone who wants to sound smart, but isn't.

There is no way we know how good Jack Johnson would line up against the eras where boxing was refined into an art, and had far more people and money in it. ******ed argument.

May as well put Ras***** and Genghis Khan on the list.

[Capaedia]

Because of nostalgic fans.

There was a reason behind the name Shufflin' Joe, as he was tightly calculated in many senses. He hesitated for very long to truly risk his belt until the Walcott fights. He avoided many fighters (or rather, his promoters did).

Finally, Marciano knocked him the **** out of the ring.

Joe Louis fought and usually knocked out every man to reach #1 contender status over 23 consecutive years (1929-1952) bar two, Bettina and ***** he missed out on when he joined the army to support the war effort against **** Germany.

He missed out on five #2 contenders over the course of his 17 year lineal reign. None of these men were stand outs and a few of them were knocked out by men that Louis knocked out anyway.

Every champion between Sharkey and Marciano. The Marciano fight being 17 years into his career. Marciano himself admits to only taking this fight since Louis had money problems.

His signature was of course his one punch KO power, but technically he actually had slow, mediocre footwork, especially considering his frame and weight. The Billy Conn fight was a good example, go back and find the tape.

Watch the rematch.

Joe Louis' footspeed was his weakness. His footwork was great for setting traps and angles for exploiting gaps. A very quick and technically gifted fighter could negate a lot of that but as Conn found out, it wasn't enough.

He ended up on the roster of fighters with good movement that Louis did knock out. Walcott was a very good and tricky mover. Ali picked up a lot from him. At the end of the career Louis was able to stay with him, and knock him out in a rematch.

If you think his footwork was mediocre, you don't know what to look for with someone of Joe Louis' style.

See the difference in how well Marquez' footwork works against Pacquiao, to how it works against Norwood.

Is Norwood the better fighter? Of course not. His footwork just doesn't mesh well with Marquez. Pacquiao however was in for the fight of his life.

[New England]

I think avoided is a bit much.

Especially as Jack Johnson defeated Langford by lopsided decision when they actually fought. There was racial tension then and as Jack Johnson said: "Nobody wants to see two negros fight each other".

At heavyweight alone, Sam Langford is definitely not higher than either Johnson or Dempsey and especially not Louis, that's for sure.

Overall career - then we could talk.

langford's resume is much, much better than joe louis'.

[Weltschmerz]

I think avoided is a bit much.

Especially as Jack Johnson defeated Langford by lopsided decision when they actually fought. There was racial tension then and as Jack Johnson said: "Nobody wants to see two negros fight each other".

At heavyweight alone, Sam Langford is definitely not higher than either Johnson or Dempsey and especially not Louis, that's for sure.

Overall career - then we could talk.

There was a lot of talk that Langford gave Johnson all sorts of problems during their encounter. Langford stalked Johnson, and yes Johnson then gave the excuse that the fight wouldn't sell.

Dempsey in his autobiography stated that Langford would flatten him hat the two fought.

Langford was avoided by both champions.

[LacedUp]

langford's resume is much, much better than joe louis'.

Not at heavyweight.

[LacedUp]

There was a lot of talk that Langford gave Johnson all sorts of problems during their encounter. Langford stalked Johnson, and yes Johnson then gave the excuse that the fight wouldn't sell.

Dempsey in his autobiography stated that Langford would flatten him hat the two fought.

Langford was avoided by both champions.

Do you have any source for that?

Pretty much every newspaper said Langford hardly won a round vs Johnson.

However, he was #1 rated contender for years, but I think it had more to do with the situation at the time, rather than Johnson 'avoiding' Langford.

regarding dempsey, he did say something along those lines in his book, and that's fair enough. I don't even think it was because he was paying homage to Langford, but if they were to have fought at the time - I don't think there's a question that Dempsey from 1920-1926 would have been heavily favoured against a Langford that was getting on at the time. He would have killed him.