Teddy Atlas has spent his whole life in boxing as a trainer, then a pundit, so his views are well respected.
Atlas famously coached the great Mike Tyson when he was first starting out, and then went on to work with world champions such as Michael Moorer who he took to the world heavyweight title in 1994, as well as the likes of Timothy Bradley, Alexander Povetkin and Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
For many, Muhammad Ali is the greatest sportsman, let alone heavyweight, of all time, but not Atlas.
Speaking on his own YouTube channel The Fight, he laid out the background for Max Schmelling versus Joe Louis, one of boxing’s most famous fights, before declaring the American winner his greatest of all time.
“On the verge of World War II, with Hitler the mad man trying to create a master race and take over the world and you’ve got Joe Louis fighting somebody who Hitler has popped up as the image of the Nazi regime, the superior race and all that c**p, and the world world is watching.
“The President of the United States calls up Louis and says you’ve got to win for the good guys. Talk about pressure. It’s at the Yankee Stadium outdoors, you got the whole world watching. Oh my goodness where is there more pressure?
“And how does Louis respond? He destroys him, he annihilates him, he knocks him out in one brutal round of torrential rain, brutal force, determination and focus, to the body, to the head. Joe Lewis, he earned the right for me to call him the greatest heavyweight of all time.”
Louis fought for another 13 years after his victory over Schmelling and was the winner in 25 consecutive title defences, which remains a record for all weight classes.
