Comments Thread For: Gervonta Davis on Shakur Stevenson's Boxing Ability: "What You Gonna Do When You Get Hit?"

[NC Uppercut]

Wishing this fight comes to fruition

[Poopdick]

Shakur outclasses gervant. Gervant won't fight him i am sure

[Monty Fisto]

No, it's true. Joe Louis said it many years beforehand. Tyson used to watch all the old fights with Cus. I've actually heard Louis say it.

Provide me evidence of Louis saying it and I'll believe you.

[_original_]

I love Tank but he’s falling in love with his power. I do think he’s the hardest hitter in the game behind Wilder but he’s giving up too many rounds and just looking for a bomb. A guy like Shakur is more than capable of outlasting him and racking up rounds. A damn shame because I think Tank is an equally good boxer but he just wants the KO.

[M111]

Mike Tyson said this first (1987).

Twenty years later, someone tried attributing it to Joe Louis, but they had no reason to do so. It was Iron Mike that first said it.

"He can run, but he can't hide": that's Joe Louis.

An awful lot of people believe it was Joe Louis as they’d heard it before Tyson was famous. I had so sorry, I think you’re wrong there.

[Sid-Knee]

Provide me evidence of Louis saying it and I'll believe you.

When i find the time i'll look for it. I'll keep it in mind. But it is true. Trust me.

[M111]

When i find the time i'll look for it. I'll keep it in mind. But it is true. Trust me.

A lot of stuff throughout history is passed down by word of mouth. Just because a journalist didn’t cover it or because it wasn’t caught on film doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. There’s one website with a fairly loosely described story about a small town paper that allegedly misquoted Tyson and attributed it to Louis who had died shortly beforehand. I remember hearing the phrase when I was a kid before Tyson had even started boxing so it sure as hell isn’t his. Tyson is a great studier of the game though - watch his interview with Harry Carpenter. If anyone would borrow quotes from the greats of the past it would be Tyson. He revered the Demseys and the Louis of this world.

[Monty Fisto]

A lot of stuff throughout history is passed down by word of mouth. Just because a journalist didn’t cover it or because it wasn’t caught on film doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. There’s one website with a fairly loosely described story about a small town paper that allegedly misquoted Tyson and attributed it to Louis who had died shortly beforehand. I remember hearing the phrase when I was a kid before Tyson had even started boxing so it sure as hell isn’t his. Tyson is a great studier of the game though - watch his interview with Harry Carpenter. If anyone would borrow quotes from the greats of the past it would be Tyson. He revered the Demseys and the Louis of this world.

Yes, it's possible he said it and no one wrote it down and no film recorded it, though this seems very unlikely considering he was probably the most famous sportperson of his day. Even allowing your strange and unlikely "he said it but no one recorded it but I still know it" set of circumstances, it was not popularised by Joe Louis if this is the case. I've read a bio of Joe Louis and it made no mention of this phrase, though it made a big deal of "He can run but he can't hide".

On the contrary, Tyson is quoted numerous times as having said this, including (most importantly) contemporaneous corroboration when it first appears. Prior to 1987 the phrase was not a thing. Then Tyson said it about Tyrell Biggs and it became a popular phrase.

You can read more about it here: