Other than Haye, I don't recall anyone rocking Valuev either. That leg shuffle was funny, though not as funny as Khan's breakdance at the weekend.
Well, in a way it is. What other evidence do you suggest I use? David Haye spent the predominant portion of his career as a cruiserweight. Finishing Monte Barrett, John Ruiz and Dereck Chisora shows he has carried his power to a degree, but Ali was more a natural heavyweight. Ali fought stiffer competition and relied more on accurate punching and accumulation. But he still hit harder. Frazier and Foreman would walk through Haye. Forget numbers and percentages, if you can put and end to Sonny Liston with one punch, I'm sure you could do more damage to the likes of opponent Haye has faced as a heavy.
When did Ali ever knock a big heavyweight out in the brutal fashion that Haye did against Chisora? Alis punches were good for busting fighters face up, but power? It is clear as day Haye hits harder.
Not to sound like a Klitschko stalker, but I would wager most of the people Ali fought, weighed around the same as most of the fighters Haye has fought It's not like he came up from middleweight, he's a 200lb fighter for the majority of his career as were the people he faced
Your pretty much flying in the face of the point I just made. I agree Ali used accuracy and accumulation. But give him Haye's opposition and you see some brutal finishes. I've already mentioned the Liston blow-out, perhaps a better example would be the Cleveland Williams three round boxing exhibition and violent finish. Or the fact he often hurt Joe Frazier. Or the fact he knocked George Foreman the hell out. Do you honestly not understand the point I'm making. Go and watch Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Sonny Liston and you'll have trouble honestly telling me that Haye would do a better job with them.
I have no doubt in my mind that if Haye landed his bombs on the chins of Fraizer,Foreman and Liston he'd have seriously ****ing hurt them,the way you're going on is as if Ali was this huge HW,fact is Haye is around the same size if not slightly bigger, Ali was more skilled, Haye hit much much harder.Which is what this thread is about.
Na just because Haye knocked down or out an already past his prime Ruiz and a B level Chisora doesn't prove much. Drop a 40yr old Vitali even in a losing effort than Haye can have credit. He's no better puncher than the 90's 2nd tier fighters like Mercer,Rahman, Sanders, Moorer, Morrison,Ruddock, or Tua. He's a hard puncher and he's fast, but he loads up on one single shot for way too long and then books it on a marathon. Haye is only special because of the weak, sad state the division is in. He wouldn't be anything special in any other.
This is what i mean by the love Ali gets on this forum. Anyone that doesn't vote for Haye in this poll is either trolling or DKS
Well Ali and Haye were both boxer-punchers. They both fought on the back foot. They were both fast handed. Ali was as we agree the better punch-picker by a long way. I guess to water this thread down to the most basic level, what is being asked is, if given a shot to the chin of the same fighter, who would do more damage. My instinct still says Ali here though, to a degree because of what I say, he was the technically better fighter and technique counts for something when landing a punch. I certainly disagree with this seeming belief that Haye blows him out of the water, power-wise.
Oscar Bonavena? Ron Lyle? Ali was pretty effective when he caught his opponent lunging in or when he was punching down. The man didn't really step into his punches ala Joe Louis,but he was naturally very powerful and one of the strongest heavyweights of all time.