I don't think Ezz has a chance to win against prime Ali. 1948 Charles versus pre-title Ali would have been a much more intriguing fight, in my opinion.
KJ, you are not RUDE, but you are wrong to compare Ali's fight with Dempsey's bout with Tunney... Ali was 29 years old when he fought the FOTC with Frazier in 1971, but he had TWO tune-up bouts before with Jerry Quarry in Oct, 1970,and then Oscar Bonavena in Dec,1970 and then his 3rd bout with Frazier... Dempsey had a three year layoff and tackled Gene Tunney in 1926 WITHOUT ONE tuneup bout at the age of 32...
Hey Burt, what's your take on that rag Sports Illustrated naming ALI the Athlete of the Century when he was far from even being the best in his own sport?
First of all my idol in boxing is Joe Louis. Ali can take punishment from Foreman,Frazier,Liston etc but Dempsey 's power is in another class to these? Please if Dempsey trys to bull rush Foreman, Dempsey goes out of the ring in Rd1. Tommy was sure a good fighter but he was not as good as Ali,Not as fast,Not as quick,Not the counter puncher,Not the footwork,Not the jab. The fact remains Dempsey took on two smart fighters in Gibson and Tunney and didn't look the dominate self because he had trouble hitting them.
SP.glad your idol was Joe Louis,as he was also my idol in fistic ability and modesty unlike Clay/Ali...Joe Frazier whom I saw as an Olympic fighter losing a decision to Buster Mathis,and at the FOTC,along with Alexis Arguello were also modern fighters who were my favourites along with Louis... I am not implying thay Tommy Gibbons was as good a heavyweight as Ali was , but I could also CLAIM that "enry Cooper who almost kod Clay,and Doug Jones who lost a controversial decision to Clay/Ali, were not a prime Jack Dempsey, for sure...And I will say this one more time,,,,GENE TUNNEY never met the PRIME Jack Dempsey in 1926,so your analogy does not hold water...Tunney was a great LH and Hwt, no doubt...But the Dempsey he met in Philly was Dempsey in name only...In their second bout Dempsey old and RUSTY caught Tunney with a tremendous flurry flooring Gene and the Chicago referee Barry saved Tunney from a ko with the long count... He did not start the one count til Dempsey was told to go to a neutral corner before he started the count , giving Tunney about 17 seconds to recover and rise to his feet...BUT in the 10th rd, Tunney hit Dempsey with a right hand on the cheekbone flooring Jack, and with Tunney standing near the fallen Dempsey, NEVER told Gene to go to a neutral corner, but started the count immediately...So in a way I feel that Dempsey at 32 kod Tunney were there another referee ...And if this old rusty Dempsey without his vaunted swiftness could drop Tunney with a 7 punch salvo, what would the prime Dempsey had done to Tunney ?
Moorer would give a good account of himself. Ali would eventually impose his much more sizeable will and it'd become one-sided, but Moorer would do better than a lot think. There is not a single heavyweight I'd make a favorite over Ali, especially not the punchers.
Alot of heavyweights would give good accounts for instance if Ali fought Holmes I doubt he'd win by more than 3 rounds, particularly because Ali faded in the mid rounds, even in his prime, while for some people this is when they became fully warmed up. Ali even against the big bad bear, while in the fight and best shape of his life, was completely flat footed by round 4 and relied on quick head movements and superior hand speed to seal the deal. If Liston was in his prime and didn't get injured it probably would've been a fairly close fight.
Many of the greatest trainers who ever lived rated Dempsey one of the greatest. In fact he was rated the best for many decades by many historians. Sam Langford stated that "Dempsey is the greatest hwt I have ever seen". Now tell me again what you know that all these highly informed people did not?
Amazing, Imagine what he would of thought had he been around to see Muhammad Ali, Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko?
Greg Page, because he had a similiar style, and probably was technically better.He had a strong shot.