Who beats Prime Muhammad Ali?

Ken Norton had the style, maybe on his best night he could pull it off.

 

Honestly , i dont bet on any of those guys beating Prime Ali . Not saying he cant be beaten , But i just highly doubt it would happen . BTW Ali beats Lennox in a shutout .

 

I think there's a number of fighters since Ali who could have handled Liston quite comfortably.

 

No one.... or maybe LL

 

I say Larry is the only one with a clear shot because of his jab . . . but Prime V Prime Ali wins at least 6 out of 10 times (no Louis even though that has been done to death , is a serious oversight and weakens the credibility of the poll)

 

The amount of votes for Lewis and Wlad have surprised me a lot. I didn't think they'd be that high.

I respect everyone's opinion, but the votes for Dempsey have shocked me. I didn't think anyone would have voted for Jack. I see that as an easy victory for Ali. I don't think Jack would have gotten anywhere near him.

 

I think a lot of people have missed this point.

 

like i said older fighters are highly over rated. They were great in their time but, that doesn't mean they could step in the ring today and be great. Anybody who voted Dempsey or Marciano need to go watch some of their fights and they are clearly unrefined compared to today's great fighters.

 

I agree. A prime Ali would make Wlad look like a bumbling fool.

 

I'd favour the prime Ali of the 60's over everybody. He was the fastest and slickest heavyweight ever, he used his height and mobility well but when even in range was hard to hit.

Am surprised so many people picked Lewis. Lewis is my favourite heavyweight of all time but I think Ali is all wrong for him. Lewis struggled with guys with good jabs and Ali had one of the best. Ali was also durable enough to take the hardest shots from Lewis, if he had to. Lewis would be forced to try and chase Ali and cut off the ring to get to him something he was not used to doing. It's one thing walking down Vitali it's another trying to do the same to a fleet footed Ali.

Ali didn't struggle against bigger opponents he struggled against smaller faster guys usually with good left hooks. Bigger heavies like Liston couldn't cope with his speed, smaller heavies like Frazier, Doug Jones and Cooper had more success than most because they were pretty fast themselves being on the small side of a heavyweight.

I think the guys with the best chance to beat him would be an early 90's Holyfield, or prime Holmes, with his own speed and great jab, but I'd still favour Ali to win. Tyson would be dangerous early and would give Ali difficulty with his speed but Ali just had the right style to prevail.

Lewis loses by UD, Wlad's jab and grab wouldn't work against an opponent who can out jab him and beat him to the punch and Vitali for all his size and awkward ability is just too slow to pin down a fleet footed Ali.

 

I agree to a certain extent, but I was just looking at the styles.

I think old time fighters can be overated, but I also believe that the exceptional fighters from yesteryear could also be successful today. I think guys like SRR would still have excelled today.

Even though sports science and nutrition etc have made the athletes healthier and fitter, I believe that the majority of old fighters had a toughness that today's fighters don't posess.

I think they were harder men. They grew up in harsher times and were much rougher and tougher.

Some of today's fighters would struggle to fight 15 rounders. Old time fighters also fought a lot more often.

It's very interesting to do comparisons and to debate.

Back on topic, without being disrespectful to Jack, he had no great technical skills. He was a rough brawler, who was a hell of a fighter, but Ali was a master boxer. Ali didn't really have to fight in his prime.

Jack wouldn't have had the speed or footwork to get to Ali.

Ali wouldn't have slugged it out with him in the middle of the ring. He'd have been on his toes dancing and jabbing. I don't think Jack could have won a round. In my honest opinion it would have been a cakewalk for that version of Ali.

 

Excellent post.:good

 

I didn't mean he had NO speed, I just meant that in my opinion he wouldn't have been able to cut the ring off and get past Ali's jab. I think Ali's footwork was amazing and Jack wouldn't have got up close to fight on the inside etc.

He was explosive, but compared to Ali his skills were limited. He was truly a great fighter! But he wasn't a great boxer. To me from the footage I've seen and from what I've read, he was a brawler. He was the Manassa Mauler. He was strong and rugged and hard. But Ali would have danced all night, because he could do that between 63-67. I think it's a terrible style match up for Jack.

I think he'd have been extremely frustrated, and Ali wouldn't have had any trouble finding him.

To me it's a classic fight between the boxer and the fighter.