Considering I do not know the opponent, I need the most well rounded heavyweight possible. As much as Vitali is a physical monster, he could get out quicked and out boxed. Wlad? Not even a consideration. Lewis? Not betting my life on his chin. Tyson? Never beat a taller fighter, not all together mentally. Foreman or Frazier? Close, but they both lost to Ali. That leaves Ali with Joe Louis a distant second. Ali can outbox, sometimes out bang, take a punch, and fight for a full 15 rounds.
One well placed shot from a number of heavyweight greats and it's good night. I like Lewis, but I wouldn't bet my life on his chin holding up.
I was trying to brief. But, with the opponent being a wild card, and a lot of great heavyweights being taller guys, that's a consideration, IMO. Also, life on the line, what would he do if getting held constantly (Wlad) or head butted (Holyfield)? Not betting my life he doesn't go ape **** and get dq'd.
36 year old Lewis vs Rahman = Prime? Not sure if serious or just ******ed. If that's the case, 38 year old Ali getting assbeat by Holmes = Prime too.
thats ridiculous. we're talking boxing here. cain was knocked out by an mma fighter who's not a very good boxer. any top heavyweight of any era would destroy him.
the difference there is that ali wasnt knocked out by a single punch. he took a sustained beating before retiring on his stool. big difference.
Yup so how does this pertain to the thread question? Lewis would have stopped Ali like Holmes did even at Ali's prime And Lewis's chin isn't as bad as people think it is. He took shots from some of the hardest hitting hws in the 90's and didn't go down. And Ali = Not a puncher
just one year earlier he had just kod grant in two, beat holyfield and dominated the ko wrecking machine of david tua. age is relative to every fighter and ali was done after the frazier fights. wlad is still close to prime(more so now than when he was 29 against peter) and vitali was prime in his mid 30's as well. not to mention hopkins, who was prime in his mid 30's against echols, tito and joppy. bernard broke mw compubox records against joppy at 37. you would have to be "******ed" to disagree with any of the above.