Prime Ali would have beaten prime Tyson with ease. Too fast, too much movement, and absolutely no intimadation means that tyson would have become frustrated by round 2 and tried to bite Ali's ear. These people who think Tyson had a chance to beat Ali are simply unknowledgable about the sport of boxing. Ali was the absolute master of the art of psychological warfare, and Tyson had one of the weakest minds in the sport. The match-up I'd be more interested in seeing is prime Foreman versus prime Tyson. that would have been competitive, but I give the edge to prime foreman.
I don't think that it's necessary to really insult anyone that doesn't believe in the above, but I'm of the opinion that a prime Roy Jones Jr. is the best boxer in history (head to head, not speaking of accomplishments). There's no way that Calzaghe beats a prime RJJ. Not even a puncher's chance.
Bane has produced an epic thread here, but maybe its time the post of reason (myself), puts this matter to bed once and for all. There was no clear way to beat Calzaghe. Many good fighters thought a right down the middle would do the job, yet Calzaghe found the answer and could slip the shots. Some thought speed would be key, yet Calzaghe had speed himself and new how to time fast opponents. Others felt getting into mauls was the way to win, yet found Joe to be very strong and not able to be bullied. It was deemed that a good boxer may see a way to get past him, yet Calzaghe had styles that could counter even the best boxers. Some felt that a few power shots would topple Calzaghe but found his chin to be solid. What we are left with is a fast 2 handed fighter, who could fight going forward or back, could give you angles, fire off combinations like a machine gun, had a solid chin, was very strong, could maul and box to perfection, was blessed with amazing stamina. There was no clear way to beat a fighter that could not and would not be beaten/thread
I ain't a 'Slappy fan by any means, but ain't that a strange assertion? That one guy single-handedly invented his own style, and went on to become that rarest of things, an undefeated champion simply because of his lack of orthodoxy. Surely if is was that easy, other guys would have adopted and refined his 'style' done it better and won everything. If 'slappies style won him every fight he was ever in and no-one else was able to emulate it, surely that's deserving of respect rather than dismissal. I mean, I'm a massive fan of RJJ, who also developed a unique style that was bewildering to his foes and won him fights, but I don't think I've ever heard a similar dismissal. Maybe it's 'cos Jones got the spectacular kayos? It could be that that I am a little ******ed tho, cos I can never figure out, either, why online admirers of these 2 great fighters have such vitriol for each other.
Aside from James Toney and Bernard Hopkins, name me the toughest fight Roy ever had. He picked his fights carefully just like any smart fighter does. You also seem to forget that Calzaghe was several years past his prime in this fight. Joe still had his stamina and chin but his power had gone down substantially because of chronic hand/wrist injuries dating back even before the Jeff Lacy fight....
It is a strange one. Their respective legacies are secure without the need to discredit the other, which is normally what fuels those kind of debates. Calzaghe's standing isn't really affected by whether you view Jones as the fistic phenom of his generation or a china-chinned fraud. Likewise, how you view Calzaghe shouldn't have much of an impact on your assessment of Jones. For the majority of their careers they were in different weight divisions, and have hardly any common opponents (Lacy and Hopkins are the only ones who spring to mind). There is little overlap in their careers, and the only link is a meaningless fight late in Calzaghe's career against a shot Jones, which is about as historically significant as Camacho-Leonard.
Joe was a great fighter, I can agree with that.. But lets not get too carried away on this unbeatable thing. There were many different styles we never saw Joe in the ring against, he certainly left some question marks, for me anyway.