Who was closer to being in his prime ?

Tyson. For him there was nothing terribly depleted physically, it was conditioning and focus. Ali was four years removed from his best.

 

Phew... I thought I was going to click on this and find you asking weather or not it was Hagler or Leonard... I don't like to use the words " past prime" to describe Tyson when he fought Douglas. For me he was very much prime, but I think the term " damaged goods" is properly better suited. Ali still had a lot left in the tank given what he would do in the years following the FOTC, but no he wasn't prime, so I think Tyson had to have been closer. He just had his head up his ass.

 

Clearly Tyson.

 

Clearly Tyson was closer to his prime - he was still in it. An argument could be made (and probably will) that Ali was closer to his best, though.

 

Tyson physically, Ali mentally.

I personally think mentally is more important within a certain degree.

 

Bullseye.

 

ali was just a stronger man mentally, hands down.


although hes not a patch on how mentally strong he is today battling Parkinsonians, that requires mental strength from beyond.

 

Yes,but physically comparing them on the two nights mentioned,Ali was nearer to his 1967 peak than Tyson was to his own in 1988

 

:good True. Ali's been tremendous in his handling of his illness. He may not beat it but he's going to take it the full fifteen

 

True.

While Ali was probably significantly closer to 100% mentally, I feel that he perhaps wasn't as close to it as he should have been for a fight like that. At times in that fight he seemed more intent to prove that Frazier wasn't to be taken really seriously than he was to win the fight. Dundee has also suggested, as has Norman Mailer, that Ali wasn't 100% committed training for the fight.

 

Yeah. Muhammad was goofing off training a bit,sure enough. He definitely underestimated Joe on that night. He had to first lose to him in order to beat him. This takes nothing away from Frazier's performance or victory,though.

 

Tyson. No layoff, less than two years after his absolute peak.
Ali - 3,5 years layoff, absolute peak 4 years ago.

 

Probably Tyson.

 

I'm not an Ali fan, but I really respect him for how he has handled his illness.

He issued a quote saying something like: ' I have no complaints. I didn't complain when I was on top of the world and I won't complain now. We play the hands we are dealt.'