James Tillis/Muhammad Ali - Similarities?

Ah the early 80's. The era of the Muhammad Ali clones. Tillis even had Drew "Bundini" Brown in his corner for the Marvis Frazier fight. While Tillis patterned himself after Ali, he didn't have Ali's stamina or heart. He was also smaller than Ali. This was amplified by the fact Tillis fought in an era of Bigger Heavyweights. Ali was a big heavyweight for his time. Tillis was only 210 lbs in his prime when most other condenders were over 220lbs. He was overpowered by Greg Page and Pinklon Thomas and Tim Witherspoon who who were all naturally bigger and stronger. He was somewhat of an underachiever but was never in Ali's league.

 

Good points. Even a washed up Larry Holmes kept Tyson at bay with his jab for a little bit.

 

yeah for about 30 seconds and then hit him with that shotgun 1-2 and that was all she wrote!

i think any and every fighter is vulnerable to a good jab, it is THE most basic and important punch in a fighters ****nal, and unfortunately the most neglected one too.

 

The difference is Wlad had a weak chin and Tyson didn't.

 

the real elephant in the room is how much Tillis resembled country music star Charlie Pride.

 

why not retiree corrie?
nevermind that why was he defending the world title against a retiree in the first place? national title holders pick better opposition than retirees.

 

Tillis had mad skills, but his problems was his diet, or his allergy to eggs or something, if they had figured it out early enough, he would've been WBA champ, albeit briefly.

 

I remember the story about the egg allergy. It could explain his mediocre stamina. Tillis should have beaten Weaver. Tillis moved and boxed very well in that fight. He had much more talent than Weaver, but seemed to be afraid to get hit - Weaver did have great power if he hit you. If Tillis had settled down on his punches a little more he would have won.

He also had Marvis Frazier gone in the second round but Joey Curtis stepped in and gave Frazier a standing 8 count and gave him time to recover. I personally have never liked the standing 8 count being used in the pros. If a fighter can't fight back just stop the fight. It's penalizing the fighter who has rendered his opponent incapacitated. I think the only time it should be used is when the ropes save a fighter from going down, which was not the case in the Tillis-Frazier fight.

 

My feelings exactly.Just one of those rules that cheapen the sport.

 

Tillis reminded me of late 70's Ali. All the clones could imitate that version.