Best heavyweight toe to toe?

Both Tua and Ike were pretty huge.

 

Who's going to beat Ali, seriously ?
Foreman was an absolute beast to stand with, and Ali stood there against the ropes and didn't move his feet, and beat Foreman pretty good.
Stylistically, Ali had problems doing the same with Frazier, but the fights were close.
Over all, Ali wins more than anyone else if he's fighting toe to toe.

 

Didn't Ali resort to holding when fighting in close?

 

i think bowe could have knocked tyson out, he was so good inside, plus his size.

 

Sometimes, but the OP didn't specify no holding at all.

 

Dosnt it take more than "three steps back" to back all the way up into the ropes?

Is rope a dope "toe to toe"?

 

That clinch, absorb body shots, stick your tongue out and clinch again thing that Ali did was something special.

 

I'll take Wlad. At that sort of distance there will be nobody that survives the "huggy bear" treatment. Expect a night of jab n grab. God forbid he fights Ruiz.

 

You can't really use a fight where the ropes were essentially illegal as a reference to how anyone, including Ali, would do in any other circumstance.

 

Maybe Ruiz should get the crown. Wlad actually won fights with outside tactics whereas Ruiz almost exclusively wrestled his way to a successful career.

 

No, he starts the fight in his corner.

 

If Ali belongs in this discussion, it's almost entirely on the strength of his war with Frazier in Manila, when Padilla forced him to punch it out on the inside by refusing to allow him to yank down on Frazier's head.

Speaking of Smoke, if this is an infighting discussion, then I'd have to rate him over Marciano and Dempsey among the heavyweight champions. Tommy Gibbons was able to survive in part by smothering away Dempsey's punching room at times, as did Charles in Marciano I (by the admissions of both Jack and Rocky).

Nobody neutralized Frazier's punching by smothering him close. Along with Langford (who displayed an excellent hook to the body in Jeanette X), he needed less punching room than just about any heavyweight I've seen on film. His short right uppercut was an excellent supplement for his hook. Only Jerry Quarry was able to out punch Smoke on the inside for two stunning rounds in 1969.

Like Ali in Manila, Louis really only put it all together on the inside for Godoy II, and I think that's the match which showed he could have beaten Marciano, if he replicated that plan for Rocky.

However, if you're talking about trading punch for punch, Louis had the hand speed, accuracy and shortness of punches to out-slug bigger hitting opponents like Max Baer with his combinations. Dempsey-Louis is not likely a slug-fest. I think Jack would go low and crowd like Godoy at close quarters to back Joe up, neutralize with clinching in keeping with his Mauler nickname, then use his footwork/crouch combination when they were separated and at range, in and out, and side to side.

 

It's Foreman then.
Either him or Ali, I'm not fussed.

 

Foreman.
Atomic Bull.
Tua.
Tyson.
Big Klit.

 

My first throught went to Bowe.

Tyson, no. First of all, he was beat in two mid ring battles by Holyfield and I think quite a few others had some success there when they went for it. Even though Douglas did most of his damage on the outside, I think he did the better work on the inside as well.

Ali... First thought Unforgiven was joking, but Ali did give Foreman a lesson in mid-range fighting and he fought well in the trenches with Joe in Manilla. He did the crucial damage on the outside in that fight, though.

I agree with Anubis that perhaps no one could do damage with short hooks and uppercuts like Frazier did, but Bonavena was his match on the inside in their first fight and Foreman utterly destroyed him mid ring.

Louis had alla the tools, but by his own admission didn't like to get crowded.

Very hard to say this. Bowe is probably the one who has impressed me the most in this aspect in a single fight - that much I'll say.