Ali 1974 vs Joshua of today, who wins?

It would all depend wether Joshua could pin Ali down enough to off load his big shots, because although Ali had a great chin a 6'6" 250 pound guy with Joshua's power is going to hurt and if he's careless enough knock Ali out, would a rope a dope work with Joshua?
It would simply depend on whether Ali could take the shots, if he could then he could certainly stop a gassed out Joshua late.

 

The question to ask is do these huge guys hit harder than the likes of George Foreman, I think they likely do but who knows hey.

 

Ali would school him. It would be awfully one sided.
Joshua is very very unlikely to be able to pin Ali to the ropes or cut off the ring like Foreman did. Or pound out such a steady attack
Ali had Foreman wobbling or stunned from right hand leads and jabs from round 1 on. He'd do the same to Joshua and worse.

 

Why ask such a question? Ali never had major issues fighting big huge punchers. It was the smaller hwts such as Frazier who could better cope with Ali's speed and could go the 15 round distance that gave Ali trouble. Ali wins by late round tko in a one sided bout.

 

Anyone saying Ali easily wins isn't thinking this through.

This would be like the Foreman match. Life and death.
That wasn't easy at all. That was probably the hardest thing he ever had to do.

Ali wins, but lets respect the feat.

 

I don't think anyone will be saying it's an easy feat.

 

Rope-a-dope could very well result in a referee stoppage. In any case I don't see Ali surviving considering his defence was his durability and he doesn't possess the power to keep Joshua off him.

Joshua TKO

 

I wouldn't call the Foreman bout life and death for Ali, not even close. The Frazier bouts however..........

 

Ali's wide eyes against Foreman are unforgettable.

He always downplayed the threat of Frazier even during the fights.
But in the fight with Foreman he gave full respect to his power.
And had to take the shots head on, making the best of it.

The fact that Ali had 6 fights between Foreman Frazier and Liston is absolutely ridiculous.

 

I still don't see Ali - Foreman as anything close to "life and death" tho Rez. Ali was never even in serious trouble.

 

I'm sure there were many times in fights that Ali was in trouble and we never knew. That's how keen he was. Like Rez said about he "wide eyes" in Foreman fight. He was scared shitless those first 5 rounds.

 

Again i disagree. Noway on earth Ali was "scared sh*tless" imo. He was talking, goading but most of all hammering crosses off Foremans head. He came out in the first round and mixed it with him with big right hands at various stages and bullied him in clinches.

He was a picture of calmness and concentration to me and i am in awe of that version of Foreman. Many a great would have been laid out but Ali was quite measured.

 

If he had been scared shitless he would have gassed, not Foreman.

He respected Foreman's power, no doubt, but overall he was very concentrated and collected. A scared fighter is not effective. You can't think clearly and the tension eats up all your oxygen. A scared fighter acts irrationally and gasses quickly. In other words, the opposite to how Ali was in Zaire.

 

not really,he knew foreman would tire out and knew after rnd one probably he had this fight won with foreman.Also LOOK closely and you would see Foreman missed many shots ,the first round alone he only landed 20 something that actually hit solid and rarley hit Ali with a direct shot to the face without Ali bouncing off the ropes rolling with the punches.

This in any case has nothing to do with a much bigger ,smarter and faster Joshua.


Joshua with his ring cutting inside fighting and that uppercut drops Ali before rnd 5. in a k.o win.