I was watching Tyrell vs Ali for a bit this morning and was keeping an eye of Ernie`s right glove, I feel it was perfectly positioned most of the fight making him really hard to catch which the left hook, AJ`s right glove is positioned in a similar way for most of his fights, I feel it`s a really good defense but would it help Tyrell against the bigger heavies of today?
Terrell had an excellent jab and beat most of the contenders of his era with it.He was durable too. His style was not fan friendly but effective,he would be giving away quite a bit of weight to todays heavies and his power was not top drawer,never very mobile he would be there to hit .I'd have to conclude he would struggle against the really big guys today,but against the Lebedev's , Usyk's,Bellew's ,and Briedis' he would do okay.
Ernie would be bigger if he was prime early 21st century and, IMO, with the added weight he'd still have his skill set. "Octopus"? Yes! He was not exactly a crowd fav but that height, reach, jab, good set of whiskers, and solid right hand along with his tactic of smothering opponents (hence his nickname) would make him 'viable' in any era. The boring, yet talented, POS would give anyone a fight much like Joe Bugner (I've already mentioned what a snooze fest a Terrell-Bugner fight would have been.) In closing Ernie had talent (and tactics) that would keep him in any number of 'what if' fights. My $0.02
