I had a random thought. Jack Dempsey often used sparring partners, who were better than his challenger. A century later David Haye would do the same. Both were animals in sparring. These were tough and strategic fighters. For contrast somebody like Joe Louis or Muhammad Ali, probably couldn't have found a sparring partner better than their opponent, because they were fighting the very best. Other examples?
Holmes says that he was beating up Ali in sparring by the time of the Foreman fight which is why Ali got rid of him.
Sure there are many candidates for this and we’ll never know they all. Interesting topic. I just read somewhere that a young Marciano used to spar Kid Gavilin and he learned a ton from him. Did anyone ever hear this ?
Arguably you could say George Foreman was Sonny's toughest opponent inside the ring it goes both ways if we dont include Ali.
I could believe that. Which makes it even stranger as to why Ali talked himself into a galactic ass-whupping against Holmes later on.
Chiquita Gonzalez often prepared for fights by sparring his friend, Melchor Cob Castro. They also fought each other twice for world championships. In my opinion, their sparring was more heated than their fights.
I like Larry, he is brilliant for a story or quote, but he knows this is not the case. Ali, like some others, used sparring to get 'fight ready'. He wanted his partners to go for it, and offered little in return, he wanted his body to get as much as possible, ready for the pain of the fight. With hindsight that did not help his future health issues. This is fairly common knowledge, and Larry knows it.
I think Wladimir Klitschko publicly said something to the effect that his sparring partners were tougher than Ray Austin. Ouch
