If Wilder had been born the same year as Muhammad how would he have done v Ali`s top 15 opponents? Started this thread becaus someone wrote this undder another thread: Hmm i dont know. honestly I might go with Wilder. He is far less skilled than any of Alis top 15 opponents but his physical dimensions and Unorthodox style might give Ali trouble.
Shavers might land something, but probably gets KO'd. Holmes outboxes him and probably stops him late. Norton is the man Ali could'n't legitimately beat, but an early KO win for Wilder I think. Frazier, Lyle and Foreman are too durable and hardhitting = KO loss Foster, Moore, Mildenberger, Patterson and Qually are too small, so he stops all of them. Liston 50/50 who KO's who, due to many reasons. Williams, when Ali fought him I expect Wilder lands something early. Peak Williams is all Williams. That's 13... need 2 more.
I'm not sure about Frazier. Watch his fight with Foreman. Frazier's take a shot to give a shot might be a problem against Wilder. He was also small by today's standards and would probably not be able to physically impose himself on Wilder the way Fury did. By that I mean Frazier leaning on Wilder is by no means the same as Fury leaning on you.
Moore was also too old to beat Wilder the age he was when he lost to Ali, Lyle couldn`t take Ali`s shots so there`s no way he could take Wilder`s.
Frazier defense was far better than Wilder`s he use to bob and weave after punching while Wilder just stays on the center line after punching so is much easier to counter than Frazier was, after Wilder misses Frazier`s bobbing head Joe would catch him wit the hook.
Frazier started well v Foreman then took a few bombs and it was over, Wilder`s wide stance will have him backing away instead of standing his ground like Foreman did, in this fight the loser will be the one that backs off first, if Wilder`s backs off v Frazier he won`t be able to offload the amount of shots Foreman did, if Wildr throws a jab v Frazier he will be countered to death, Foreman kept pushing Frazier to the outside whenever he closed in to land the hook, Wilder has never done that in any of his fights, if Frazier gets inside he`d tear Wilder apart like Fury did, Frazier wqas a far better inside fighter than Wilder is.
He beats: Norton, spinks, Shavers, Berwick, Moore, Patterson, quarry, Lyle and Frazier, Liston, Williams, Wepner Loses to Foreman, Holmes, possibly Norton
He lands on all of them and KO's them. A few might get to him first. Old timers were not known for their defence. And even defensive mode Fury, one of the slipperiest characters around (as confirmed by basically every sparring partner), got nailed. That was a telling moment, because Wilder proved he could land on an elite defensive fighter, meaning he can potentially land on anyone. Many people still haven't worked out you can't just 'outbox' Wilder to win, at least not the one we've seen so far. Fury worked it out and completely changed his approach. But he has special proportions and attributes. Wilder only needs to land one or two clean bombs to finish most people and even skilled boxers get hit. That makes Wilder a unique problem. He's been 'outboxed' by a number of people now and still landed his bomb. The idea of these old fighters avoiding Wilder's bombs all fight is pretty laughable really, even for half a fight it seems unlikely. They weren't hard to find. Their only chance is to KO him first and Wilder can take a few himself.
Lads we need to stop shitting on Wilder. He's a top fighter who uses his size (particularly his length) advantage very well. Yeah his skills are lacking but this is the heavyweight division ffs, if any division is gonna have technically unskilled power punchers succeeding it's this one. Wilder also has decent boxing ability, he just fell in love with his nuclear fists.
I thought about my top fifteen Ali opponents, and settled on: Larry Holmes, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Sonny Liston, Floyd Patterson, Ken Norton, Jimmy Young, Jerry Quarry, Jimmy Ellis, Ron Lyle, Earnie Shavers, Ernie Terrell, Oscar Bonavena, Zora Folley and Joe Bugner. I considered others but decided on these at the times Ali fought them. So, onto the actual question. Wilder gets the living **** beaten out of him vs Foreman, Holmes, Frazier and Liston. He KOs Norton and Patterson, IMO - they're too chinny. But those are fights he can lose, and truth be told, he only wins because of the styles, not because he's anywhere close to being as good. Jimmy Young is all kinds of wrong for Wilder. Clear loss for the Tuscalooser. He'd like beat Quarry, Folley, and Ellis. They're pretty small compared to him, especially Ellis. He literally started at middleweight. Terrell isn't too small, but he doesn't beat Wilder. Same with Bugner. The tall guys who're gonna be coming to out-box Wilder - not take him out - are easy pickings, IMO. He'd smash them at some point. Bugner would probably get real ugly. Lyle and Shavers would be shoot-outs and Wilder can lose these, but I don't think he would. He'd get them before they get him IMO. Bonavena is another fight he can lose, due to his complete lack of an inside game, but I think he knocks Oscar out. If he didn't, he'd have it rough later on.
I think Patterson would knock Wilder out. Far too quick, far too skilled, pressure is far too fast. Patteron's power of recovery are astonishing. He's been stopped only as many times as Mike Tyson but down way more and he has to be vanished in order that he doesn't get back up. Yeah, Wilder would deck him, but I think not enough to win 2/3, i'd out and out pick Patterson to beat him if they fought. Patterson might not beat every single fighter Wilder beat, weirdly, because the weight disparity becomes prohibitive, but 200 plays 220, very happy to pick Patterson.
