Most adaptable heavyweights?

By adaptable I mean that they can make adjustments and change up the game plan to find a way to win either during the fight and/or in rematches. These boxers tend to have good ring IQ and ring generalship.

Some fighters that stand out (in no particular order):

-Joe Louis: was absolutely savage in rematches. He often scored brutal knockouts in rematches--often closing the show quicker than in the first fight even if the first fight was a close call. Most infamous examples being Max Schmeling, Buddy Baer, Walcott, etc. However he wasn't particularly adaptable during a fight--although you are more than welcome to change my mind. Maybe there's a fight I missed where he made great adjustments.

-Evander Holyfield: Could do a little bit of both. He has a pretty good record in some rematches such as Bowe 2, Moorer 2, Qawi 2. As far as during a match, I remember in the first Tyson fight he got nailed by a big punch and that seemed to "wake him up" and realize just how dangerous Tyson was and then fought much more cautiously and implemented a very great game plan to neutralize Tyson's offense.

Against Bert Cooper he was fighting a somewhat methodical fight slowly breaking Cooper down and got dropped by a brutal hook. In true Holyfield fashion, he stepped right into the eye of the storm and began to let his hands go unleash a long barrage of shots that had Cooper a sitting duck until the fight was stopped.

-Muhammad Ali: Best example I can think of is the Bonavena fight. He was very annoyed by Bonavena's non stop rugged pressure and had a hard time using his usual stick and move style--getting so frustrated at one point he threw Bonavena to the ground and was warned by the ref. This was a sign of things to come for Ali as he would soon struggle heavily with other pressure fighters such as Frazier. But in this particular bout he realized Bonavena was a very durable man who could not be stopped with direct shots that he is able to see coming. So Ali set up a very sneaky left hook outside his field of vision and Bonavena was on wobbly legs, getting dropped 2 more times losing via the 3 knockdown rule--the only stoppage of Bonavena's career.

In rematches Ali was also quite adaptable. Against Frazier he used a much more cautious style and grabbed whenever Frazier managed to press inside. He didn't stand in ring center trading like he did before and constantly neutralized his opponent's offense before he could really get smoking. In the first Norton rematch, he still had a very hard time with Norton's style but had more success due to his much more consistent footwork and jabbing as opposed to just letting Norton bore his way in before.

 

Lennox is more well rounded than people give him credit for. He could be the calm, composed chess player or he could become downright nasty throwing heavy right crosses and uppercuts ending bouts quickly.

He was good at making adjustments for rematches too, but part of the credit has to be given to trainer Emmanuel Steward who really knew how to get his fighters to follow the plan and saw things that they didn't. However, I do not have doubts that he could have made rematches with Mercer and Vitali more decisive affairs if given the chance.