Muhammad Ali (74 version) vs Mike Tyson (88 Version) in Zaire 1974

And 88 Tyson would have never seen anyone as good and crafty as a 74 Ali before. I don’t see Tyson hurting Ali- sure he may hurt him but Ali sure his not going to show that.

 

Thats' it .. Tyson is a mental midget compared to Ali and after clinching and holding Tyson for about 2 or 3 rounds, talking to him and making fun of him he begins to drop the right hands in, a lot easier than Buster did. Then the apparition of an azz whippin starts to form in Mike's mind as it becomes clearer. I 'm getting my butt kicked and can't do anything about it. He's rescued by the ref around the 10th give or take depending on how long Ali wants to torment him.

 

That's a great point. Lots of boxers hurt Ali. His gift was he never let them know.

 

more than likely Ali, the argument for Tyson is that Ali once named Floyd Patterson as his most skilled opponent, Floyd went 12 with Ali and was also trained by Cus, the only guy to ever really give it to Ali was FOTC Frazier, they say styles make fights and Tyson is sort of a combination of Patterson and Frazier in that regard, some might say that Tyson's movement is more predictable and not as erratic as Frazier though, which given Ali's ring IQ he may be able to figure out fairly quickly the patterns of movement and punch combinations, Ali and Dundee would definitely be versed in the Cus number system well before the fight and would start figuring out counters, the deeper it goes the more it goes to Ali, a young Tyson gets frustrated and starts making mistakes Ali capitalizes on, Ali definitely cuts Tyson just as bad or worse than Holyfield's headbutt

Tyson has speed and power but imo he doesn't have what it takes to throw/land something as nasty and flawless as the left hook that floored Ali in FOTC and that was in too deep of water for Tyson to be swimming in, Tyson has said himself when asked about facing Ali that he aint knocking him out, Tyson also doesn't have the chin or heart that Frazier did, Ali having whooped Liston would weigh heavily on Tyson too, and while Zaire wasn't as bad as Manila I don;t think Tyson has ever fought in environmental conditions close to that, and with the entire arena chanting for Ali to kill him

 

Eh. Some of Tyson's KOs say otherwise. Look at his KO of Botha with one punch thrown from about 6in away, or his one punch KD of Golota which broke Golota's cheek, knocked a disc out of place in his neck, and gave him a concussion.

Best punch for best punch, I don't see much of a difference in power. What I think George had was maybe more consistency, and definitely more power in his jab.

Take Patterson, remove maybe 10-15% of his speed, double his power, dramatically upgrade his chin and strength, and you get Tyson. I see no valid comparisons between Tyson and Frazier other than both having great left hooks.

 

No arguments that Foremans mitts were bigger than Tysons but that isnt how they measure the fist.
Like I previously posted they both had 8in wrist and tysons fist were only 1/2in bigger at 13in to Foremans at 12 1/2in. I looked at a few different Tales of the tape and they all said the same, the only discrepancy Ifound was Tysons reach. Some said 71in and others said 70in.

 

Tyson would beat 74 Ali like he beat the Ali impersonators of his own era. Ali from this vintage had trouble with an elderly Floyd Patterson. He no longer had the physical talent he needed to beat Tyson, and Tyson has the correct style to beat Ali.

Prime Tyson is an aggressive guy with a good jab, great left hook, consistent head movement, and fast feet. He's strong enough not to get manhandled. He's durable. He has pretty good stamina, and tracks down runners and clinchers for a living. Oh, and he grew up watching Ali's fights with D'Amato commentating. 74 Ali loses.

 

Tyson. Tyson beats any version of Ali, let alone the 74 version.

 

Once again any version of Tyson isn’t beating the Tokyo version of Douglas. And sorry the so called Ali clones of the 80’s are no where near a 74 version of Ali. I mean Thomas or Tillis compared to 74 Ali????? Don’t think there even close. The so called prime version of Tyson was never tested against a true great. First time he was put to the test he lost. That said yes Tyson when he trained and had the right people was a different fighter. Tyson did have a great chin, speed and defense. But when he runs into adversity and he would against 74 Ali I don’t think he comes out on top……. I also think a prime Holmes would do the same. If u look at it who did Tyson fight that was anywhere near those 2??? Nobody!

 

And I will add Ali would have to be on his toes etc…. Cause if he isn’t yes Tyson could definitely hurt him maybe take the fight. That 74 Ali that fought Foreman was in shape and prepared and I bet he was also scared also. But maybe that’s what helped with the motivation. If he beat Foreman he could do the same to Tyson.
And Tyson would beat a lot of Heavy’s. But someone who wasn’t afraid of him and stood up to him and had some skills is gonna frustrate him. If u replace Holyfield with Douglas that nite I think Tyson wins. Douglas was on and basically wasn’t anyone whooping his butt that nite!!!!

 

No problem with you favouring Tyson here, but even this Ali is surely better than Tyrrell Biggs & co. And let's not forget that two of what I guess you mean by the Ali impersonators - Tillis and Tucker - gave Tyson good fights. Tucker with a busted hand and the decision over Tillis was close. If we're going to go by how the Ali impersonators fared.

 

There's also Holmes.

 

I like the chances Ali of Frazier II, in an air conditioned MSG with a 20-foot ring, much better than the chances of Ali of Zaire, in a small ring with slow canvas.

 

Kind of hard to call a great fighter like Holmes an Ali impersonator, but, yes, there were similarities. But again, the rusty 38-year old Holmes wasn't as good as '74 Ali.

 

All respect, but Mike later said that's how he became convinced he (Mike) couldn't beat him.