for all we say that, Ali has admitted he was scared of Liston at their weigh in and that’s why he started shouting at him, to try to build up his own confidence. i think everyone feels fear. The true mentally tough balls of steel guys use it. “I’m afraid of you? You should be afraid of ME”. That kind of thing. That grit. Ali, Holyfield, etc. you can read accounts of soldiers on the battlefield having attitudes like this.
why are you using post-exile Ali? I don’t think he could beat Tyson. Pre-exile Ali is the one who could pull it off. He wouldn’t do it by clinching. He’d do it by making Tyson chase him around the ring while getting peppered until Tyson tired, and only then would he engage more. The Ali of the Williams fight, not the Ali of the FOTC.
Would be one of the biggest fights in history of boxing and very hard to predict . I would expect mike to come in aggressive trying to brutalize and take out ali early , and he might have success in this - so a ko/tko early rounds for mike since prime mike was a crushing machine , even fir ali . Another scenario : ali is able to dance around mike,s best attacks , rope a dope and keep the distance so mike quickly becomes frustrated and tired . Mike,s attacks would get more uncoordinated and ali would be clearly leading on points . So a point decision for ali or a frustrated mike gets disqualified for something really frustrating . In any case : do not see ali ko prime mike and i fo not see mike outbox prime ali .
I do think Ali beats Tyson, but you are making some good points. And although I think Ali wins it would not be 100% comfortable with that prediction.
Prime Tyson never gassed and would have caught up with Ali, he had great foot speed and athleticism himself.
Mike was great but it seems his best wins by far are those projected for him in the realm of fantasy - imagined victories that his achievements during his actual career do not necessarily uphold. Mike wiping out guys levels below Ali, no matter how emphatically those KOs were achieved, doesn’t translate to Mike doing same to Ali. Ali punctuated the strength of the above point when he beat the likes of hitherto destroyers, Liston and Foreman, 10 years apart. Imo, Prime Ali was simply too multifaceted and gusty for Mike to overcome.
These are **** poor excuses. Douglas' mother died weeks before the fight. That's going to take a hell of a lot more out of a fighter mentally than sleeping with Japanese hotel maids and not getting enough sparring. Apparently only Tyson is allowed to bring up circumstances outside the ring and his opponents have to just suck it up. Some of them arguably had it even worse than Tyson.
Ali was great but a young prime Tyson was a machine so my vote goes for Tyson But imagine how much better Tyson could have been if Cus was around for longer and the snakes didnt get there claws into him