Wlad Klitschko has the worst style for Ali

Okay but he did it against Bugner in spots. Fraizer is a different beast of pressure and movement compared to Wlad. Much harder to read his rhythm

 

Ali can realistically stun Wlad if he lands a clean powershot, he just wouldn't knock him out. Williamson also kind of had a glass chin.

I wouldn't say no problem, Williamson landed plenty in there outside of rocking him, i can't say Klitschko dominated him. Despite Williamson being a fringe contender level fighter he didn't go into a shell like Haye even after getting hurt badly. Alis feints more, uses more angles at mid range, better workrate, etc. Since Klitschko doesn't typically counter punch (although he can) Ali can get away with spamming the same combinations compared to fighting someone like Holyfield, the problem would be landing them as Klitschko moves out of range

 

Let's see.

Splintered belts, boring mandatories and the very best fighters not meeting each other.

Theirs was an era, unlike others where the top contenders didn't really have to face each other to fight the unified champ or recognised absolute best in the division, didn't risk losing multiple times to cement themselves as the next legit contender, they could literally just wait for the next up to get beat and then moved into mandatory position.

Vitali took care of Wlad's opponents for him, both champions never really left the comfort of their safe ground in Germany and it's a division where the majority of fighters are overweight and very likely steroid enhanced. Genuine skill had clearly regressed in favour of a more upright, points based amateur style and with referees allowing excessive leaning and grabbing as opposed to inside fighting and genuine clinch work, we saw a regression in inside fighting skill.

Both Klits were great fighters, however, the politics of the era, the psychology of fighters into a more safety retreat first style and also Wlad building his whole system around avoiding war, leaning and grabbing, predominantly 3 punches and then refs being complicit in this style of 'fighting' doesn't replicate the competitive environment of an era where Louis reigned and there are multiple styles of fighters and a loss on your résumé in no way was seen as an indicator of skill or quality or an era where Ali has crossover of Patterson, Liston, Frazier, Foreman, Norton, Shavers, Holmes, even the era after them where the actual best fighters predominantly eventually faced each other for the most part with Usyk coming along to definitively beat Fury, AJ and Dubois is favourable to an era where the very best have no intention to prove who the man actually was and are content to just face mandatories with all the cards stacked in their favour.

What is often underappreciated about being a world champion is travelling and fighting on different soil and in different environments - Ali fought on foreign soil, didn't always have a complicit referee and certainly faced all comers, rematched and adjusted and adapted in ring. Wlad and Vitali didn't get the option to rematch their victors or close battles or even faced the very best, not their faults I suppose but it still doesn't add up in the same way that it does for the champions that proved to be the absolute best bar none time and time again.

Just my opinion.

 

He was 246 lbs and I thought he was supposed to be only 6’7??? You guys only take his listed height for real when it benefits your narrative.

And the whole bit about Wlad “piecing” Fury up in the 12th isn’t even true, he finally started landing a bit but Fury got the better of him and forced him to back up whenever they exchanged.

 

Oh, it was the reach?

Ha!


Tyson only has respectable power at the weight.

He’s not a power puncher.

Wlad didn’t have to be significantly worried about his power.


AJ had much more power, where he was more dangerous.

Yet Wlad had no issues letting his hands go and fighting him aggressively.

 

Agreed.
Williamson was a 3rd rate soup can but he had one thing most of Wlads challengers didn't have - feet , movement.
Wlad couldn't commit to anything other than a jab. When Wlad went for the right hand , he overextended and got countered over the top.

Ali would catch him over and over again with the shot Williamson DROPPED him with.
You can clearly see the body language in Wlad had changed after only 3 rounds. Panic in his face. Mouth open. He was headed towards another loss.
He used the little cut as an excuse to quit that fight. Wlad had a worse cut in the same place against Thompson.

There's more, because the result was inconclusive, the IBF wanted rematch. Wlad refused so the IBF allowed Williamson have the title shot against Byrd.
Wlad filed a lawsuit to block Williamson. He choose to fight Williamson in the courts instead of the ring.

Williamson talks here about the bogus cut.

This content is protected

 

Every fighter ages differently.

You shouldn’t need to be told this.

The intangible stuff is garbage??

Oh my.

He was champion for 10 years, because he was a SHW in a weak era, where his brother was mostly retired.

Do you really think that he could have replicated that same reign in any other modern era?

 

Yeah and Ali was shot at 35. If we bring up Ali's poor performances from when he was old this isn't even a contest

 

Fantastic post, a lot of it will be wasted in this thread.

 

This breakdown is just completely wasted.

We’re debating guys who don’t realise that smaller, lesser fighters possessed jabs and hooks, which were far more problematic to Ali, than what hooks and jabs would have been from Wlad.

They haven’t got the knowledge to realise that the smaller guys were more mobile, where they could close the distance quicker and get closer to Ali.

They haven’t got the knowledge to envisage the different angles etc.

They’re casuals who debate on paper stats. The height. The reach. The record.

They have no understanding.

We’ve literally got a clown asking how Ali could have evaded Wlad’s jab, due to Wlad’s size.

 

This post right here is the perfect example of just how far out of your depth you are.

I could have countered this post when I was 12 years old.

If you’re not trolling, you should be utterly embarrassed to type this out.

I don’t even think you can be serious here with this garbage.

I don’t even think it can be legit.

If you can’t work out why it would have been much easier to have negated Wlad’s jabs and hooks, rather than Frazier’s, you really need to leave the thread.

This is cringeworthy.

 

Correct.

I just said that every fighter ages differently.

If you’ve been following the thread, we can’t use those older versions of Ali. Because he was very clearly a deteriorated fighter.

To his credit, Wlad was still a great fighter at 39, just like Hopkins was in his 40’s.

The reason for his performance against Tyson, was purely down to what Tyson brought to the table. Not because Wlad was a shot fighter.

Yet Master won’t let us use the Fury fight for analysis, as it doesn’t fit his narrative.

 

39 for Wlad was hardly equal to 39 in previous era's. Modern sports science and "medicine" has dramatically changed the sporting landscape with regards to age. There's no better example than Federer/Nadal/Djokovic in tennis. They played at an incredibly high level for what seemed forever and were able to repel any sustained success by supposed heir apparent's over their duration.

Fury decided he didn't want to fight full stop. He didn't fight for almost 3 years. Wlad was surprisingly impressive vs Joshua. This is far more common in old fighters now for reasons i have explained.

Your age point is moot, no context.

What is garbage is you claiming Wlad fought a 270 pound Fury. That was easily verifiable and complete and utter garbage.

My intangible summation is opinion and one a lot of highly regarded posters will agree with. I mean, it's not exactly hard to follow my logic.

 

Why oh why did he have to clinch so damn often if his distance control was elite??????? He gets smashed on a regular basis for his his clinching. He's one of the worst in the history of boxing for heavens sake. If he was so good at distance control he wouldn't need to exhibit clinch fests on such a regular basis. He had to protect that china.

 

Yeah Fury is more like 6'7.5 than 6'9. I never call him 6'9 despite what the billing is.