Take One Weapon Away From These Fighters -Who Sufferers Most?

Tyson - without his explosivity, he doesn't slip the jabs and get on the inside or release the same torque and shock impact of his hook to body and uppercut to the head. Being a shorter fighter with a smaller reach against taller, rangier boxers who want to outbox him, I just don't see him bulling his way into mid-range as well with his defensive attributes that relied on fast reflexes and drilled combinations that required ferocious speed to pull off.

 

Ali without his chin.

 

Foreman & Holmes IMO.

Tyson w/o his speed would still find some success w/ his brute strength & 2-fisted power.

Ali would still find success w/ his speed & elusiveness, but wouldn't have had the "2nd career" after those assets had diminished.

Holmes' jab & Foreman's power were so intrinsic to their success, I can't imagine what kind of fighter either 1 could be w/o it. Maybe Foreman could completely reinvent himself from scratch & build an entirely different style around his reach & jab?

 

Ali without his chin would still have his smarts, speed, footwork, athleticism. He would also retain his recuperative abilities and still take body punches well.

Ali would probably visit the canvas more like Fury but his recuperative powers would weather alot of storms IMO.

But Ali definitely takes a few more losses in the 70s especially against Shavers who probably wins a decision with a few knockdowns.

Tyson I also think would still be highly effective he still has his incredible defence, two fisted attack, good chin, good footwork. I still think he would beat most of the opponents he actually did beat in real time.

Holmes would struggle without the jab because his whole style relied alot on dominating fighters behind the jab. Without that ATG jab I think he would become less of a stand out fighter amongst the lost generation of Heavyweights.

But Holmes still has consistency and he was alot more dedicated than all of the other Heavyweights of the 80s barring Tyson.

So I still think Holmes could have very good success based on that aswell as his other attributes like speed, footwork, chin, heart, desire.

Foreman without his power would still have his chin and a very good jab. But having mediocre speed and a suspect defence without the power ? i don't see him having as much success either quite honestly.

Foreman may not be able to bail himself out of trouble vs Lyle without his power.

Foreman also probably wouldn't win the title in his comeback either which would have a major effect on his ranking.

To answer the question I think it would have the least effect on Tyson's career overall.

The most effected if I had to choose one it would be Foreman IMO.

 

Tyson's speed directly affected the effectiveness of his defence, his footwork and the delivery of his power.

Arguably, his best attributes, other than chin were his speed and athleticism. They emphasised everything that he ever did well - when my Dad used to talk about Tyson when I was a young kid in awe of his power, dad used to say without his speed and reflex, Mike would have been a top notch fighter for his time but he wouldn't have reached the heights he did, as a lot of his countering ability would've fundamentally been lost.

 

Surely Foreman without the power.

He had ability, but that ability was heavily adapted to his power reliant style. He relied on keeping guys honest, and using a solid jab to set up power punches, and if anyone dared open up, they’d be measured by Forman and subsequently find themselves on the canvas

If he had no power, guys would be able to take risks and beat him to the punch in exchanges all night without having to worry about anything.

 

Speed has many different criteria's though.

Someone like Mosley for example has blurring handspeed but his footspeed is not great.

So we need to specify what exactly Tyson's loses when it comes to speed.

Hand speed ? Upper body movement ? Foot speed ?

 

Holmes without his jab is like an Octopus without tentacles. It's his primary weapon.

Tyson without speed is still formidable with his power and chin.

Ali can win with his speed alone.

Foreman will nit be nearly as successful without his power but he still had some tools in the toolbox, especially old George who had an excellent jab and underated defense.

 

Ike Quartey without his jab would be much less effective.

We already saw how Roy Jones Jr would be without his speed.

Take away Julian Jackson’s power and he most likely loses much more often.

Joe Frazier without his trademark left hook would make him a far less dangerous fighter.

 

This content is protected

This content is protected

 

This. Foreman with no power might actually be worse than some journeymen I can think of. He's slow, he throws wide looping punches, and he's not hard to hit. He's not a particularly good boxer although he did improve in the 90s. Even quite decent boxers with no power can get nowhere. Check out Kamil Szeremeta, who is easy on the eye stylistically and has a lot of technique. But the dude would struggle to knock the skin off of a rice pudding. He's nowhere.

 

Excellent distinction - I read it universally.

Mike with his same dimensions, slowed down - not as quick of hand, not as quick of foot, not as quick of reflex and not as quick of boxing IQ.