Muhammad Ali's top 5 toughest opponents

Because when Holmes peaked in 1982, he had Eddie Futch instead of Ritchie Giachetti as his chief strategist, and Futch knew how to beat Ali. Larry had the jab necessary to throw Ali off his rhythm, and Holmes was known to go to the body when the openings were there, as they would have been with Muhammad.

Holmes was bigger, stronger and more durable than Folley, who had some success with a peak Ali in the opening three rounds. Larry would need a virtually flawless sustained performance to pull the upset, but that wouldn't have been completely impossible. (Having said that, it must also be acknowledged that we never saw how good Ali might have become in 1968, 1969 and early 1970.)

 

Could Povetkin beat Ali with Futch in his corner?

Yes, because Ali has a long record of struggling with good jabs, like Sonny Liston?

Ali would have slipped Holmes' jab all night.

 

:rofl:rofl

Povetkin is not remotely comparable with Holmes, the gulf in class is astronomical.

 

Yeah. I don't see how that contradicts what I said earlier. I thought Ali won that fight handily, even if he looked awkward at times.

 

Yes, hence my post. Having a strategist in your corner makes no difference when there is a clear gulf in class and no telling stylistic edge, e.g. with Holmes and Ali.

 

:good

 

How large is this gulf in class between peak Ali & Holmes that you see?

 

Comparable to that between, say, Ray Leonard and Floyd Mayweather at WW.

 

Or maybe slightly less.

 

Fair enough, I was just checking that you weren't underrating Holmes.