Perfect Heavyweight

He was nearly KO’d in the second fight because Ali learned how to time him coming in... He worked well against Ali because Ali was the perfect style for him to fight against George was all wrong for him he would not go the same way as Mathis.

 

I think Ali is the best HW ever. His insanely fast hands, feet and reflexes is a hard enough puzzle to solve on its own, but then you have to deal with the Einstein-level ring IQ, the stinging 1-2s, the creative angles the left upper-hook comes from, the stamina to float like a butterfly all night and you CAN'T knock him out. His only weaknesses were his complacency/arrogance which led to him leaving his chin open and refusing to keep his right on his chin.

FOTC Frazier is the only man I'd back to beat him.

Although, I think every HW has a flaw which there's another HW who can exploit, so there's no such thing as a perfect HW. I think Holyfield and Louis might be the most complete, since both have the physical gifts and fundamentals to do it all and have the universal boxer-puncher styles which mean they're equipped to deal with everything.

 

This is true. They're all human and everyone has their flaws.

 

Agreed, Lewis also had the style and physical gifts too compete with any heavyweight in any era

 

Perfect HW?
Haven't seen one, and unlikely to.
Closest so far? Probably Ali, especially early.

 

Absolutely agree.

I'm a massive Ali fan, as I'm sure most of you guys know from my many years of posting, but I absolutely hate how much disregard he showed others in the ring. If he had a Louis mentality, he would have taken much less punishment throughout his career, would have fought much less close rounds and close fights.

To see him playing in the ring with world ranked opponents is both what makes you love his character and at the same time question his attitude. Thing is, he did it his way - as seen with his clashes with Archie Moore trying to train him his way and seen with the way he fought in the ring. Capable of protecting and hiding his chin, as seen when he blades and throws his jab to the body in the '60s, but often leaving his chin open, slipping and pulling back from shots or just rolling with the shot. Very few fighters took flush shots and moved their head just on impact as well as Ali and I have not seen another HW take a body shot as consistently well - yet it is exactly his ability to take insane punishment that exacerbated his health issues.

Louis and Holyfield are very similar in skillsets, add in Ezzard as well - elite boxer-punchers, yet, there is a clear difference in fight IQ. Holyfield is always getting conned into a brawl versus bigger punchers for my money, whereas Louis fights his own fight better and if pushed into a brawl has the handspeed and the power to hold his own in a way that Evan and post-Baroudi Ezz couldn't.