Who would win between Tony Zale or Canelo Alvarez?

Interiguing fight. Battle of the body shots, which I'd pick Zale to beat anyone. Canelo could box to a decision (make the full distance), obviously I kid but he could lie on the ropes and move like the first GGG fight. Then again Zale was much quicker than that GGG plus Golovkin didn't use his signature punches, Zale would and would ruin Canelo's already problematic stamina. I like Zale here, he's more proven at the highest level. But it's a close fight

 

I'm assuming this is Zale in his prime,,,so I'll take him to beat up Canelo

 

Prime Zale wins this.

 

Also got Prime Zale.
I feel hes underrated here and not mentioned enough. Best strait rt hand to the body I've ever seen on film. A largely forgotten punch to boot.

 

Zale hands down wins this match I believe with ease, to strong footwork to good held his chin a bit high but could take anything Canelo could throw at him. I believe a Prime GGG would have handled Canelo, dont get me started on what Cerdan would have done to Canelo

 

If Golden Boy is promoting Sale would need a KO to win ..

 

One of the very best of today is always going to defeat the very best of the 1940s. Canelo would never have developed into the superior fighter that he is today if he had to grow up and develop in the time period that Zale did.

Hard to get a perfect handle on Zale seeing as the good footage of him is from the third Graziano fight and the Cerdan fight but Zale was pretty slow and unathletic and Zale did a lot of lunging in due to slow and poor footwork (Canelo's feet are his biggest weakness but still very much superior to Zale). Canelo's punching technique is light-years better than Zale, Cerdan's combination punching and handspeed were too much for Zale and Canelo is superior to Cerdan in this regard. I doubt that Zale would land a great deal on Canelo. Zale's best bet would be if they both used the gloves of his era, that way Canelo might break his hands due to the inferior protection and Zale could thumb him in the eye. So in conclusion, this is a classic boxing forum so the old fighter must always win.

 

Zale, in his prime, beats Canelo's body.

Canelo could get a 12 Rd decision on past prime Zale.

 

Slow and unathletic lol
Watch the Soose footage. It may not be great but you see some excellent athletic movement from Zale. The way he bends up and down at the knees. Not easy man.

 

Especially if Golden Boy is at the scorecards

 

Guess Bert Sugar and many other trainers, journalists who actually live to compare they were wrong when they said fighters from the past were better than modern fighters lol

 

Zale hit Rocky G some body shots that Rocky said felt horrific. Doubt the Canelo mindset could take that for 15 rounds.
Per Zale:
"Child labour laws, and trade union ideals, meant nothing in those grim cathedrals of industry. "It seemed like I worked in the steel mills since I was weaned," he once said, "breathing the burnt air, catching (with a bucket) the hot rivets that could burn a hole right through you if you missed." He remembered complaining to his brother as they walked through the factory gates: "I feel like I was born here." The response snapped out. "Stop bitchin'. Be thankful you got a job.""
When he was working out at a boxing gym one night a coach looked at him and said: "You look like you're made out of steel." The nickname "Man of Steel" stuck with him for the rest of his life.

In July 1940, he won the National Boxing Associa-tion middleweight title by stopping wiry Al Hostak in 13 rounds in Hostak's home city of Seattle.

This gave him partial acknowledgement as champion, but recognition meant nothing. His family needed money. A month later he was earning again in a non-title fight against college kid Billy Soose. Soose won on points, but remembered: "When Zale hits you in the belly, it's like someone stuck a hot poker in you and left it there."

There was little time for even the quiet Zale family celebrations - ten days later the Japanese raided Pearl Harbor and the United States was drawn into the Second World War. After losing a non-title fight to the light-heavyweight Billy Conn in February 1942, Zale's career went into abeyance for the duration of the war. He served in the US Navy.

When the war finished, Zale's rivalry with Graziano started. In September 1946, recovering from pneumonia and considered too old at 33, he won a frighteningly brutal battle in front of 40,000 fans in Yankee Stadium. Graziano was knock-ed out in the sixth round, but Zale was so exhausted he could barely stand. Graziano, who urinated blood for weeks afterwards, called Zale "tougher and faster than anybody I ever fought in my life".

More good Zale info here:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-tony-zale-1274828.html

 

All this old vs new is just speculation - there's no right or wrong.

But if we DO know anything - it is that fans, trainers, journalists, the boxers themselves, will almost invariably pick the fighters they grew up with over those that came later. Which isn't hard to understand, since we're more impressionable in our youth - compared to when we're jaded old-timers after maybe 50 years (or more!) of watching boxing.

 

Thats a fair point!