POV has Ali’s kryptonite in his left hook, is better than cooper, bigger and heavier an more well rounded than Frazier. It’s a very very hard fight for Ali
Iron chin, great stamina and KO power in both hands in his prime. Plus great in and out movement and upper body movement. Pretty good jab to boot, just a white, slightly worse Joe Louis basically. Yeah he's not a good matchup for Ali at all. Ali still has a style that could frustrate Pov but he's actually very good at cutting off the ring. Way more technical than most of the guys Ali fought in his prime that get credit as great fighters.
They split the first 4 rounds, Ali starts getting the better of the action from 5th round and on and wins a relatively wide decision in a 12 rounder. In a 15 rounder, he pummels Sasha late in the fight.
Ali stops him out late in a fairly competitive scrap that may resemble the Bonavena and Cooper fights. Povetkin is a very well rounded guy with strong fundamentals. Ali may even be behind on one or 2 cards but I think his late round rallies, insane toughness, adaptability, and hand speed would be highly problematic for such a straightforward guy like Povetkin.
Did he find a way against Frazier apart from outlasting him in one and getting a dodgy decision in another? Norton seemed to completely nullify his game and he wasn't even a huge puncher. People act like Pov is just a puncher but he's a very good boxer too. Ali doesn't enjoy the same size advantage he usually did back in his day either with Pov.
Ali's era is not as good as it's been made out to be. About as strong as any heavyweight era. Just more hype because Ali was a popular fella and the civil rights movement was at the center of American politics at the time with their boxing stars being placed front and center as examples of American exceptionalism among black Americans. People are really sleeping on how the quality of boxers coming out today is not that far off what they had then. The size they're coming in at is much larger on average too so I doubt the likes of Ali would have as much ease getting through that lot. This notion of him being unbeatable against punchers is all predicated on the Foreman performance. Look at many of his other fights with good punchers who crucially also used their boxing ability and he struggled much more.
Wow, 1 fighter. Norton isn't relevant to this at all. Size advantages weren't a big deal because fighters of that era fought at their peak weight!
I thought that was two, and two he fought three times each. They're the guys most likened to Pov as it is, very good punchers with loads of boxing ability to boot and they most importantly weren't that slow. Norton also took away Ali's size advantage. Norton is also definitely relevant seeing as he was one of the best fighters of that era. Fighters fight at their peak weight in this era too, they just have better nutrition. What a silly statement.