Ali vs Holmes, but they have to fight like Joe Frazier

True, usage wasn’t high but a very nice hook when Ali did elect to launch it.

 

A very fair summation.

 

So both have to wear green trunks like in FOTC in March 1971, get the same haircut as Smoking Joe? Ha Ha.

 

Cheers. What’s the likely promo - Jumble in the Jungle or Bungle in the Jungle perhaps?

I’m guessing the audience is still well behind Ali, screaming “Ali’s Frazier (or Alizier) Bomaye!”

 

Or it could be, What's Your Name? Is It Peggy Or Sue? Ha Ha.

 

Haha I love this question! It would be won by the one more likely to learn new ideas and is physically fitter I guess. Because let’s face it, going forward constantly, forcing and setting the pace, bobbing and weaving and slugging away on the inside uses more energy than fighting on the outside skipping out of danger, backing off, reacting as opposed to forcing the play. Of course this also requires a great amount of fitness too…just not as much.

I’d go for prime Ali because I get the impression he’d be more adaptable and with him having a younger prime than Holmes, he’d probably be more open to changing styles than an older, more set in his ways Larry. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks sort of thing. Also he’d be fitter and could last longer in his new Frazier-esque style.

That’s all I got! Apart from the headache figuring out this conundrum that is.

 

Looks like I'm the only one picking Holmes. I feel he was the better offensive fighter on the inside, went to the body more often and his defense was more multi faceted (blocks, parrys, rolls) than prime Ali, whose distance control and reflexes were so damn amazing he required little else. E.g. whilst both were wildly disimiliar from Frazier in their respective primes, Holmes less so, imo.

Btw, I'd pick Ali prime for prime fighting as themselves.

 

Soon as I saw this topic, I knew our @cross_trainer was back.

Welcome back. Looking forward to more offbeat topics.

 

Ali actually had a decent hook, was a better combination puncher, and was better at exchanging. He also has firsthand experience against Frazier and knows him better than any other fighter. If he was told he had to fight like Frazier or he'd lose, Ali would beat Holmes who was a little less versatile and could be overly reliant on his jab. Holmes' longer arms would also be a handicap in this fight.

 

Absolutely enjoy the utter weirdness of this theoretical scenario, can imagine that Ali would buy in more to actually play the role, but Holmes might be slightly better suited to adapting Frazier's approach. Regardless, it paints a hilarious mental picture of fighters attempting a style almost diametrically opposed to their usual mindset in the ring.

 

I can't recall Holmes ever throwing a left hook. Ali at least threw them on occasion. I think just due to this, Ali has to win.

Holmes had a decent right hook, but the left was basically nonexistent. Sort of odd given that he was very clearly not a one-armed fighter and guys who fought him reported that when he threw a jab with power behind it, it hurt; he was clearly able to generate good power with his left.