Usyk pressures with feet and feints, Ali would be capable of circling off the ropes, watch bellew fight. Frazier comes right at you runs you into the ropes and his bobbing and weaving makes him seem farther than he actually is. I don't think it's a good comparison
I wonder if Usyk has a better chin than Foreman or Bonavena, who both took their only KO loss to Ali.
Foreman had Joe Joyce's defense for Christ's sake...he was asking to be knocked out...Bonavena, he was there to be hit as well...These were human punching bags...
Usyk did not SMASH Fury. Besides the 9th round TKO, it was a competitive fight. Fury did well in that fight, and it was a difficult fight for Usyk, and at one point he was losing. Usyk's hardest HW opponents are AJ and Fury. Ali's best opponents were Fraizer and Foreman. Add on top of that the likes of Liston, Norton.
I never really liked these fantasy matchups, but not for the conventional reasons. I just think that boxing suffers from the worst case of what I call "nostalgiatitis." It's blasphemy and obscene to even suggest that a modern fighter would stand a chance against the greats of the past. Boxing is the sport where we have the Tyson cult whose followers are adamant that Mike Tyson would just beat everyone and anyone ever, no matter what. No wonder the 'if prime Tyson...' thing is pretty much a running joke these days. Part of this nostalgiatitis is that Ali is considered some untouchable demigod. Personally, I believe that every era has greats, and Usyk is up there with the very best ever throughout boxing history. I don't know if he would beat Ali, Tyson, Lewis, or Foreman. What I do know is that he could. Notice the difference—I don't know about the would, how would I know, but I'm absolutely sure of the could. Usyk has the ability, the skills, the chin, the heart, the movement, and the gas tank to be a massive problem for all heavyweights throughout history. Is he unbeatable? Of course not. Nobody is. And it's not even some ATG who would definitely beat him. Maybe it's Efe Ajagba or Jared Anderson, who knows. Styles make fights, and just like Ali was beaten by Norton all three times (never mind boxing corruption, Norton did beat Ali all three times), Usyk could just as well be beaten by a not-so-well-known or ATG candidate fighter. But speaking of Norton: his beating Ali again and again just proves my point. If Norton could do it, who says Usyk couldn't? Again, I don't say he would—I’m just saying he could. He would have very good chances against anyone in history. But I know I can never make all the cult followers and casuals understand this. I'm old enough to remember when there were fights in pubs as Tyson fanatics attacked people who dared to say that there could be someone somewhere in human history who could beat Tyson in some sort of physical combat. Even the suggestion that Mike Tyson could have a match in physical combat with someone from human history was enough for idiots to start fights over. Madness, absolute madness.
A LOT OF PEOPLE are human punching bags, Sergio. Have you ever seen my divorce settlement? Does that make me any less of a fighter? Huh? Does it?
I technically agreed not to talk about it on the boxing forum, so, mods, if you could remove that comment, please, I would appreciate it. She checks this forum regularly.
The weight advantage doesn't really prove anything. David Haye beat Valuev, but that doesn't make Valuev a great win. Valuev was garbage all the same despite being 7ft tall and 330lbs. At heavyweight, a 40lb weight advantage doesn't mean as much as in smaller weight, especially if that excessive weight is in a fatass like Fury with huge bags of fat on his ass. Deontay Wilder was 210lbs when he fought Fury and almost KO'd him. Wilder was lighter than Usyk but still hit hard. Not saying it's not a great achievement to beat a bigger opponent, but 6ft 3 and 220 is more than big enough to hurt anyone at HW. How heavy before it doesn't even matter? Does Jarrell Fatass miller pose a big threat because he weighs 600lbs? Who would you rather fight? Mike Tyson 5ft 10 and 215 or Joshua 6ft 6 and 250? It's all about the individual.
Lol Ali hurt George Foreman a guy with a granite chin. Fury a guy with no power was able to hurt Usyk. Usyk pace would be too much for Ali? Usyk rarely throws punches. Has this guy ever landed over 200 punches in a fight? Has Usyk ever landed over 40 percent of his punches in a fight? Usyk can barely land 30 percent of his punches. Usyk couldn't even dominate Joshua, Usyk couldn't even dominate Derek Chisora. But yeah he would dominate Ali. Like I said Usyk fanboys are more annoying than Mike Tyson, Rocky Marciano, Flord Mayweather, and Tyson Fury fanboys combinted.
David Haye also weighed around 210 pounds at heavyweight and knocked out Derek Chisora easily. Vitali Klitschko couldn't knock him out and Tyson Fury took 10 rounds to stop Chisora on his feet. One thing I will disagree with. Joshua isn't 250 pounds. Joshua weighs 230 and comes in the ring 250 gasses out and then cries that he only gasses out because he is so big.