Moses Itauma vs. Muhammad Ali

I agree he needs some body recomposition.

He's a HW so usually a little flab is allowed, but not if it comes along with lowered cardio.

Mike Tyson was an outlier being a fully developed man at 20 (maybe even 18), Moses still needs to develop into his adult frame.

 

Itauma could blitz him. 1966 Ali had all he could handle against a small, light hitting Euro champ southpaw in Mildenberger. The champ from 60+ years ago would be getting hit more, harder and cleaner than he'd ever been hit in his life.

 

Blitz him has to be his only shot but one thing Ali was not is a frontrunner. Thats the one guy more than anyone else whose not going to let someone KO him early can you think of anyone with more endurability than Muhammad Ali? I can't.

 

lol. Ali won most rounds vs Karl

 

That extra padding of fat is probably beneficial for recovery and strength though. Itauma could be lying but he says he benches, deadlifts and squats big numbers in the gym. If he cut down to 220 he would probably be both weaker and recover slower, even though he would look more ripped and fit.

 

Best post ,thread ender.

 

Honestly the Ali worship is beyond cringy. Peeps talk about Liston, Forman, Frazier (ALL very small HWs today) like they're modern sized HWs but with their skill and power scaling up to the bigger HWs.

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Yes, today a young Ali is fighting as a CW. As he gets older, he'll need to bulk up to about 225 - now slower - to have any chance vs. modern HWs. The Ali that went life & death 3X vs. Frazier and chinny Norton? Itauma, Hrgovic, Usyk, Dubois, and other top HWs beat Liston, Forman, Frazier, and yes, Ali.

Soon, it likely has the ability now, AI will answer these hypothetical match ups. Most won't like the answers and will go on believing their mythic fantasies. Live in the past all you want, the US isn't going to dominate HW boxing any time soon. Not in most of our lifetimes.

 

I don't know you segued to those last two sentences.

I would still not pick Itauma over Ali. Ali has already been proven.

 

Itauma all day long....

 

Itauma is the perfect example of the modern day heavyweight, struggling as soon as he meets someone half decent. All of them, minus Usyk, are equally capable of upsetting the others because they all pretty much don't know how to fight.

Henry Cooper knew how to fight, and would cause havoc amongst all these giants.

 

Lofl right on

 

I recall being told about this fight and have watched it, though not live
I wasn't watching boxing until the 80s

Quite alot of controversy
I was reading how Alis glove split was made worse to buy some time
Also that...
Not my words below

The use of smelling salts by Angelo Dundee was completely illegal and a disqualifying offence under British boxing rules, yet it went unpunished

While the glove tear created a physical distraction for the referee, many boxing experts believe the smelling salts were what actually saved Muhammad Ali from a knockout

 

I like all of that.

 

Too bad Cooper couldn't replicate his success in their second fight

 

Moses runs out of gas by the 7th or 8th round.