I miss the old days when you thought Marciano could beat everyone, although your current views are probably a bit more realistic
Wladimir and Joshua seem pretty coordinated and fast to me. As far as big heavyweights in the 70s go they couldn't even make it into the top 10...
A draw against Bonavena? He should be favored over all these guys pretty heavily
The horrendous losses to Maskaev put Rahman below McCall among other things
Ali faced the best competition available and didn't duck anyone. That's pretty different from Holmes who missed out on fighting a lot of opponents
The guys of Holmes size lost to smaller guys so Rocky fought them instead. But given they lost to guys Rocky beat I think its reasonable to...
People keep bringing up Marciano's size but there were plenty of big guys in his era and earlier eras. Some of whom were bigger than Larry...
Wladimir also seemed to excel against smaller boxer types like Byrd and Chambers
The problem remains that these people being used as examples of Alis abilities to supposedly deal with bigger men are not very compelling. Ernie...
And sorry I don't think Liston had an 84 inch reach. Photographic evidence indicates otherwise as well as the fact he was only 6'1.
Wladimir Klitschko is faster, more athletic, and vastly more dangerous than Bugner or Terrell. He looks remarkably quick on film.
The other thing I find ironic is that people frequently mention Ali's size advantage when he is being compared with guys from earlier eras like...
Why would Ali flurrying make Wlad panic or even apprehensive? Maybe he simply starts catching Ali when the much smaller man tries to come within...
If Marciano had been around he might have pointed out that he was undisputed while Holmes wasn't and that he consistently faced the best available...
If Larry wanted respect he should have faced the best opponents available rather than ducking Dokes Tubbs Thomas etc.
