Finally this weird madness conjures up a fight worth talking about. I think it was Battling Levinsky that labelled Gibbons the best defensive fighter he met, which is crazy high praise. He also had the offence to triumph over Harry Greb, no mean feat. Charles absolutely has his hands full here. Probably the key question is can Charles get some fluidity going or is he drawn into a bit of a stop start battle that might favour Gibbons in styles? I favour Charles, but I guess Gibbons has a style advantage here that gives him certain chances.
I favor Charles, simply the better all-around fighter, and also somewhat bigger. Charles would have a ten pound weight pull.
It might be worth considering that Gibbons won 11 straight after losing to Dempsey 10 by ko. In contrast Charles won 6 of his next 11 and was stopped twice in the defeats.I think Gibbons was the fresher fighter when he made his challenge he had never been stopped and wouldn't be until his very last fight.
While I think Gibbons is under rated, Charles was just better offensively, and would take the decision.
The majority thought Liston would kill Clay. That Hitler was a "safe pair of hands". That Jeffries would destroy Johnson. Tyson eat Douglas alive. I'm not too big on majority's.
Gibbons didn't take a frightening beating like charles did from Marciano. In fact gibbons didn't do much at all in the Dempsey fight barely threw any punches..he looked shot.