38 year old Holmes vs 1966 Muhammad Ali

A rusty 38-year old against a prime Ali? He'd be a speed ball. Giving up that much in speed, reflexes and stamina to a similar type of fighter is just murder. At leas that's my initial reaction. But an even older Holmes did alright against prime Holy. Even prime Holy was a level below prime Ali imo, but still...

The question is how much he lost during those extra four years compared to the benefit of being matched regularly. Since he didn't rematch Tyson, we'll always be guessing on that one.

 

Larry Holmes is on my short list of all time favorite fighters but frankly this matchup is ridiculous. 66 Ali plays with a 38 yr old Holmes. Come on man

 

Holmes wouldn`t win a round, neither would the versiion of Mercder that Holmes exposed or Morrison who was pretty bad v Mercer defensively, overrated period of the heavyweight division and Holmes didn`t catch Holy much on the chin, he just stayed on the ropes spoiling and waiting to counter punch, it was not a pretty sight.

 

yea but ali would be running from a 38 yr old man all night long

 

Ali massacres him.

 

Speed kills. Holmes' technical ability would not be able to compensate.

 

The question is set up to make Tyson look good. Nothing more.

 

Exactly. Holmes would look more competitive compared to what Ali showed in the Last Hurrah. He´d possibly give him a much better fight than some of the Londons he actually fought.

 

Holyfield won 8 or 9 rounds at least against an old Holmes, and Holyfield was not as good as prime Ali.
Mercer was clearly no Ali.
Mercer wasn't quite even a Berbick.

Ali would absolutely destroy the Holmes that faced Tyson.

Even 3 years previous to the Tyson fight, an active fitter Holmes was lucky to get past Carl Williams !
Prime Ali would completely dominate the 1988, or the 1992 version of Holmes.

 

Ali by shutout or late TKO.

 

Prime Ali and prime Tyson had vastly different styles and attributes.

1966 Ali would easily beat 1988 Holmes.

Holmes would last a lot longer than he did against Tyson, simply because Ali never possessed great power.

But, this should in no way denigrate one's view of prime Ali or strengthen one's view of prime Tyson.

 

He would use his vastly superior reflexes to be hit and not be hit in return, while utilizing sublime foot movement. I wouldn't call that running.

 

Nice excuse for the Tyson blowout. It wouldn't have mattered how active he had been. When he was prime, Shavers almost kod him. He lasted with Holyfield because Evander wasn't anywhere near the puncher prime Tyson was.