Ali vs skilled super heavyweights

He’d probably go about 2-2, one win being against Joshua.

 

Terrell was slow in the Ali fight. Didn’t he suffer an eye injury during the fight? I think so.

Either way his jab was not in the class of the discussed super heavyweights.

 

A few things. Do you intend to give a reply showing us which top ten middles Hank beat?

Ali was near pirime vs jones and Norton. In fact Norton did a number on Ali before he best Frazier or Foreman.

Wrong, Terell did win a round vs Ali.

Ali never fought a super heavy with a good jab, skills and a power punch.

How many of those guys listed compare to Lewis, klitschko or Joshua?

NONE.

 

Lyle was slower and he troubled Ali

Lewis never lost on points. That was Mercer on a good night and he also had one of the best jabs in the 1990’s

Just use logic, if good smaller jabers bothered Ali the best superheavyweight jabbers would do the same.

 

This is why I find it hard to entertain Mendoza's sentiment that Ali had trouble with good jabbers throughout his career, forgetting that he beat Liston, Foreman, Terrell - all of whom had very good to all time great jabs.

When my dad first showed me how to box and made me sit down and study boxing film, he always said "If there's one punch you learn to throw properly, you learn how to jab". The jab is the most fundamental punch in boxing because if used properly, everything offensive and even defensively can be built around it.

If there's one punch any boxer is likely to have issue with, it's the jab - it's the first learnt punch, it's perhaps the most practiced and most varied punch there is - there's no shame in having difficulty dealing with a good jab - it's all about who you beat, how you overcame adversity inside and sometimes outside the ring and what skillset we can see on film, as well as your ring record. Ali, in my humble opinion, moreso than the fighters of modern time showed more skills, more speed and had a better ring record versus a better calibre of top fighter than many of the fighters that he is compared to.

I like Anthony Joshua, but I cannot see how a fighter so young in his career, so unproven, so stiff-looking, at times, in the ring should be compared in head to head fantasy fights against the likes of an Ali.

 

In the other currently running post, by whom I forget, it listed that the average weight of Ali's opponents was 203 pounds. That is essentially a cruiserweight.

 

I’ll take George Foreman’s word that the 70s had better boxers. He actually fought in both eras. Although he tends to embellish tales time to time. He said Liston was stronger then Briggs . I don’t get how small minded people can’t comprehend that 70s and prior era fighters are not coming in weighing what they weighed then. Hell Foreman was what 30 pounds heavier in the 90s? And if you were to take fighters from today and place them in the 70s they weigh considerably less. Besides not using weights championship contenders had to have better cardio for 15 rounds. Some fighters would drop to cruiser weight some would gain mass. I can see Ali weighing 230 today.

 

Alis reach from Box Rec78"

 

Source for 79"?