Anthony Joshua vs The Muhammad Ali that fought Foreman

I just have to say I'm not saying Joshua>Ali, but in the 70s I feel Joshua would have his number.

 

Muhammad Ali would win before the very beginning of the fight, he would settle in Joshua's head, finish him off with psychological games and Joshua would not be able to cope in such a situation...

 

He was a smaller more savy version of Joyce minus the workrate. He didn't pace himself but he cut off the ring very well and just decimated his opponents. Foreman threw almost all of his punches with the intent to dislodge something. He threw the kitchen sink and went to the body lots.

When Joshua throws the kitchen sink at his opponents he gasses in a round like against Klitschko and Pulev. Most of Joshuas punches were hilarious pawing jabs with no power and he wasn't agressive at all against Usyk.

 

AJ is a glorified bum

 

Your “arguably beat him” doesn’t wash here at all. Ali beat Frazier twice and beat Norton twice. Plus he beat Jimmy Young. You saying arguably doesn’t change the results and in any case the OP was about the Ali that beat Foreman, not the Ali that laboured against other fighters.

Your “ half blind” Frazier was an ATG, probably the best inside fighter of all time and yes, definitely too good for Ali when they first met. And Yes he knocked him down, but Ali’s powers of recovery…which is a physical attribute that he has over AJ for a start…got him back up to carry on. And of course, as was his way in the 1970s against every man he met, Ali eventually found a way to beat him. Twice.

This Ali was not somebody that could be stopped or KO’d. His powers of recovery were legendary, his durability was notorious and probably had the better wins in the 70s than he did in the 60s, considering he was past his brilliant best.

And yes, Usyk was a pumped up Cruiser. No matter what weight he was when he pumped up to fight AJ, he was a Cruiserweight for the bulk of his career, fighting at around 200 mostly. In any case, he was still 20lb lighter than AJ and outboxed him more convincingly than he outboxed Chisora in his previous fight! And saying Usyk was better than Foreman in every way apart from power tells us nothing that we don’t already know. Foreman hung his hat on being strong, with a mega hard punch…some say the hardest in history…and having a pretty good chin and being durable. Nobody’s pretending he was a boxing technician. Ali found his own way to stop a man who was considered the strongest most powerful puncher in history and who was never stopped before or since. If he could neutralise Foreman, he’d definitely stop AJ whose chin and stamina were shaky at best and poor at worst.

And you may underestimate 1970s Ali’s power, but those that know 1970s boxing, know that Ali hit very hard. His accuracy and timing were still excellent.
There’s nothing AJ could bring to the party that the likes of Shavers, Foreman and hard punching Lyle…who Ali stopped in 11 round with a powerful straight right…couldn’t, except a heavier stiffer easier to hit body and a more fragile chin.

Ali wins in 8.

 

The amount of nonsense in a single thread and it's just two pages long.

 

To counter my own argument, and in AJ’s defence (I actually like the guy after all, he’s a Brit and I want him to do well always) I might be being a bit disingenuous about AJ’s chin, after all he’s only been stopped once.

 

Ali wins this with ease. He'd either coast to an overwhelming points victory or pick up the pace and stop AJ in the later rounds.

I think the latter would be the case if it was a title fight with AJ the champion. Ali, as the challenger, would be more motivated.

Anyone who claims AJ would win by KO (four people so far...) is a troll.

 

Ali wouldn't even need the mind games for this one.

He'd walk this fight.

 

Look man, don't you think you're putting him on an unrealistic pedestal, saying he couldn't be stopped or KOd? He was dropped a couple times by this point, and both times by fighters much, much smaller than AJ. Frazier, who was 40 pounds lighter and by Henry Cooper, who was 55 pounds lighter. You really don't think that if AJ or much less a bigger puncher like Zhang (ignore the chances of him actually landing the blow) or Wilder landed a perfect shot, they couldn't render Ali unconscious? I think AJ would land frequently enough that with his size he would be able to score a KO through accumulative damage. I can see Ali hurting AJ 100%, but I don't think AJ would let him land enough given that Ali's explosiveness had decayed a lot by this point. I'm not somebody who underestimates power a lot, I actually said he had the second most underrated power among HWs.


Usyk has never stepped into a pro ring under 200 pounds. Nobody in the world ever steps into the ring at their official weight anymore. Usyk was minimum 210+ at CW, and he was 220 in better shape than Foreman when he fought AJ. If Usyk is a pumped up CW (and he is by modern standards) Foreman is an overweight pumped up CW.

 

Haha! I’m not putting him on a pedestal,I’m simply quoting facts! Ali was not stopped in the 70s…it’s a fact. Im not saying something that isn’t true am I? He was dropped, yes but not stopped. Ifs and ands and Wilder woulda coulda shoulda are all great,but it’s all hypothetical. But plain facts are Ali was never stopped in the 1970s despite the hardest hitting 70s bangers giving it their best shots, jabs and upper cuts, and since that decade has gone, I have spoken the truth.

Usyk being a pumped up Cruiser is also factual as you’ve acknowledged so no argument needed. Whatever size Foreman was, his power was phenomenal, greater than Usyk which you again acknowledged.So what’s the argument here?

However I disagree that AJ would hit Ali enough times to stop him. I believe he’d miss more than he’d hit and what blows he took 1970s Ali would soak it up. That’s my opinion.
And in terms of AJ being bigger than Ali, to use your own argument…Frazier 4 inches shorter and lighter than Ali knocked him down and beat him. Yet you can’t see Ali who beat every fighter he fought in the 70s doing the same to…let’s face it…a good but not great…AJ?