The only reason he was in that illegal clinch against Eddie Chambers is because he sucks at boxing. Gerry Washington beat Chamber every round without ever having to hold on for dear life like Wlad.. lol
Yes, he lacks the infighting skills of Wlad, but is still good enough to win fights on the outside alone. Quite an underrated fighter actually.
czsssssssssssssssz Ask Lennox himself if he could ever beat Ali He'll tell you " No way man Ali really is THE GREATEST" !!!
Henry Cooper's left hook Enery's Ammer was one of the hardest punches of all time. Ali clowned a second too long Good cornerwork from Angelo saved him
We know that after the early rounds in the 'Jungle' Ali purposely laid on the ropes to implement a plan where he emptied George's tank. He fought Wepner after he'd fought George, when he'd slowed down. What we're looking at here, is a version of Ali, up on his toes, at about 24/25 years old. Wlad had the tools to have really troubled him, but again, for me, it depends on how willing Wlad would have been.
You've made some very good points, but Ali purposely shelled up against George. We know that. Ali would never have implemented that game plan against Wlad. He wouldn't have implemented it against George either had he have been in his prime. The 'Rope a dope' was implemented because Ali knew that he didn't have the stamina to fight him in the centre of the ring at that stage of his career. He'd have ended up being knocked out because he couldn't have sustained it. He spoke of that numerous times throughout the years.
The fact that Wlad had his head messed with by Tyson, should tell you that Ali would have had a huge chance of psyching him out. Yes, Ali was smaller than Tyson, but he was just as confident and a lot faster. Also, he knew that Tyson wasn't a power puncher, yet he couldn't step on the gas pedal to try and get him out of there. It was just rinse and repeat, feinting back and forth with no plan B. Ali would have had huge issues with Lennox, as Lennox was much more formidable than Wlad.
I'm educated on his career. He had great balance, great dribbling ability, along with pace, power and strength. Would those attributes suddenly not exist if he was transported into today's game? You could make a case for saying he may not be as effective today, as he'd be playing against better competition etc, but a striker with his level of skill could never be just an average striker. That level of thought is completely ignorant. Pele, Cruyff, Best and Maradona etc, could all play today and be successful. They'd all be worth millions.
What you all seem to forget is We were denied 3 1/2 years of Ali's prime for purely political reasons. Imagine what he could have accomplished in those years? After that long layoff her was never the same super star fighter but he was STILL way better than the rest
Prime 60s Ali is the best hw in history at his absolute best wlad is atleast 2 levels below that Ali. Ali is a top 3 atg. Sometimes I really struggle with the lack of boxing knowledge on this forum. Wlad would get a boxing lesson here its that simple end thread.