Could Mohammad Ali (in his prime) compete with the boxers of today?

Joshua's next fight is April 2019 and by that point I suspect some of the young prospects like Dubois, Ilunga, etc will have surpassed Wilder if they haven't done so already.

 

Of course, that's saying the bout with Fury comes off, when scheduled. That is not going to be a 100% sure thing until they step in the ring.

Additionally, Wilder has fought softies forever. Now he's going to take on a Fury and Joshua in back to back fights? I'd like to get a Vegas line on that.

The other thing with Wilder is his age--he's no spring chicken. He's at an age when all of a sudden it becomes surgery time. If he ever gets a bad rotator cuff on that right shoulder or his back or something, his other tools are not there to compensate for the loss.

It sure seems like the only American heavy getting pushed hard at the moment is Miller. How long before he gets put in shark infested waters?

 

Majidov also beat Ivan Dychko

 

It would be like allowing the Devil himself to have a twitter account. Ali's opponents would be on suicide watch and taking anxiety pills BEFORE the fight!

I could see Stephen A smith and max kellerman having a debate about "cyberbullying" and pre-fight ettiquete and what is considered unsportsman like.

 

Lol can you imagine that? Ali today would get ARRESTED for bullying. Especially how thin skin society is today.

 

He might get stripped for all the fines and lawsuits for verbal abuse.

The irony. Losing his belt outside the ring even in another era.

As fo inside the ring, people keep talking about how big these 230+ pound modern fighters are, but...many of them are flabby, slow as hell, and can barely remain active more than a minute for 12 rounds let alone 15. Ali probably wouldnt need to engage most of them as all he'd need to do is land some jabs, sneak in a few counters and flurries, then circle around them and maintain a points lead. They would have no choice but to chase after him, and only athletic guys with good jabs like parker or fury could hope to tag him and compete with him on the outside.

But big, husky guys like povetkin, breazielle, pulev, hughie fury, etc, or chubby guys like arreola, stiverne, wach, miller, etc would be gasping for air after missing so many punches or barely grazing ali and getting countered after 6 rounds. They would have to either

A) maul and smother him early and not let him get the chance to set the pace, fighting on the inside, throwin body shots, leaning on him, make it an ugly fight, etc.

B) blitz him and throw vicious combos from the opponening bell, or patiently stalk him and set up a big punch and hope to end it with that.

^considering most fighters nowadays lack the conditioning, skill, and patience to employ either strategy and Ali himself had incredible stamima and an iron chin, it likely wouldnt end well for most of them. No matter how i look at it, most fighters in todays era either lose an embarrasingly lopsided ud, or get stopped late after chasing ali and running out of steam. Only the very best, athletic elite fighters could hope to beat him.

 

Who are these modern era elites who would more likely than not beat Ali?

I haven't yet seen them.

 

In his PRIME, no one could/would be able to hit him.

 

Steph curry? Has like 3 championships? golden state warriors, ring any bells?

Kyrie irving is 6'3 and won 2 championships and has multiple all star appearances. Russel westbrook is the same height and has lead his team to the playoffs and averages triple doubles and has also been an all star last i checked.

Basketball is full of many 6'2-6'4 guys who are considered top 20 in the league and weigh surprisingly low in the 205-220 range or even lower.

Dont forget college sports, especially football that heavily receuits young athletic guys. If you dont get into amateur boxing by the time youre 23, theres a very high chance you never even try it out. In fact, most guys have had at least 15-20 pro fights by the time their 23 with long amateur careers. If boxing wants to lure young men back, they need to start in high school and working class guys in their late teens at restaurants and warehouses. College sports has grabbed most of the top talent by the time theyre 20.

 

I guess I dont find myself wowed by Wilders accomplishments. I think both Klitschko and Povetkin are better than him and Joshua has beaten both.

Lennox Lewis never beat Corrie Sanders or Ike Ibeabuchi and if your being objective I would think you would have to concede that both are highly dangerous opponents. Does this mean Lewis wasn't the best of his era because he missed out on them?

 

If Joshua ends up not fighting Jarrell Miller will that mean he didn't dominate his era? What about Kubrat Pulev? Adam Kownacki, etc? They were all ranked in the top 10.

 

Sanders was no threat to Lewis , and Ibeabuchi fought only two live bodies but one real threat and that was in shape Tua. Wasn't Lewis's fought Ibeabuchi couldn't keep his demons INSIDE the boxing ring

 

Sanders has tremendous power and good handspeed, if McCall could beat Lewis than why not Sanders?

 

because sanders wasnt good enough to climb contention, let alone get a title shot.

stop singling out the guy just cos prime wlad wasnt good enough to get easily stopped by the retired version, if that hadnt happened you'd never mention his name.