[Deleted by user]

I'm in for this fight... and we'll probably get to watch this fight inside of 5 years due to generative AI. It's going to be hilarious.

This forum, and all forums/subreddits dedicated to classic sports, are going to have a boom when there's a SportsGPT that you provide a prompt to and it generates the full fantasy event you want to see, in 4K, streamed right to your TV. '72 Dolphins vs. '85 Bears. Venus Williams vs. Chris Evert. LeBron vs. Jordan, 1-on-1. It's going to be pretty awesome for a while until we get bored of it.

I wonder if SportsGPT will have random hallucinations like ChatGPT does. It's putting on a realistic seeming '67 Ali vs. '88 Tyson, when suddenly Tyson suplexes Ali. That kind of thing.

 

Next time, please try to ask a hard question. Ali all day every day, 100 out of 100 times.

Larry was always a tall HW, while Muhammad grew up from 98 pounds at age 12, so he was used to being shorter and going under and in to the body from his amateur days. We saw Muhammad duck Norton frequently in their second bout (which I just watched and broke down). He also got underneath Bugner in their first bout, and worked Joe's body a bit in their title rematch.

Ali went inside, underneath and to the body with ease on Blue Lewis, clinching the scoring without that fifth round ending right hand KD, primarily on the strength of those left hooks to the body and body punching in particular after ten rounds in a dominant sustained performance within a 16 foot ring. His hook to the body was also effective on southpaw Mildenberger, although not decisive as Ali's body hook was on Al Lewis, who he constantly pressures and usually stalks forward against.

This post's footage is now MANDATORY viewing for anybody even contemplating a case for Larry Holmes to win in Frazier type style, Ali keying his hook, especially to the body as he stalks in low and inside. Like SRR, he could do it, but it was hardly typical. (For SRR, watch what he does inside during the opening rounds on Bobby D y k e s.)

The only professional bout I'm aware of where Ali was actually warned against hitting low.

Here are some second by second breakdowns of this particular clip from round 5. At 28:09 near the outset of round five, Reg Gutteridge (working with guest analyst Bob Arum - I thought Arum was rather good in this role), notes that Blue's legs seem weakened from Ali's hooks to the body. At 28:45 Reg starts talking about Ali's digging left to the body saying "They look like taps, but they are NOT!" Then, the 15 second KD strikes at 30:28 (but count cadence is at the referee's discretion, so not as egregious as sometimes described - while Foreman was counted out in exactly ten seconds in Kinshasa). So the warnings that KD was about to happen were suggested minutes earlier in round five, and Ali's bodywork noticeably compromised Blue's legs after only four rounds.

This content is protected

Larry Holmes was aggressive and effective with his left hook to the body against Tiger Williams, but it was from an upright stance and the outside.

However, late career Larry did do something Ali's never known to have done. He separated Paul Poirier's rib cartilage with a monstrous right that visibly rippled through the left to right side of Poirier's torso, resulting in a seven second delayed KD, leading to repeated KDs the next round and then the end before another round. (But Holmes nailed that right from the outside as they closed in.)

Paul said after his career that it was by far the hardest punch he ever took from anybody, and Poirier was coming of back to backs against Alex Stewart and Tony Tucker. Winning on the strength of a single body shot. Did even Tyson or Frazier pull that one off? Smoke beat JQ in their rematch not with the hook that sagged Jerry down, but with a long face ripping right hand that made JQ turn away like Frazier also did to Chuvalo.

Previously, I bet my life on peak Ali of Cleveland Williams easily decisioning the Joe Louis of Max Baer, because in large part, Joe couldn't cut off the ring like Foreman. Ditto for Ali fighting Frazier style on Holmes being an easy choice. Did Larry ever bob and weave during his career, or even duck?


Blue Lewis is one of my favorite bouts in the Ali canon, something very few know exists on footage, showing Muhammad using a style, strategy and tactics not many have viewed.