Reading a little on the Cobra s life and Ali had said in his autobiography "Charles was a truly great fighter and Champion '' He's the only heavyweight champ, apart from a young sonny Liston, who I think would have really troubled me at my best '' Putting the two together at their best, what's your thoughts??
Ezzard Charles was the greater fighter as far as legacy goes. You can even argue he might have even been better than Ali as far as pure ability goes. But a smaller and slower technician is the worst thing to be against Ali. It would probably look a lot like the Bob Foster fight.
A variation of this was asked the other day and I haven’t changed my opinion, I think Charles could go 15 and will give it his best shot especially early but Ali would dominate the last part of the fight and win a very comfortable decision. I don’t think Charles has any chance to hurt Ali and it’s only his solid skills that make me think he could go 15.
Charles at his best at heavyweight had a ton of experience, terrific speed and significant underrated power ... when you get past the highlight reels and the self proclaimed hype, Ali was not perfect , even in his first career ... I can see a highly motivated Charles , a late 1940's version giving him a stylistic challenge similar but better than say a Doug Jones ... I would not favor Ez but I can see and interesting matchup where Ali gets tagged more than a few times before pulling away a bit later into the fight .
Would not favor Charles to win, but I do think he could make it to the end and give Ali some trouble.
One opinion that I have that many wouldn’t agree with is Charles would surprise many against multiple opponents. I don’t think he beats Ali but he makes it a damn good fight. I look at him as Holyfield before Holyfield but I think he was better
