Good thread can't believe I missed this one, what happened to @cross_trainer ? Haven't see him for awhile i did enjoy his thinking outside the box for new topics. As for the topic. Ricardo Lopez/Juan Manuel Marquez
I think the lazy answer is Holmes, who was hired by Frazier to prep for Ali-Frazier 2. I assume he was hired to spar as an Ali mimic. Also when Holmes was younger, there were flashes of him imitating Ali in actual fights -- he did it for a bit during his fight with Norton, an exact mimic of Ali's circling/jabbing. If I'm remembering right, SRL did some Ali mimicry in actual fights when he was ahead and playing around. Even did the shuffle.
Muhammad Ali’s George Foreman impersonation was pretty spot on in capturing the essence of George’s type:
Later career Roy Jones Jr did an incredible imitation of Big John Tate. Perhaps they James Toney’s nick was better suited to them? Golota channeled Jack Dempsey pretty good in the Bowe fights - JD would’ve been proud of the not so sneaky punches to the nuts. Did JD mention those in his Championship Fighting book?….maybe not. And finally, Jerry Quarry did a great imitation of Muhammad Ali.
Frazier was about as close to Jack Dempsey as far as styles go as anyone. Its interesting how despite this, he generally wore his opponents down the rounds while Jack would seek the early KO, perhaps a testament to JD's punching power. Nonetheless, one can compare such champs as Patterson, Tyson, even Rocky in terms of punching technique and note significant Dempsey influence, but nobody tried to get so close as Smokin' Joe.
