....against each other. Bokaj gave me this idea. :good We all know who they are. If there was a tournament,I'm sure that I will surprise nobody by saying that I think Muhammad Ali would come out tops Others in the reckoning are Larry Holmes,Lennox Lewis and Joe Louis. Thoughts ?
The Ali of Frazier II and Foreman comes out on top here. He still had ten successful title defenses ahead of him. Jack Johnson was already 30 years old when he dethroned Burns. His first match after turning 32 was Jeffries.
Holyfield. In shape, motivated Mercer was nothing but a sparring partner to him (for realistic contrast see: Lewis vs Mercer).
This is a pretty tough one, Lennox was likely at his absolute best, Holmes too pretty much primed, Ali was significantly past prime, Louis was past prime and was a year off 'losing' to Walcott, Marciano didn't look quite as good against Moore, Holyfield was going through a very patch, Johnson was of the JEffries vintage but isn't of the level of some of the others, Dempsey fans claim he was shot by this stage So based on that my top 3 would consist of Lewis, Holmes, Ali
I forgot about Holmes. That would have been a very interesting match-up. Prime Holmes vs past prime Ali. Ali still probably had better movement than Holmes, but Holmes jab might just be a tad sharper. In terms of stamin I think it's about even, Ali probably has the advantage in hand speed. But I think the real issue would be Ali's lead right. It was still one of the best lead rights in HW history at this point. With Holmes vulnerability to rights, that might just clinch it for Ali. Ali beat Norton, Frazier and Foreman around this time. Larry's best wins at a similar age was Snipes, Cooney and Witherspoon. Clearly opponents of lesser calibre, and it's not like he beat them easily enough to make it a given that he could beat much better opponents.
Holmes may have been able to neutralise Ali's speed with his superior jab, which Ali could be hit by. Its an interesting match up, I can see it being close
Certainly would be close,but I see Ali clinching it. As Bokaj says,his lead right hands would be a strong factor.
Sure I read somewhere at some point that Jack Johnson thought he was at his peak in the Jeffries fight - and personalli think the 32 year old Ali that whooped Foreman was an astoundingly amazing fighter
I recall reading somewhere that Johnson trained his hardest ever for the Jeffries bout. Naturally I agree with your comment on Ali. :good
