How would Ali have done with solid fundamentals?

60s ali never rope-a-doped - did he rope-a-dope against Jones, Cooper etc NO he didn't. fact - frazier never fought a peak 60s ali but a comeback version who had struggled against Bonavena in his previous fight - 66 Ali woulda been much harder fight for frazier. frazier was the best non-stop heavyweight pressure fighter ever. he would do well v louis - he would have no time to set up those big punches - stationary targets are easy to put away but fast moving ones like ali and frazier are not unless your a monster hitter like foreman.

 

Nope, you can't do that; this is boxing not mathematics.

Fighters are not equations that you can add higher values to. Ali made what he had work to the best degree. That is all you can say.

His whole game plan was about drawing you in with the low hands, getting you to lead. Give him high hands and there you have a totally different fighter who works off different principles.

 

Indeed he was, but that was part of Ali's greatness; his ability to adapt.

Ali was forced to put his hands up when a stiffer body got rushed to the ropes and the leaning was not as responsive. It was to accommodate for his loss of speed rather than demonstrate another layer of his game.

It's just about impossible to theorize how Ali would have done with solid fundamentals i.e. does he nullify Frazier's hook? If so does he pummel him? Your guess is as good as Ted Spoons.

 

Ali did not know how to fight Frazier first time.

He thought he would get him out of there within the first six rounds; consequently bit off more than he could chew, ended up slowing down & suffering.

Ali did not have the necessary fire-power, so he did the best he could with Frazier by trying to smother him up close. Ali did not fight well in the pocket, acquiring a better fundamental defence against Frazier would promote bad habits of engaging the problem when it needed to be diffused.

Ali was better served trying to simmer Frazier through heart and sly tactics rather than getting close and threading needles. Frazier was better dealt with in spurts.

Had Ali been taught a good right-hand parry, Norton may have been dealt with much better. Ali had the better jab, but he often found it difficult to jab with Norton. A good parry and Ali may have smoothed Norton over good in the second and third fights.

 

It's tough to summarize for as much as Ali had learnt defensively, Frazier had considerably diminished offensively.

 

Frazier was not the same fighter as he was for Ali 1.....Frazier DID diminish and could not get his body in that condition again ( short Prime Joe)

 

NO, NO, Ali was not more sound, Frazier diminished greatly....The Frazier of fight 1, different guy..even a blind man could see that

 

Ali did have solid fundamentals. They were just not on the same level as his other attributes. But as someone else said, some people just have alternating styles that work for them. Archie Moore wanted to train Ali (this was before they fought), but he found him to be too stubborn and incooperative. I guess it was just not meant to be.