This is an easier one for me. Ali. Tyson mixed it in top 1% company three times and came up well short each time. In his prime he's a better fighter, an incredible fighter, a lock for the top 12 all time in his weight. But Ali beat the best fighters he ever fought (apart form Holmes, and he was ruined). That's the first thing to say. The second thing to say is that Ali has the type of ring generalship to make one-dimensional plan A or bust fighters ****. I'd be astounded if Tyson won this one. And before people start shouting about a punchers chance - yes, he does have one. If he scores a massive shot near the beggining of a round he can win. But Ali has the chin and the generalship to make it out of most jams, plus the speed, punching, accuracy and footwork to shut Mike out. W PTS 12 or TKO 15.
Ali was at his best against the feared, intimidating types.Foreman and Liston were freaked out by Ali's refusal to buy into their reputations.Tyson fits into this mold.Mike would fight bravely, like he did against Douglas, but would have absorbed so many sharp , accurate combinations by the 11th, I can imagine his face swollen like Fraziers in Manilla, and totally disspirited.
I really can't see Mike being KO'd by Ali. Don't forget he had a VERY good chin. He'd lose on points.
Mike got a hell of a chin. During his prime... no one really was even close to hurting him. It took big lewis rounds of flush shot poundings to put him down and tyson was still no KOed... he just gave up... Ali doesn't hit as hard as Lewis. UD win for 12 is the fave outcome imo.
The Tyson that got KO'd all those times was a shadow of his former self. No real footwork, no upperbody movement and no head movement. Of course he got knocked out because he ate those punches flush! Not to mention Douglas had to beat on him for rounds to score the knockout. Same with Holyfield. I would pick Ali based on stamina/attrition. I think he'd be smart enough to make it to round 4-5 where Tyson would be a bit slower. But those first 3 rounds against Kid Dynamite would seriously test Ali's chin.
:smoke So you dont think MIKE would have taken a sustained beating from ALI ? the 67 version of ALI would have annililated MIKE ! Take a close look at MIKE and you will notice he never took a small beating ! It was always a bad beating because he got demorilized as soon as he started losing ! And that is without exception ! MIKE would start to lose and foldup like he did every time he lost ! :bbb
Although I voted for Ali, but Tyson got a serious chance of upset. Ali's chin is great but he hasn't really been hit by many brutal punchers like mike and the speed that mike can throw his shots.