It was a good summary, but he left out the fact that, both pre and during the fight, Mike would be psychologically coaxed to feel like a helpless little white girl.
I have read all the posts----pretty solid. My prediction with this fight boils down to this..... Frazier brought Ali to the brink in that time period. A young Tyson is far more advanced than my favorite fighter Joe. Ali cannot hurt Mike and in 1988 he was a different fighter that many remember post prison. He had guys try to frustrate with their tactics ( Smith especially} but he kept his composure. Mentally weak? Not then. Maybe---ok definitely there but did not impact his approach to a fight. Ali fights his con game. Fights hard. But is simply outhustled. Ali in 74 cannot weather or keep up with that storm. 67 -71 yes he could
I sympathize with a lot of what you wrote. But could 1988 Mike take the psychological deftness and RING IQ of 1974 Ali? Prime Foreman couldn't
I see this as Louis--Marciano part 2. With Ali being on his feet the entire contest. Loses by youth. Mike, at that age hid all insecurities with his victories. Read-watch the interviews. He truly believed that was indestructible. " I am Dempsey, Duran, etc.." A 92---? Tyson different mental state . Burned by too many people. Hurt in the ring. Not the invincible post adolescent that he presented As for Foreman----did he and his team do anything right-- before --or during the fight? I remember reading an article about Tyson. The writer said " enjoy it, he will burn fast"
In my view,Ali was better in 1974 than he was in '71. Yes he was three years older but he had n't lost any more speed in those three years and was sharper and in better condition.
71? The Ali that fought Frazier in 71 would have been torn apart by Tyson, D`Amato visted Dundee`s camp for tyhe first Frazier fight and pointed out how much Ali ws getting caught to Dundee, who replied that it was fine.
Mike was more skilled than Ali was in 74 all he did was cover up and counter that wouldn`t work against Tyson, it would be like the Tillis fight except better and Tyson was better in 88 than he was when he fought Tillis, no 32 year old could ever have beaten prime Mike.
I'll take it as 12 rounds, which gives Mike his best chance. Interesting fight, with the years given. Mike would give Ali all kinds of problems until Ali's stamina won the day. In this scenario I'd have Mike slightly ahead through the first 8 rounds. Then Ali wins 3 of the last 4 rounds, with Mike showing he DID have a lot of heart by digging deep and winning round 12. I'll take Muhammad Ali by decision. This is all in my opinion, of course.
Tyson TKO 6-12. Ali wouldn't win by covering up & laying on the ropes. The worst thing he could do against Tyson.
very revealing candid talk between cus d´amato and angelo dundee from ringside during an ali sparring session in 1971. it´s out there on youtube. what d´amato said to dundee proved eerily prophetic and was right on. cus knew immediately that something with ali´s training was dead wrong, pointing out it he thought it was alarming how many blows to the head ali took even during casual sparring. he knew, when he watched it, years before the effect of those damaging shots became visible to everybody.
