Muhammad Ali at his best vs. Wladimir Klitschko at his best, who wins?

Vlad by knockout!!!!!!! Even the small Henry Cooper had Ali knocked out, the only thing that saved Ali was Angelo Dundee cutting Ali's glove to give him time to recover. Ignorant people on this board, Ali would have not chance........

 

This is mostly troll-bait, but let's just be real here. This is prime-for-prime, this isn't Ali vs Cooper or to be fair, Wlad vs Sanders. This is basically the Wlad of the past five years vs Ali from Liston II to the Folley fight.

Prime Wlad beat, but couldn't hit David Haye. He beat Haye on workrate throwing a mighty 30 punches per round to Haye's 10 or so. Wlad doesn't go to the body much, he mostly headhunts, throwing his jab as his primary punch, sprinkling in a rare dosage of his straight right and the left hook off the jab, usually progressing with more of that as the fight goes on. It's a predictable offense but an effective approach against most of the Heavyweights of today. But based on his showing against Haye, one of the few elusive Heavyweights around now, it's very clear that Wlad is not going to be hitting prime Ali, and prime Ali has enough of an edge in speed that he is going to hit him, Wlad's usual jump back out-of-range strategy won't work against Ali. Wlad doesn't have a good chin. He doesn't have especially good stamina when he's pressed. And on the off chance that Wlad does tag Ali hard at some point, Ali has one of the best chins in Heavyweight history. Ali isn't a huge puncher, so Wlad's chin can probably last a while, but this fight has Ali late rounds stoppage written all over it.

 

Sigh at troll.

Wlad is a very good Heavyweight in an era where his competition level is at an all-time low. He would probably get more respect if he annihilated his overmatched opponents in shorter time as he should do, but he's so afraid of getting hit, it doesn't matter who he faces, he fights them in the same super-cautious fashion. And the only fighter that can enhance his legacy at all at this point is his brother, who for obviously reasons he won't fight. He is, again, a very good HW. But very good isn't enough with the flaws in his game when you stack him against the ATG HWs of the past, including of course, Ali.

 

This is a fascinating match up. I think a lot of people are under selling Wlad. His resume against fast skillful heavyweights known for speed and defense is outstanding.
Chris "rapid fire" Byrd was dominated both times they fought. "Fast" Eddie Chambers was completely out match as was David Haye. 4 fights against 3 of the fastest heavies of the last 20yrs and none of them basically gave any real competition. They were all fought in thier Prime as well, which is important. To a lesser extant you can include Sultan Ibragimov who had very quick hands. Wlad is more than just big and strong he's an Olympian with a heavy world class jab. Having said that Ali is far superior to those three/four fighters and it is always hard to go against a Prime Ali but I will say this fight would be VERY tough for Ali. Based on Wlad's resume it would seem to be that he excels against fast handed elusive fighters. Everyone says that Wlad wouldn't be able to hit Ali but what kind of offense were any of these men able to mount against Wlad? It goes both ways.

 

Ali has too much speed and mobility, you can't beat him witih the jab, the one man that I would pick to actually outbox Wlad convincingly. I thiink he pours it on in the Championship Rounds and stops Wlad too.

 

Ali would barely be a sparring partner, today.
He had no power, his ko percentage is low but he was fighting light heavyweights and super middleweights!
His stamina was bad, his punch stats are lower than today's, he was slow and fatty, and he has been knoccked out by a skinny,weak light heavyweight named Henry Cooper!
Even Dereck Chisora would walk through him.

 

Heavyweight division is so terrible now. Not even a discussion Ali very easily even without all the technological advances we have in sports these days.

 

Intriguing fight that would be close where either man could eck out a narrow points victory, although Klitschko has the one punch stopping power that Ali could only dream of. Klitschko tends to do well to against smaller men and with Ali being a natural LW well that speaks for it's self really.

Similar style match ups. I suppose the answer of how this fight would go lays within the Ali trilogy with Norton plus Wlad's fights with Byrd (twice) and Haye. Norton although just about lacking in most departments compared to Klitschko does still fight in that similar cautious defensive style minus Wlad's brutal power and footwork of course. So I see the fights going similar to that trilogy.

Ali has never fought anyone that resembles Wlad/Lennox Lewis. This would be uncharted territory for 'The Greatest' if we're honest.

Quite a few people think Ali lost all 3 fights to Norton.

 

if a retired fat old golfer can make wlad run and hide in abject terror then Wlad would go into hiding for ten years if Ali challenged him in order to avoid getting KOed.

 

Literally no way Ali could lose this. I feel sorry for all the mentally ******ed people that seem to think Wlad could stop Ali lol

 

Ali close UD

 

This thread asks "at their best."

Otherwise who knows who would win, the Wladimir that Sanders KO'd or the Ali that Holmes stopped.

 

People act like the Vitali/Wlad would be "monsters" compared to Ali.

Ali wasn't small, he was 6'3" and had a 78" reach. Not to mention the guy moved like a middleweight in his prime.

Vitali has a 79" reach.
Wlad has a an 81" reach.

In regard to hand speed, foot speed, and footwork there is no comparison. Ali by a mile.

 

X 2

I really believe that most boxing fans think Ali was average height.

He was HUGE. Had the size (or at least height/reach) advantage on almost every single opponent he fought.

 

The Greatest would totally school both the robotic Klit brothers.
This is just a joke thread