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

Norton and Frazier did a number on Ali with left hooks. Wlad has the best left hook in history of the sport. He would put Ali to sleep.

 

Only IF he could have set himself and then landed clean.

 

If Wladmir competed from say 1960-1980, how can people say so certainly he wouldn't do the exact same thing he's doing today? How do you know the 60s and 70s wouldn't be remembered as the weakest era with Wlad beating on all small, limited fighters? One thing is certain...there was nobody even remotely like Wlad competing back then. I suspect if there was, that man would now be considered the undisputed greatest fighter ever.

 

If you can't punch, you can't beat Wlad. Ali can't punch. Wald dec.

 

Haye is known for being a destructive puncher and really had no intention of winning other than a lucky punch. It's debatable is he won a round, Ali why possibly faster would come to fight but he has nothing like the power Haye has so unless he just wants to survive the 12 rounds and lose a shutout the comparison is pointless.

 

I think there are a few dynamics at play.

1) Wlad is a monster puncher. Speaking of variation, he has a tremendous offensive ****nal. He has thrown the most jabs in a HW championship fight and is very fluid at using this as both an offensive and defensive weapon. The jab, in general is used as both an offensive and defensive weapon, but the difference with Wlad is that his jab is incredibly powerful so it is not an ordinary jab. His jab is almost as strong as some fighters' strongest punch. Defensively speaking, Wlad lands a staggering amount of jabs on his opponents which makes them very hesitant on offense. Offensively speaking, Wlad lands a crazy amount of jabs which helps the variation in the offense. He does a great job feinting which makes opponents worry about both the left hook and the straight right.

I'm not going to type any more, but if Doug Jones can almost steal a decision against Ali or Coop can almost knock him out with a left hook, it's hard to imagine someone like Wlad not being able to outbox him or knock him out.

Like Tyson said, people become better athletes (fighters). Better training methods (sports science), more video coverage, natural human progression (people get bigger).

 

Pretty simple, right? Don't understand why people don't get that.

 

Could you see Wlad beating Liston, Ali, Foreman, Norton, Frazier and Holmes etc?

Were they limited fighters?

He'd have been matched up in very competitive, hard fights.

 

The comparison was the speed and size.

Haye's speed troubled Wlad, and made him cautious.

That tells me that Ali's speed would have caused him all sorts of issues.

 

Correction: Haye's speed and power made Wlad cautious.

Nothing troubled Wlad during that fight.

 

Yes.

No.

 

Poor examples.

Nobody is talking about a brash, young Cassius Clay.

We're debating what would have happened if Ali and Wlad fought in their primes, both fighting to their full capabilities.

Doug Jones fought Clay when he was 21, and Jones was a fast former LHW, who fought nothing like Wlad.

Wlad has got a great jab, but he's not fighting great fighters.

IMHO, he'd have had a hard time getting himself set to throw it, against a guy who would have used excessive movement.

Ali at 25 would have been extremely hard to time.

 

That's nonsense.

So because Ali wasn't a destructive puncher, he couldn't have beaten Wlad?

 

Of course he would have been hard to time, but MA would have to been very, very cognizant of all of WK's punches (Left hook, straight right, jab). I don't think Ali has enough power to make Wlad fall back. I think Wlad would connect with one a significant blow that would put Ali in survival mode. It's a 12 round fight and Wlad is a very accurate puncher.

I see Wlad continually backing down Ali. Wlad has great footwork for such a big guy so I find it incredibly difficult for Ali to get out of the corner/ropes.

 

The question was, why didn't Wlad walk through Haye?

Apparently he'd have breezed through Ali like a walk in the park, yet Haye's upper body movement on the ropes gave him enough to think about.