Muhammad Ali vs Alexander Povetkin

This is a good vid but Ali used to make a lot of mistakes also.

 

No risk no gain

 

In terms of the minimalistic style of footwork and how he throws his punches, yes. His style is solid textbook just like Joe Louis was, except Joe Louis went that little step further by dominating his era with it. Not quite the same with the upper body movement but that's a natural adaptation seeing as he's fought in an era of much bigger men.

 

Not quite the same is the understatement of the century. I don't see many similarities at all "solid textbook " could be used to describe thousands of fighters most of which have no business being compared to Joe Louis.

Define "much bigger men". Louis fought big men, povetkin has fought averaged height heavyweights like hunter. Povetkin is fighting much less conditioned men I will give you that

 

I think a more fair comparison and even match up for Povetkin would be Ron Lyle.

 

Ali either wins a comfortable decision or a hard fought one. Which depends on his tactics.

The most dangerous version of Povetkin he could fight would be the post Wlad one. That's where Pov really started to get meaner with his shots, and showed a marked improvement in punching power (why is irrelevant for the purposed of this discussion).

If Ali maintains his jab and keeps Pov from getting on the inside I see him cruising to a fairly comfortable victory. He plays to the crowd however, or tries to open up on Pov and he leaves himself open to getting caught. I actually think Pov's counter OH right would be a key weapon for him here, and I can see him looping it over Ali's jab if he gets sloppy. The left hook would also be an obvious danger punch, but I can see Ali effectively tying Pov up and smothering its effectiveness. He'll need to be wary of the double hook though, which could catch him out, especially with the way he leaned back from lead hand shots; a second leaping hook to an already off balance Ali could definitely put him on his ass.

Ultimately I see Ali outspeeding Pov and imposing enough of his will on him to beat him on the cards, but Pov will make him work, and punish any sloppy mistakes he makes with shots that would rattle his helmet. Ali in turn would likely redden up Pov's face badly with his jab and slashing right and maybe open up a cut on him if he kept things serious and resisted the temptation to clown around. Pov has the toughness to make it to the final bell, but not quite the ring iq or stylistic advantages to turn things around for him past the half way mark. Not an easy fight for either man at any rate.

 

Incidentally, glad to see some comparisons of Povetkin with Joe Louis. I've always thought they had a very similar style, particularly in the way they generate punching power through precise and near perfect punching technique.

 

They were mentioned in the post you quoted.

-Ali had a granite chin and tons of heart
-he was extremely fast and hard to hit
-could take a body shot better than anyone
-Povetkin wouldn't be the 1st, 2nd, or even 3rd hardest hitter Ali faced.
-Ali was very good at adapting in the middle of a fight and covering up or clinching when hurt.
-He was good at playing possum
-Povetkin was a very technically sound but also a somewhat predictable and straightforward boxer. Nothing he did would really surprise Ali.
-Povetkin wasn't hard to hit himself and wasn't exactly a speed demon. He'd be chasing Ali around the ring all night, especially a prime Ali.
-Ali was taller with longer arms and knew how to make people fight at his preferred range with one of the best jabs of all time and superb lateral movement and head movement.

All of these are completely logical reasons to laugh at the idea of Povetkin knocking out Ali. You can try refuting them with actual logic and evidence instead of just calling people fanboys.

 

Joe Louis took things "a little step further" than Povetkin? 25 title defenses is just a "little step further" than Povetkin going 0-2 in title fights and failing to capture a single belt despite fighting in a watered down era with 4 belts?

Where is the logic in this? Povetkin hasn't been anymore successful career wise than guys like David Tua or Jerry Quarry. He's extremely overrated. What is the excuse for him failing to win a SINGLE belt after all this time?

This is why I wish he didn't get busted for PEDs and Wilder could have knocked him out so this hype train nonsense would end. But even after his multiple failures he's still put on a pedestal he hasn't earned. Yes stopping the #1 contender Whyte at age 40 is impressive, but how good is Whyte honestly? Are we going to pretend he's some sort of technical genius too?

And that's not even getting into the technical side of things. Yes Povetkin was fundamentally sound but Joe Louis? In terms of offensive technique at HW it doesn't get better than that, except perhaps Mike Tyson at his absolute peak. Povetkin's record would be much better if he was that good. There's a difference between having great balance and form and using it effectively in the ring.

 

This is exactly what I stated earlier, it’s completely bias towards Ali, you just focused on Ali’s strengths and Povetkin’s weaknesses, this is an ongoing problem with threads between a modern fighter and a classic fighter

 

I have a very simple solution for you: PROVE MY POINTS WRONG.

What did I say that was incorrect? Was I wrong about Ali having a granite chin? Was I wrong in saying he was fast and had a good jab? I thought this was common knowledge.

Literally all you've done is whine for multiple pages now. Who gives a **** if I'm biased. We are discussing h2h and how a match up would play out. I don't think you understand how this works. You haven't provided any counter argument at all, you just keep calling people biased like that means anything.

 

What racist beliefs you dummy ?!?
This has got nothing to do with skin color.
My top 3 favorite boxers are all black.

 

Not a Snowflakes Chance in Hell.!!!

 

-Povetkin has a great left hook which is a punch Ali regularly got hit with
-He knows how to cut off the ring which is a skill that gave Ali problems
-Ali wouldn’t be the 1st 2nd 3rd 4th or 5th hardest puncher povetkin has faced.
-You are right about povetkin being very technically sound, but he has a very diverse offensive arsenal that isn’t predictable
-Povetkin also has a good chin as he was only stopped once by a super heavyweight power puncher while he was past his prime.
-Ali’s jab was quick but it certainly wasn’t powerful or stiff, it was mainly a flashy jab
-Ali’s possum move would only allow povetkin to land some shots on him until Ali lands a flurry of powerless punches
- If we’re talking about styles left hookers give Ali problems while tall power punchers trouble povetkin

These are all logical reasons that make this match up anything but one sided

 

Louis`s fundamentals were really good and he slipped shot

Louis parried the jab well, he was a very well schooled fighter.