Muhammad Ali Vs. Lennox Lewis

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Thanks: compare that with Ali's sequence. The only similarity is that both of them are using their reflexes to stay out of trouble. Look how Whitaker is in constant punching position and keeps his right foot firmly forward in order to pivot. With Ali's positioning, he can barely move laterally. Whitaker was like Ali plus Toney plus Hamed. There will not be another Whitake for many years to come.

 

And so he was, with a knockout drop from Ali's right hand.

 

I thought it was a gust of wind that floored Ali. Possibly exhaustion?

 

Which reference is Whitaker to the following:

1. Willie Pep's grandfather.

2. Willie Pep's father.

3. Willie Pep's brother.

4. Willie Pep's son.

 

Willie Pep's ectoplasm.

 

Willie Pep wrote the book of boxing,but Whitaker added his own chapter. He made excellent fighters look ordinary.

 

I agree. There's a big difference. As much as I love Ali, Whitaker's defensive work is on another level. He showed how it should be done, but of course there are others: Leonard, Duran, Pep etc, etc.

Ali was special in many ways, but he doesn't belong in this company.

 

Maybe Whitaker came from Pep's sperm. You never know. Stranger things have been discovered.

 

To be honest, I tend to think of them as very different boxers. It's very vague, but I would describe Willie Pep as being smooth: hard to hit in the sense that water is hard to hold; he seemed to slip away without it ever seeming like it was a reaction. Whitaker was like fire: he reacted to objects in a seemingly more jerky way that was in truth just as technically proficient, but gave a strangely more anxious feel.

Both will stand on for centuries as examples of boxers who overcame deficiences in other respects (power in particular) with astonishing defensive AND offensive skill, the latter of which tends to get underrated with Whitaker in particular. Whitaker was actually a very effective aggressor when he took the lead, since his speed and ability to read his opponents worked for attack as well as defence.

 

I don't want to sound like I'm badmouthing Ali at all: I'm just saying that his skills had big holes, but in his prime he had OUTRAGEOUS physical talent that made up for it. That's different from Whitaker, who had physical weaknesses but made up with it with outrageous skill. I'm not even so much attacking the comparison, wrong as it was, since it highlights a lot about what made Ali and Whitaker special.

 

Willo' the wisps don't have sperm.

 

I don't think Foreman was a good a body-puncher as Frazier TBH.There was one truly devastating body punch, which Ali took,the right hook to Ali's body in the first round,but ,unlike Frazier, Foreman didn't seem to be able to put his body mass behind most of the body punches he landed .

 

Ali had reflexes .much like Jones Jnr, Pep had technique.Ive seen many better boxers than Ali,and I'm a big fan of his.Pea also was a lot better than Ali defensively.

 

Yep.