Prime Ali vs prime Holmes?

Holmes would beat him, better Jab.

 

Holmes would have a decent chance against '70-75 Ali, though I would not favor him. Peak Ali would beat peak Holmes. Faster, especially of foot. Great right lead & combos.

 

The main reason Ali would win here is that Larry didn't punch while going after a moving opponent, and in his prime Ali would be moving a lot. Larry's habit was to keep moving in but without throwing until the opponent stopped and then Holmes would unload, meanwhile Ali would be scoring points.

 

Prime Ali would have just destroyed Holmes. No way Homles could deal with that jab and Ali's fast combo attacks It would be a way worse beating Ali put on Liston in there first fight!.

 

We've never seen a heavy before and after like the 60s Ali and most likely never will again - 230 plus pound modern day fighters just have'nt got the athletic physical ability to move and punch at Alis speed and pace . Could lose a one off contest against the great heavyweight champs but would win the best of 3 against all of them.

 

Holmes probably had the most effective jab of all time out of all the heavyweights so he would be guaranteed to give Ali problems.

Nonethesss,Ali's jab was faster than Larry's so he would be beating him to it during lots of the jousts between them with it if we're talking about the 1966-67 incarnation of Muhammad. This would culminate in roughly a 9 - 6 victory in rounds for Ali.

The Ali of 1972-74,if in optimum condition,would force a very....very close decision over prime Holmes,imo. Ali's right hand leads,a la Kinshasa,would be the tiebreaker here. Both men were supertough so there would be no knockouts in this one.

 

The prime Ali of 67, who beat Folley, against prime 82, Holmes who kod Cooney..
Very competitive fight, if they would have fought 3 times, I think Ali would have won 2 out of 3:deal, I don't see anybody getting stopped:-(
A 15 round draw wouldn't even surprise me, Ali used to say Holmes gave him hell during sparring..

 

Holmes easily.

 

This would be a excellent boxing match between two guys who can be argued as the best heavyweights of all time . Hard to pick a winner but I'm leaning towards Ali. Both guys had great character, excellent jab, very good craft and were quick with good power. Holmes I'd give the edge to in the power department and Ali was faster. I feel this fight would certainly go the distance and I feel Ali's movement along with speed and combination punching would allow him to win more rounds then Holmes winning the fight.

 

Ali was faster both hands and footwork. I think he was a better athlete than Holmes, not that Larry was a bad one. Coordination,balance and agility I think Ali was special in those departments.

It's a distance fight IMV.

Ali would do a little more each round. Throw more and land more.

Ali win UD 10-5

 

Must be a joke.

 

Ali handled Holmes in sparring. Holmes learned a lot from sparring with Ali and became a great fighter himself.
Ali vs Holmes - Holmes never been opposite Ali ? Ali by KO round 7-9. Holmes hated smart boxers.

 

The answer is in the question.
PRIME Ali beats anyone who ever lived.
NO heavyweight ever had or will have his range of speed ,talent,athleticism,sheer boxing and punching ability (at speed). I am surprised this is still debated.Ali's career had ups and downs in the long run but the question refers to PRIME..so there is no debate.

 

Mark C pretty much summed it up. Hard to argue with him on this one.