Prime for prime, best heavyweight ever - head to head

I don't think Bob Fitzsimmons or Ali could have beaten a prime Holyfield. It's not that Holyfield was faster than Ali, but his technical skills were superb, he had a great chin, he had a great punch in either hand, he had stamina, he would have knocked Ali out over 15 rounds and Ali would have no way of knocking Holyfield out. As for Bob Fitzsimmons, I'd have to watch more tapes of him to be sure but I don't think he has the tools to beat Holyfield.

 

Ali has the power to KO Lewis?
News to me.

Ali UD.

 

I think that a prime tyson would be a great fight with Ali that could go either way. I think that Lewis and Ali would be fun to watch, but I think that Lewis would be too big and too strong for him.

 

Tyson

 

For a one night unbeatable fighter Mike Tyson, trained by Rooney.

For consistency and longevity Muhammad Ali.

 

Without reading the other posts my first thoughts after reading the headline were Ali and Louis

 

Im going with Lennox Lewis

 

I like Joe Louis, nobody said Marciano? Skill wise he's not there but you have to take into consideration his determination and competitive nature...he came back and won a fight without a nose!

 

Of course you can never count out Rocky but i looked at it as sheer dominanace and took into consideration the competition of there times.Ali beat some of the best heavies ever to fight in probably the best era for heavies.....and Louis was so dominant he held the belt for 11 years and 25 defenses......Rocky is one of my all time favorites

 

The great modern era HWs are: Ali, Foreman, Frazier, Holmes, Tyson, Holyfield, Lewis. (maybe the K's)

Ali handily disposed of Foreman and Frazier, when he was arguably past his prime. That settles any dispute there. Also, when he was in his prime in the 60s, he outclassed Liston and Patterson, marking in my history book the changing of the guard. I think Louis or Marciano would have fared no better.

Holmes is difficult to judge, seeing as he was in the same tough spot the K's are in, namely a reigh without formidable and defining foes. He beat up a crippled Ali and was himself destroyed by Prime Tyson when he was an old man.

Tyson is to me the most overrated boxer of all time, mainly because the general public perceives him as the most dangerous thing between the ropes ever. To me, he was a very limited fighter with great speed and power. He had his troubles with James "Quick" Tillis, a fighter trained by Angelo Dundee, who gave a bad Ali impression. He also gave underwhelming performances whenever an opponent did not retreat.
Jesse Ferguson, who was a jaw-dropping 26-18 over his career, managed to play rope-a-dope with Tyson for 6 rounds, before he was disqualified for excessive holding in a fight where I saw Tyson hold as much as Ferguson. Ali would have schooled Tyson.

Lewis beat Holyfield twice (personal opinion), but not convincingly, seeing as Holy was past his prime after 3 battles with Bowe and was basically just a Cruiser with the heart of a Heavy. Then Lewis beat a Tyson who was so over the hill, it wasn't even funny. Defeating midget Tua and clubbing it out unskilled with Klitschko wasn't overwhelming either.

Still, he has a big size and strength advantage over Ali, considering in their Primes they had 40 pounds between them. On the other hand, he always pegged me as phlegmatic and not that difficult to hit.

If I had to bet money, I would say "Ali UD12 Lewis" in a match for HW champ of all-time.

 

I thought the same thing when i saw the fight on classics last week.....to me i always felt Ali would have handled tyson and after seeing tillis do his bad impersonation and everytime he jabbed and through some combos Tyson would be thrown off and have to reset....if that were Ali he would have been all over him IMO.

 

MR. Mike Tyson..... In his Prime

 

Ali and there is no doubt in my mind.

 

1. Mike Tyson
2. Muhammad Ali
3. Lennox Lewis

 

the highly motivated frazier of the first ali fight would give any heavy all they could handle and that would include a ko against lewis imo