Prime Mike Tyson (88) vs Prime Muhammad Ali (66)

Yeah because Dillian Whyte as top 5 Heavyweight means we've progressed.

 

We must clearly be in golden era of HW boxing if it was atrocious in the 60s.

 

That is a good point but he probably would have been a top 5 heavy in the 60`s too cause the top 10 back then wasn`t very good and there were so many small heavyweights too.

 

Can you name 10 elite heavyweights that were active during the 60`s?

 

I made no comment on the current state of boxing. Most boxers were so undersized that Liston was considered a "giant".

 

Are you serious? Alright how about:
Ali
Liston
Frazier
Foreman
Patterson
Ingo
Terrell
Bonavena
Foley
Machen

a few other notable heavies during that time too.

 

Frazier was just reaching his prime by 69. Foreman turned pro in 69 and was nowere near his prime, two average fighters went the distance with him that year, he didn`t fight any top 10 heavies that year. Bonavena was not an elite fighter.

 

Well how many elite fighters in the top 10 now ? Or during Wladimir's era ? Frazier fought 5 years into 60s era and had 24 fights more than what he had in 70s. And the other fighters on @Frankus list. Are overall better than the top 10 we have now.

 

Ali

He has already beat 3 of the other most intimidating fighters in history (Liston, Frazier and Foreman).

He knows how to handle Tyson. Iron Mike can be frustrated and potentially give up. Nobody would make him do this more than Ali.

 

Feel free to name 10 elite HWs in any other era. Go!

 

Now you're just doing what some posters do with Foreman, by using the strengths of 90s Foreman and adding them to 70s Foreman, who did not yet possess them.
Same here with Ali. Ali became more versatile and multi faceted as he aged and gained experience. A 66-67 Ali was not as dirty or multi faceted as a 70s Ali. He also didn't have as good a chin.
And prime Tyson was by no means one dimensional.

Mistake 1: you're assuming Ali gets to land on a properly trained prime Tyson the way he did on an 40 year old untrained Liston.
Mistake 2: Ali was never a big puncher, and the 64 version that faced Liston even less so.
Mistake 3: you're assuming Liston had a better chin than Tyson.
So your assumption is highly unlikely.

Cause he was pounded countless rounds before going down.

Every boxer is easier to tag in the latter rounds when he's tired.
And Tyson was only KOd when he was either unprepared or past prime.

This is pure speculation.

Given how they match up stylistically, Tyson beats Ali. IMO on points.

 

Fair points however Frazier primed in his fight v Ali in 71 not 5 years before.

 

Fair enough but I think boxing is better now than it was in the 60`s and is getting better, I also feel the 80`s were better than the 60`s even if the heavyweight division wasn`t as good as the lighter divisions back then, at least the 80`s had Tyson and Holmes, both of whom would have been more dominant in the 60`s than in the 80`s, when speaking about Tyson who pretty much dominated every fighter he fought in the 80`s, I actually don`t think any 60`s heavyweight would have gone the distance with Mike, even Ali who on average had an incredible chin despite being floored by the 189 lbs British "legend" Henry Cooper.

 

There's a lot of "I think" here and not very much substance. Berbcick had maybe the best HW resume of the 80's next to Holmes and Tyson and he struggled with the ghost of Ali, so we should maybe be careful not to go too over board with how much better the 80's were. The 60's had Liston and Frazier besides Ali, so I don't think it was too shabby.

Let's not forgot that a young Holmes was the sparring partner of an ageing Ali and that Tyson arguably lost to a Tillis on a losing streak. And of course got his ass handed to him by Douglas.

 

Struggled with a ghost of Ali! lol!