Usyk or prime Ali: More exceptional movement?

Although Muhammad had slowed down a tad,he was still exceptionally fast for a heavyweight up until 1975,inclusive. Still had the edge on Usyk up to that juncture.

 

And yet...

 

Usyk is way slow compared to Ali, some of his jabs in the Gassiev fight had virtually no speed

 

I think if you were a trainer you would have to choose to have your fighter try to look more like Usyk. Ali's movement was more naturally athletically-based with some fine tuning. I am not sure you could train someone to fight like Ali did.

Usyk is a great athlete and quite an exceptional fighter but his movement is more proper boxing-based using angles and distance. Another man could be trained to do what Usyk does. I am sure he couldn't do it as well as Usyk but he could be trained to do it if he started young enough.

Actually, I think Vasyl Lomachenko does an fantastic job of combining great athleticism and geometrical boxing movement. The guy is amazing.

 

Usyk is 35 now. He is far faster than a 35 year old Ali. He’s only had 4 fights at Heavy though a very small sample. Both were/are exceptional movers.

 

I think Usyk’s movement is probably more efficient than Ali’s meaning that he gets more done with less moving around. Not saying it’s “ better “ but that’s just one observation

 

Comparing apples to oranges. They have different footwork and different styles. Both were great at the skill sets they had.

 

I actually think peak Holy might have had footwork just as good as either.

 

Ali- quicker and fleeter of foot
Usyk- Better balance, foot work and placement

pick your poison

 

Usyk only has 20 fights. Ali at thirty-five has almost three times as many fights, and against better heavyweight comp who were not afraid of war. Joe Frazier is not Anthony Joshua.

 

Ali has exceptionally better technique, the more of Ali I watch the more I start to think the idea of being "loose" and having a sloppy jab with bad technique that relied on his speed and timing was at least partially a ruse put forth by him and Dundee, he would school a lot of guys with not much more than that, but he definitely had layers that an opponent could scratch and peel at, Ali like Tyson had things we at best got to see glimpses of

I think Ali could have KO'd a lot of guys early if he wanted to but generally thought of that as boring, I think he tested his opponents and gave them things to see how and/or if they could overcome them, so even if they made it into deep water they were essentially set up to be finished, Ali not only had a 3rd dimension he had a 4th in a lot of ways

look at the glimpses he gives us against Williams

when I try to watch Usyk I feel like it's more the caliber of a K1 match or something, rather than one of the greatest demonstrations of the art of all time

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This. You nailed it.

 

I would only take usky cause he is way more technical

 

I’m not saying Uysk is a better fighter.

 

Ali`s movement was very basic, he used it to evade right hands but left him wide open to left hooks.