Vitali K vs Ernie Terrell

No. In his review of the match with Cosell, he did credit Ernie for keeping his hands up well, and being a man. Terrell was only stopped in his final match with Merritt (1973, and in 1962 by a peak Cleveland Williams. (Sonny Liston was the referee who made the decision to end that one.)

Yes, Ali tortured him, but this wasn't Patterson he was dealing with. The simple fact is that peak Terrell was too tough and too defensively oriented for a peak Ali to take out.

 

I think Vitali would knock Terrell out late...possibly it goes the distance, but I doubt it. I don't think Terrell had the tools to seriously trouble Vitali. Vitali has the edge in almost every department. His superior size and strength would likely wear Terrell down. True, Terrell has a better left jab, but Vitali would have neutralized this punch, and scored consisently with thumping shots from both hands to the head and body.

 

E.T. Gets stopped

 

I agree. Terrell kept his guard tight and high for the entire fight. With his long arms wrapped close around his face, he looked almost like a man carrying a big shield. Ali couldn't penetrate that guard with power punches.

 

I hear you have a nice collection. Do you have the unedited Battling Siki vs George Carpentier match? I hear Siki kicks Carpentier when he is down.

 

No way Vitali stops Terrell.

 

This board is on ****ing crack sometimes..well most times.

Ali hit him at will and toyed with him, he intentionally pulled off so he wouldn't stop him. ****ing revisionism. Ali turned the man's face into hamburger..both sides of it!

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It's a myth that Ali carried Terrell. Ali outclassed Terrell, sure. But Ali could not unload the heavy artillery necessary to get Terrell out of there. Study the film closely: Terrell knows how to protect himself and survive.

 

Terrell could have done a little more IMO. With that said he still did pretty well. 6'6" with an 82" reach and about 210 Lbs... he was 212 1/2 Lbs. vs. Ali and very solid... he had the frame to carry more but in his era it was not an issue. He wasn't a huge puncher but he was strong and durable. As pointed out he knew how to defend himself pretty well. He had a good jab.

On his way up he had 3 SD losses to a couple of fighters he should have beat convincingly... Johnny Gray x2 and Wayne Bethea. He was also stopped in 7 rounds by Cleveland Williams. After Williams, Terrell was 24-4. he got better after the KO loss. he beat Williams in a rematch. He also beat Folley, Machen, Chuvalo, and Doug Jones. He stopped Bob Foster in 7 rounds. Then came the Ali fight.

 

The Foster fight is a pretty good one. Foster looked as good as he ever did at Heavy IMO and bounced some impressive shots off Terrell's head, but the size got to him at the end.

 

This is how I see it, though saying Terrell has a better left jab is a bit misleading. Vitali fires his jab more often, and does more damage when it lands.