Was Ali a Klitschko level clincher?

Omfg, finally. I've been saying this on here FOR YEARS and can't get even a like, let alone a reply. It's the ****ing elephant in the room when assessing Wlad's career and NOBODY HERE WILL TALK ABOUT IT let alone factor it into his ranking. Holy ****, dude, you just made a friend, hehe.

 

Strength: the most important part of the heavyweight game. Clinhes. Setting up shots etc.
Power: adding mass will give him some power.
Chin: same as above.

 

Yeah, like I said earlier in the thread, I was a huge fan of Wlad's early career run, but from around 2005 onward he increasingly became more of a spoiler to the point where he became virtually unwatchable. His win over Povetkin shouldn't even be kept on his record, IMO.

 

So you're saying he should trade away all his key attributes--speed, movement, precision and workrate--for a marginal increase in power and resilience? No offence, but that sounds like an incredibly dumb idea.

Usyk fought HWs in the WSB at the same weight he fights at now. He clearly doesn't have any issues handling bigger, slower guys than himself.

 

Ali was worse.

 

Power is second. Size and Strength is the most important attributes in HW. It will help his stamina also. He will need it late rounds.

 

Nowhere near as bad as Klit!

 

Couldn't stand the way Ali constantly held fighters behind the head and pulled their head down. Awful but I think Klischko was worse. Good refs could easily put a stop to either, though.

 

Both equally 'guilty' clinchers. Difference was, Klitschko clinched but at least knocked most of his opponents out. Whilst Ali clinched and still barely knocked his opponents out whilst going the distance most of the time.

Defending one, whilst ONLY criticizing the other makes one a hypocrite.

 

I agree with you on this Luis! Just work on being less condescending to others and we will be very sympatico!

 

Been saying this forever.

Ali is a much greater (which really means; worse) clincher than Wladimir.

 

Klitschko and Ruiz combined pale in comparison to Ali. no one else ever got away with shoving the ref to maintain the clinch.

 

nevermind that everyone Ali clinched was under 225 lbs. many were sub 210.

 

I got a lot of time for Wlad,I’d say I’m a fan of both brothers but his holding under Steward got embarrassingly bad.

The fight with Mormeck for me was the worst ever.Not needed to be done and awful to watch.

 

Size and strength are important, but their importance very much depends upon the type of fighter you're talking about.

To my mind Usyk already has the size to hang with anyone at HW, but not the type of size that'd enable him to match some of the bigger men in the division head to head. His whole game revolves around rapid and constant movement and a peppering attack style, with the odd bit of physicality thrown in when need be. It's not a style that relies upon being the bigger, stronger or rougher man in the ring, so it makes very little sense to emphasise those attributes if they're going to drastically affect his more core attributes.

It'd be like asking Miller to be more of a stick and mover or Fury to be a face first KO artist. You wouldn't, because that's not what gets him success in the ring and not something he'd be particularly proficient at.