Who beats Ali? No hedging your bets, who do YOU pick to straight up beat him?

Bang on the money.

 

Joe Louis is the only person I would favour with Frazier and Holmes being either 50/50 or a little less.

 

Jack Johnson. This master pugilist would not fall for Ali's jive. He had the physical, technical tools and endurance to hang with Ali, whose jab would be blocked and countered all night.

Johnson's leaning-back style would have Ali lunging forward mostly fruitlessly, ripe for the swift counter, and Ali's heft-lacking flurries would not open Johnson up. Johnson would get in accurate single blows to body and head, with greater power overall, as well as more damaging occasional combos to take a clear decision as the technician among technicians.

 

Although with a busier jab and quicker hands. Holyfield wasn't convincingly outboxing Bowe in their rematch. Ali would certainly do better against Bowe in that particular aspect. Would he be convincing? Probably.

 

Nobody.

 

Frazier. thats about it.

 

I think with Bowe's poor defence, combined with Ali's superior speed and boxing ability, Bowe gets hit often. I think Ali lands a very high percentage of shots in a fight like this, and all though he does not stop Riddick Bowe, he certainly makes a mess of his face enroute to a wide decision.

 

Maybe a prime Holmes but i am still doubtful in his chances against that version of Ali.

 

And the footage of Johnson backs this, does it?

 

Agreed.

 

I doubt that Ali could beat any heavyweight in your top 20, 10 times out of 10.

That is just not realistic.

 

Folley (old), & Williams (shot) were blown away by '67 grade Ali.

Terrell froze and hid behind his arms, plus he wasn't very good anyhow.

Mildenberger reached Ali with his southpaw style.

So that is your 66-67 opponents.

Would Tyson, Louis, Dempsey, Rock, & Holmes beaten these guys too?

 

I think Holmes and Frazier both would.

I don't like Louis' chances at all, honestly.

 

The people who opt for Louis are doing so based on what I call a "reputation based prediction".

 

If actual money was going down I dont think I would want to make anybody a clear favourite here.

There are a few heavyweights who would be 50/50, or 40/60 type propositions however. There are basicaly three ways a prospective oponent could win which we have seen templates for.

A. The pressure aproach -used by Joe Frazier and employed to good effect by a few others. Any ATG with this basic style is going to be a murderous asignment for the greatest.

B. The counterpunching aproach-as used by Ken Norton. A counterpuncher with a flawless fightplan combined with more subtle pressure is another posibility.

C. The war of retreat-as used by Jimmy Young. A defensive fighter who uses Alis own tactics against him and forces him to fight on the front foot might be able to frustrate him and take away his game.