It ended in a draw. Therefore, it stands to reason that guys like Louis, Ali, Liston could realistically compete with modern day heavies. Liston was actually 212 pounds in his fights against Cleveland Williams. Louis was 207 pounds vs B. Baer and Abe Simon. Ali was 210 pounds when he won the title from Liston. None are as tall as Wilder, but their weight wouldn't make them too small.
"The big guys usually aren't good fighters, the muscles require too much oxygen and theyre not that agile... The big guys will disappear" -Angelo Dundee A similar thing happened when Willard became champion I predict a new Dempsey will appear and destroy the SHWs eventually. (Me)
To be honest, had I been one of the judges, I would have handed Fury the WBC belt without a moments hesitation! I also picked Fury to win before the fight. Having said that, I was sure that Fury was not going to get up in the twelfth round! If you watch a lot of fights, you develop an eye for when a fighter is not going to beat the count, and Fury was not going to beat the count! This is rightly Fury's moment, but Wilder proved how dangerous a 212lb puncher can be!
Haven’t you heard? Oh no! There is now a push for a super height division as well as super heavy weight division. It’s a shame but Ali just isn’t gifted enough vertically, and is not qualified.
I agree but lets be reasonable about Wilder he is a freak of nature and has freakish, power, tendon strength, athleticism much in the way Wilt Chamberlain had in the NBA....outside of the weight and wiry muscular frame Wilder is a giant in every way except weight. I am curious to see how this fight changes both fighters....Fury is a difficult fight for anyone no matter who you are the only thing Wilder had over him is power...a more conventional fighter has similar trouble with Fury because he is so unconventional in his approach so without legit KO power like Wilder has most fighters can't beat him......it seems Wilders wild unconventional style made no difference with him either if he hadn't had scary power he would be 40-1 today....anyone ever see a 6'9" man not in the NBA move like that in a ring? Wilder is Wilder what he does works and worked much better for him against Fury than previous fighters who fought Tyson....so what could he change that would have made him better last night?
I think it's safe to say Liston and Louis didn't have that lights out single shot power throughout the fight like Wilder has. Deontay carries that much power you can not write him off in the rematch even if Fury improves for the return.
Reach and height aren't inconsequential, though. I'm not saying that they necessarily would do worse than Wilder, whose two best results are a hard fought win over 37-year old Ortiz and a gift draw against a rusty Fury, but they are very different animals in everything except weight. Wilder is much, much less skilled than Ali, Louis and Liston, but he has that reach and height combined with a very explosive power. Without those assets he'd be pretty worthless, whether 202, 212, 222 or 232 lbs.
If Ali had the same weight, skills, mentally and boxing mind etc, but also got Wilder's dimensions and power... He would have been literally unbeatable. No one bar old age could have touched him. Those dimensions and that power are game changers. Without them Wilder would be quite useless, to be frank.
Imagine Wilder under the tutelage of Manny Steward. He completely revamped Lennox Lewis, it's scary to imagine Wilder learning the proper skills.
I don’t see what Deontay Wilder’s performance tells us about any of those guys. They’re all very different fighters.
You predict? Where have you been for the last 10 years? Deontay Wilder "IS" the new Jack Dempsey. Deontay Wilder has been KOing/destroying Super Heavyweights for nearly 10 years. Hell, he's been significantly outweighed by everyone he's defended against.
I don't think many people feel Liston, Ali or even Louis (some maybe for Joe but not most) would be too small to compete. Holyfield proved this in one of the best eras in heavyweight boxing.
