Wlad would mostly have pawed out tentative jabs. Ali’s supreme all around speed would have given Wlad huge issues in landing it.
They would all have been very interesting fights. But I think you’ve downplayed Ali’s chances. I don’t envisage a scenario where Wlad would have outboxed him from distance. Ali wouldn’t have been stood in front of him for Wlad to continually have clinched him. Ali would have used his superior speed to feint Wlad out of a position, and a cautious Wlad would have had trouble setting himself. Wlad has never fought anyone with Ali’s movement. Haye and Byrd had very good upper body movement, but they didn’t possess Ali’s foot speed. Like someone else has said, it probably would have played out similar to the Fury fight, where they’d have both gone feint for feint.
Klitschko wasn't one dimensional, he was incredibly skilled and really fast for such a big man. His combination of size and skill is enough to beat the cruiserweight sized Ali.
Wlad only struggled with one slickster ever and the size and speed disadvantage was really the main factor in why he suddenly looked so ineffective. You'd need really long levers to beat Wlad with his expert distance management.
He was very fast for a man of his size, but he obviously wasn’t as fast as Ali. He was also very cautious after his early knockouts. What’s with you guys referring to Ali as a CW? Ali was the same size and weight of guys like Evander, Haye and Mercer. His size would have been more than big enough to have troubled Wlad, especially alongside of all of his great attributes.
Yeah. Every fan should know this. It makes me laugh thinking of Valuev knocking out Ali. Ali would have had an easy night with him.
No it wasn't just Fury's size it was his feints that shut Wlad down and his footwork and headmovement that made him slip all of Wlads shots. Wlad was always sort of gunshy so Fury's feints made him even more cautious and that allowed Fury to outjab him comfortably. If Wlad let his hands go he might've beaten Fury. But he didn't. Ali would be dancing around Wlad and Ali definitely has better head movement and quicker hands than Fury. Although Wlad would easily be Ali's hardest fight behind Frazier and Norton just based on Wlads physical dimensions accompanied with his great level on distance control. I've always said Ali would win a decision but it would be extremely difficult
Ali was all hype... he was like Bruce Lee... at least Ali had real fight experience though unlike Bruce lol.... NOt a big fan of Wlad, but the fight would look like Wlad vs. Chris Byrd.... Chris had the exact style as Ali, and he was about the same dimensions/reach... maybe even a little bigger... it didn't go well for CHris in either of his fights
Chris Byrd had great upper body movement, but his feet were static. He didn’t have Ali’s exact style. Byrd didn’t dance, up on his toes. Their footwork isn’t even comparable. Ali circled, jumped in and out or range and used great feints. Byrd had slow footwork in comparison.
This is true, & I do not know why a poster said Byrd may even be a little bigger than Ali. He bulked up to about precisely peak Ali's weight, not quite as lean, less than Ali in the 70's. His tallest listed height is less than Ali, & his singspan of 74" a bunch of inches shorter. This likely betrays bias. But not as much as the delusional "Ali was all hype". Nobody rational can conclude that all the great contenders & champions Ali fought & beat, mostly past his prime, or being undefeated until post-exile, could possibly be "all hype". One great poster Mr. Richard S. Murrieta left because of the hate speech & racism of a particular poster. If I hear one more hateful "Clay" comment (unless it refers to him when that was his name before becoming champion).... I am gonna start a thread calling out Mr. Ungallant non-negro & have the already many sympathetic folks report his abuse until he is banished. Fair warning. Also Ali had a greater workrate than Byrd.
I agree to disagree. Ali is faster than wlad, but he isn't even close to a power puncher and if Frazier can hurt Ali, then wlad can definitely knock him clean out. Wlad is one of the dirtiest boxers imo for the past 20 years. He uses every borderline tactic you can use and can frustrate everybody of the past. He leans on people in clinches, he initiates clinches and perfected the energy swapping clinch and also the short hooks out of the clinch, he paws with his jab in the face of guys to take out one of their hands to throw a straight right after that, he steps on their lead feet and pushes or throws guys away. He is physically very strong, even for his size. His jab is very fast and extremely heavy and I don't think Ali could evade the jab enough to not get grinded and slowly beaten down. Ali would be well aware of wlads power and would be way more cautious. In wlads eyes he would have a way smaller guy with good stamina, average power at best and exceptional fast feet and hand in front of him and I don't think he would see a problem in just clinically boxing him for first 8 rounds and then try to take him out. Wlads defense is extremely subtle and very underrated, there is a reason why he almost didn't get tagged for the last 10 years of his reign. Fury said himself that wlad is so awkward and his defense is top notch. I see Lennox lewis as a way tougher challange for wlad then everybody before
I think Ali is too weak to left hooks, and Klitschko was way bigger than anybody great Ali ever fought. I think eventually Klitschko powers through and lands a gigantic left hook, putting Ali to sleep.
