Worst possible matchups for very good or great fighters

Floyd Mayweather Jr: Tommy Hearns.

Hearns has a great, great jab, arguably the best ever jab, lots of speed, great distance control, arguably the best right hand of all time, and enough ring smarts to adapt.

Overall, Tommy is too tall and has too many great assets for Mayweather to overcome.

Wladimir Klitschko: Mike Tyson

Wlad gets extremely uncomfortable when people advance on him quickly and throw hard punches in combination. Wlad also freezes up when he gets tagged hard.

Basically, Wlad reacts completely wrong to how he'd need to react when squaring off against a prime Mike Tyson.

Tyson was very good at getting into his own range very quickly, when he got into his range he threw fast, accurate combinations of very hard punches, and when he stunned his opponent he was one of the best ever at finishing them.

Freezing up after Tyson tags you is basically suicide, because Tyson will already be in the process of launching 3 or 4 more bombs to rip your head off.

 

Speaking of Evander Holyfield when they said he was going to fight Byrd, I said loss. When they said he was going to fight James Toney, I said loss and when they said he was going to fight Larry Donald I said loss. Whoever was doing his matchmaking at that time was an idiot. He could beat the plodding mammoths like Rahman that stood in front of him, but those mobile slick guys were bad news.

 

ali: joe frazier,rocky marciano(a tough stylistical match) lennox lewis, wladimir klitschko, a young tyson
tyson:george foreman, evander holyfield, ali, vitali klitschko,a motivated lewis
george foreman: ali, larry holmes, maybe a motivated lewis(maybe)
larry holmes: joe louis, mike tyson, lennox lewis,joe frazier,rocky marciano(maybe),wladimir klitschko
evander holyfield: larry holmes,lennox lewis, ali,joe frazier , young foreman, the klitschko brothers( toss up)

 

Foreman for Frazier - even got to prove it twice.

 

But he was mismatched due to his age not his skill

 

Age certainly played a part. Timing is everything in boxing.

 

James J Jeffries......> Joe Bugner

Bugner would not contest Jeffries durability but would seek the safety first Jab and move route to Victory, Bugner is good at negating so could Tie up James
and he is big and strong enough not to be bullied, he is quick on his feet and if Jeffries goes into his crouch..so what..Bugner flicks a few Jabs and continues on his merry points pinching way...

(Larry Donald could probably Sub for Bugner quite successfully as well !)

 

Ali wins this one, but I think Qawi at a well conditioned 175 gives him more headaches than any other LHW. Dwight had the best counter jab of his era [perfect for throwing Ali off his rhythm], and he had the knack of keeping his lead foot between his opponent's feet to cut off the ring efficiently. The best offensive weapon to deploy against Qawi was a powerful hook, not a consistently reliable weapon for Muhammad. I don't think Ali could hurt this defensively adept tank while in continual retreat. We're not discussing Bob Foster here.

This one, I think would go the distance, and a victorious Ali might prefer a root canal to a rematch.

 

From a risk-reward perspective Howard Winstone would be absolute hell for Alexis Arguello. If a fairly basic jab, clinch and move guy like Vilomar Fernandez could essentially shut Arguello out, just imagine what a brilliant boxer like Winstone would do.

 

Watch Arguello-Fernandez I again, particularly round six. A majority decision verdict was actually a fair reflection of how competitive it was. Alexis displayed surprising hand speed in this one, and keep in mind this was only a ten round fight. [Duran-Fernandez in a ten round non-title affair might have been extremely interesting also before their title clash, more so than Duran-Ed Viruet I.]

The argument can be made that Arguello was better against Fernandez in their first match than Duran was over his first ten rounds against Vilomar, and MUCH better than Howard Davis, Jr. [who got decked in round two] was against Fernandez. The case can also be made that Alexis was better than Hilmer Kenty would later be in his first ten rounds with Vilomar [who I thought was robbed against both Howard and Hilmer].

Winstone is a different kettle of fish though, a world champion who was geared for the 15 round limit. He couldn't handle southpaw Saldivar, and was of course retired by Jose Legra, but otherwise very respectable from the beginning of 1964. However, Legra did stop him on facial damage. He could get hurt, and was dropped with some frequency, problematic concerns when dealing with Arguello. Stylistically, Winstone may have seemed a sound match, but would he have possessed the necessary durability as well? [Fernandez was not only a master of defense, he had a tremendous chin at his best. Remember, he did go the ten round limit with Alexis twice, although briefly dropped in their rematch while considerably faded with inactivity and aged legs five years later.]

 

Joe Frazier would have been a real nightmare for my man Jimmy Young.

 

It was necessary to go to the body and stay there with Jimmy. He showed with Cooney he could take a hard hook downstairs without flinching, but Norton was smart enough to head for the torso to score points, and it controversially paid off. [Young himself was an excellent body puncher for scoring purposes, as he repeatedly demonstrated on Foreman.]

Along with Frazier, I think Jeffries might have given Jimmy some issues with his hook to the body. These are strong heavyweights with a low crouch and gut busting hook orientation. Prime Dempsey is another I'd favor. The Floyd Patterson who took out London might be able to pull it off. Again, you don't count on being able to hurt or slow down Young with a body attack, but aim for a decision win with Norton's intelligent focus, or attain that verdict as a by-product of consistently opting for the breadbasket.

 

I don't believe that it was anywhere near a "shutout"...

 

a big puncher can derail any great fighter.