I doubt he'd have laid a glove on Ali who would've seen him coming a mile off.Originally Posted by Cardiff Bread wrote on Wed, 31 December 2014 23:55
+ Visit Cardiff FC for Latest News, Transfer Gossip, Fixtures and Match Results |
Rocky Marciano.
Had a well documented one punch fight with an Australian service man in The Adelphi pub in Wind Street.
I doubt he'd have laid a glove on Ali who would've seen him coming a mile off.Originally Posted by Cardiff Bread wrote on Wed, 31 December 2014 23:55
Ali would have got inside Tyson's head - he wasn't mentally strong enough to deal with those sort of mind games. Maybe when his trainer was alive he would have had a chance.
Could have been the best, but he fought at the same time as Sugar Ray Leonard, the like of whom I've never seen since. The guy was a genius.Originally Posted by Cardiff Irish wrote on Wed, 31 December 2014 19:01
ali was a cleverer fighter, hence the longevity
Clarence Oh there they go. There they go, every time I start talkin 'bout boxing, a white man got to pull Rocky Marciano out their ass. That's their one, that's their one. Rocky Marciano. Rocky Marciano. Let me tell you something once and for all. Rocky Marciano was good, but compared to Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano ain't shit.Originally Posted by ZZ Jack wrote on Thu, 01 January 2015 00:16
I reckon the Tyson of the mid 80s would have beaten the Ali of the late 70s, but the key words in the thread title are "in their prime" and it seems to me that someone like Tyson would have been made for Ali at his jab and move best in the days before he was prevented from boxing.
There have been three heavyweights in my lifetime who I thought put their opponents at risk of really serious injury. Sonny Liston was before the time I took much interest in boxing really, but he had the same sort of reputation as George Foreman did before the Rumble in the Jungle.
Foreman knocked Joe Frazier clean off his feet with one punch in this fight in 1973
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz3tPjLhw2U
and no one gave Ali a chance beforehand - just like they didn't in his first fight with Liston who he went on to beat again a few months later. The difference with Foreman was that Ali had lost some of the speed he had possessed a decade earlier, but he still worked out a way to despatch him.
Tyson was the third truly fearsome heavyweight I've seen, but I reckon Ali would have forced a stoppage somewhere around the time he did against Foreman and in his first fight with Liston.
This is really easy and only people caught up in the strength of Tyson in his prime could possibly think he could touch Ali.
Tyson being as hard, tough and powerful as he was wouldn't have been able to get to Ali. Ali was a master in not only hitting you but avoiding being hit.
Very easy poll and I think only some of the younger people would have voted Tyson.
Totally agree with this. Any poster on here who is old enough to have seen both fighters in their prime, and picks Tyson, knows very little about boxing. Imo.Originally Posted by Captain Hindsight wrote on Thu, 01 January 2015 07:09
feck off liarOriginally Posted by bryndon2 wrote on Thu, 01 January 2015 00:51
Desiree Washington, perhaps ?Originally Posted by Colonel Cærdiffi wrote on Wed, 31 December 2014 18:58
Ali a master of not getting hit. You're not serious surely?Originally Posted by EdinburghBlue wrote on Thu, 01 January 2015 07:35
One of my fave boxing clips is of Joe Bugner angrily knocking out Winston Allen after Allen had headbutted him.
FFWD to 2mins 45secs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-_OMnt3YUs
why, in his prime before his enforced absence he was extremely hard to hit, think 64-67 not 70s, he was as fast as a middleweight with lightening hands and reflexes and quick feet, the best ever him or joe louis or jack johnson, different eras but a truly great championsOriginally Posted by kevinNugentsHead wrote on Thu, 01 January 2015 10:07
I don't think Tyson would have got anywhere near him.Originally Posted by kevinNugentsHead wrote on Thu, 01 January 2015 10:07
Bugner was a decent heavyweight, unfortunately for him his days were in the golden era of heavyweight boxing. He gave Frazier a damn good fight and went the distance with Ali, gaining a lot of praise from Angelo Dundee and Ali himself. I knew Winston Allen when we were young and always found him to be a good lad, not a nasty bloke at all.Originally Posted by Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond wrote on Thu, 01 January 2015 10:14
It's one of those great debates though because it can never happen A bit like putting George Best against Messi and Ronaldo.Originally Posted by EdinburghBlue wrote on Thu, 01 January 2015 07:35
Absolutely, the only other boxer who could match Ali's defensive skills was the great Wilfred Benitez, he could put his back on the ropes and go toe to toe and they would hardly lay a glove on him, all through head movement, Benitez and Ali were the best in the business at that style of boxing.Originally Posted by Pearcey wrote on Thu, 01 January 2015 10:23
I wasn't a fan of Bugner. He did last the distance against Ali but barely threw a punch. One of my earliest sporting memories is of my dad reading the newspaper on the morning after Bugner had beaten Henry Cooper. My dad was fuming because he felt Cooper had been robbed.Originally Posted by ian gibson wrote on Thu, 01 January 2015 10:31
Ali was from a golden era of heavyweight boxers and credit to him was always willing to take on the best of them. Tyson although a throwback to a different era mainly fought washed up journeymen and bums and his first round knockouts looked spectacular but were more often than not against out of shape unknowns. Ali would be far too smart for Tyson and along with the added advantage of height and reach i think he would see him off quite comfortably.
The Bugner v Frazier fight is considered an all time classic, Bugner was brilliant that night.Originally Posted by Pearcey wrote on Thu, 01 January 2015 10:36
That's a very good point. How many decent boxers did Tyson ever fight? Not many.Originally Posted by bluebirds over....... wrote on Thu, 01 January 2015 10:37
Yes he was that night. Bugner had plenty of ability. A top notch boxer but he wasn't aggressive enough imo.Originally Posted by ian gibson wrote on Thu, 01 January 2015 10:38
Most of you are forgetting that Ali, in his prime, was called Cassius Clay.
There was a small conflict in Vietnam that the US got involved in, and Clay changed his name and religion to avoid the draft.
After three years in prison, Ali was just as clever in the ring, but less mobile.
Tyson would have had a chance against this 'new' Ali, but Clay would have flattened Tyson.
This is the point. We are talking about when they were both at their prime. Some posters may only recall an ageing Ali and not the supreme athlete at his best in the 60sOriginally Posted by bobh wrote on Thu, 01 January 2015 10:45