HomicideHenry wrote: ↑22 Oct 2021, 16:29
Mind you, I never said it would come easy for Fury. It would be a pretty boring kind of contest where Ali lands mostly on the arms, shoulders, gloves, and Fury occasionally landing jabs to the body and whenever he has Ali in the clinch throwing uppercuts and bodyshots.
Most of the time I think they would be either circling each other, mocking each other, and trying to figure out each other. Ali would really start to feel the weight of Fury and Fury would really start to feel the pace--- but since both men do have a great engine, and take great shots, they last the entire distance.
I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that Fury either gets a legitimate draw or just barely edges Ali. Especially against the 1970s version who was slower, more flat footed, and relied on punch resistance more and more as time went on.
Styles make fights. I already said previously that I think Lennox Lewis, George Foreman and Larry Holmes would've been very difficult for Tyson Fury. They were bigger than Ali, and more aggressive than Ali, and two out of three were just as good or close to Ali in boxing ability.
I also said in a series it's difficult to say if Fury could win against Ali because Ali was better in returns, and so is Fury better in rematches. In a one-off contest, I can see Ali either drawing or losing to Tyson Fury--- because how the hell do you really prepare for something you've never really faced before in your entire career?
It'd take rounds just to get into a rhythm and groove, finally figuring out your opponent enough to really start getting more work done, and that's four or five rounds right there that goes to Fury. In a scheduled 12 rounder that's bad news. The middle rounds Ali gets more aggressive and Fury resorts to the clinching, mauling, uppercutting, and while Fury is possibly losing rounds Ali is starting to get tired. So now the fight is basically even--- four more rounds to go, and maybe Fury wins two & Ali wins two and it's a draw, or Fury wins two & Ali wins one & one round is even, or Fury wins three & Ali wins one.
It's possible Ali could win three and Fury wins one, but I think Fury goes for broke in such a situation and it becomes a grueling affair where I can invision Ali possibly getting dropped because of all that weight having been on him for so long. Of course he'd get up, and probably quickly, but the damage would have been done. Fury at that point could lose a round and still win the fight.
Sure, Ali could have Fury rocking and reeling in the last two rounds, but I think Fury's long arms and clinch game and his own recuperating powers would save him from falling, especially if he's near the ropes or corner.
Of course all this means nothing. We will never know because it will never happen. But that is a lot of the fun of boxing is fantasy matchups and debates. I think it's especially difficult to debate this matchup because one figure is a larger than life personality who has taken on mythic proportions, and the other man certainly has all the size and abilities to be a tough assignment for anyone in boxing history but is dismissed by different groups for different reasons.
I can only imagine that when Joe Louis came along and people debated how well he would have done against Jack Dempsey, etc that it was the same kind of arguments, often times heated. There's always somebody from a certain time period hypothetically matched to somebody from an earlier time period, and depending on who it is there is a lot of resistance to the idea that they could have possibly ever lost to somebody.
Ali's so-called best years were taken from him, but I look at it from a different view. If he never was banned from boxing he would have had more wear and tear put on him, and he still would have gotten slower around 1970-1971 and he would've burned out long before 1978.
There probably never would have been the fights with Shavers, Spinks, Young, and possibly even Frazier in Manila. Or worse, he would have lost those fights in dramatic fashion. 1975 onwards it's quite visible that he was declining fast, so could you imagine if he had never been banned from boxing how much faster he would have declined? Ron Lyle very well could have been the heavyweight champion of the world in such a scenario as that.
Anyway sorry for such a lengthy post. This whole debate about size and how well Fury would match up to people from the past is probably the most fun I have had on the forum in a long time.
and quite frankly I'm tired of the rudeness. You need to be more self aware because people are making threads about you being deceptive or fraudulent or being a troll so it isn't just me calling you out on you're crap.