Ahh Boxing, a big crowd of white people watching two black men beat the shit out of each other. All joking aside, let us discuss two Titans of boxing. Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson. Without any gilding the lily, and with no more ado, let the debate begin. For purposes of accurate comparison, let us suppose each man was at their peak fighting years. For Ali, I would estimate 1966-1968. For Tyson, i'd say 1986-1988
In this corner, The Greatest of All Time, hailing from Louisville, Kentucky. Weighing at 201lbs, with a height of 6'1",
MUHAMMAD ALI!
And in this corner, from Brooklyn, New York, weighing in at 222lbs, with a height of 5'11",
MIGHTY MIKE TYSON!
Now personally, I believe the fight would belong to Ali at his peak performance. Look at his fight with Cleveland Williams, blinding speed, rapid jabs, amazing combinations and lateral movement. And his reach, and height advantage over Tyson would allow him to hit the other man far beyond Tyson's reach.
Posts
If anybody says Tyson, I swear I'm taking names and making a list.
- "Proving once again the deadliest animal of all ... is the Zoo Keeper" - Philip J Fry
You see that? Ali fought fucking Superman, meanwhile Mike Tyson takes on fucking Little Mac. I mean, Little Mac was deceptively dangerous for his size, but let's be real, he's no Superman.
Tyson would be more entertaining to me, though. To me, boxing isn't about dancing around and getting in little jabs to impress the judges. It's about punching a guy until he falls down. I want two guys in there who've never taken a dance class in their life that have meat hooks for arms. I want those two to stand right in front of each other and start swinging.
Did Superman have time to prepare?
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
edit: here's that punk-ass Tyson, for those that are enjoy watching the mentally insane be violent.
- "Proving once again the deadliest animal of all ... is the Zoo Keeper" - Philip J Fry
Ali would win a good 90% of the time.
In that fight, Ali psyched Foreman out and used the rope-a-dope on him. He didn't just beat him physically, he beat him mentally. Ali threw straight rights in the first round to specifically to taunt Foreman (it's just something top fighters don't do) and then taunted him ever time they got locked up. After that he just leaned on the ropes and let Foreman punch himself out. First time Foreman had gone deep into rounds, and he had used all his gas in the early ones while Ali was waiting, which then allowed Ali to knock him out.
This is exactly the book on Tyson. If I'm not mistaken, the time Buster Douglas beat him was the first time he had ever gone past the third round in his pro career. Buster just bid his time because he knew Tyson didn't know what to do in later rounds, which was exactly what happened.
To top it off, for the most part Ali's competition was miles ahead of Mike Tyson's competition. Ali beat Frasier, Liston, Foreman, all fighters who you could also make a case that they would beat Tyson themselves in their prime. Can you name one great fighter that Tyson beat? No, they were all scrubs, minus those that beat him.
Tyson's hand-speed and punching power are incredible, but that's the only thing he has as a fighter.
But Rope-A-Dope doesn't fool anyone anymore and against Tyson it wouldn't be nearly as effective.
It worked against Foreman because while he was known for hard punching he was not known for fast punches or for stamina.
Tyson had both of those if Ali stuck to out-fighting he'd whup Tyson easy but if he let Tyson get in close to do Rope-A-Dope it could backfire.
Tyson would have nothing to offer Ali in a fight.
However I still think Ali would win.
Considering Tyson is known for being nutty, I think it's pretty safe to assume that Ali would have no problem getting into his head.
A. the opponent to run out of stamina quickly
B. the fighter using the strategy to withstand the assualt
Foreman didn't have the conditioning to do a prolonged assault without getting tired.
Tyson in his prime was known for his conditioning and his ability to throw a shitload of devastating punches.
Ali would be using a strategy relying on getting pummeled against a guy with power greater than Foreman and the conditioning to overwhelm an opponent with punches.
Foreman was a brawler (one lucky punch can end a fight), Mike was an infighter/Brawler (Power plus the speed and stamina to force that lucky punch through)
In the end we'll never know but Mike has been beaten the most soundly by out-fighting and Ali has shown that he has the skills to beat even the best in-fighters by out-fighting.
I think Ali would do better to secure an easy win by focusing on what works repeatedly rather than relying on a once used strategy against a specific opponent.
From what I've seen, Tyson is underrated. People look at the end of his career and focus on the really bad fights and the fact that he, you know, bit a guy's ear off. Because of that they think of him as an animal in the ring as well as out. In his prime he was a good boxer, and the power of his punches was terrifying.
Ali would still win, but it would be a good fight to watch.
That was Lennox Lewis. (The boxer he said it to)
I think we can all agree that was awesome.
He also told a member of the press that he'd rape his family on the press day, just after trying to fight lennox in the press area a couple of days before the fight. In which pre-fight he bit lennox's ankle.
Because I would very much like to see Mickey the Pikey fight Ivan Drago.
Alternatively, Olympic torch-wielding, Parkinson's Ali vs. Tyson when Robin Givens had him on like 40 Valium a day.
In all seriousness, though, I have a hard time seeing Ali go down to an out-of-control punk like Tyson, savage freak though he might have been. You don't get to call yourself "The Greatest" and have it stick without something to back it up.
It'd also be one in which you feared for someone's safety by the end of the night, but it'd be a fun one.
I asked this earlier but got no response.
Who'd be a good match for Ali... oh, I got a guy. Joe Louis.
Aaaah I see. Yeah I think the size difference would favour Tyson. That time Dempsey fought the 6 ft odd guy was horrific though. But I don't think it would be as easy to do against Tyson.
Got it:
Cassius clay
Versus:
Mohammed ali.
*snicker*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingemar_Johansson
In the prime of his career, Tyson was revolutionary. He was Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods put together times four.
Ali has a generation of mythological legendary status behind him, whereas Tyson is more "our generation," but don't let that fool you.
Tyson, as much as I hate him and was not a fan, was the most damaging human being ever to enter a boxing ring. Ali would certainly have a good chance, but I bet you Vegas odds would be on Tyson.
And speaking of boxing, is anyone else excited about the Joe Calzaghe fight next month? You should be, because that dude is crazy.
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Tyson did have a talent for punching from odd angles. If you watch how he works his torso angles, he is able to move his opponent's hands with a punch to set up an odd-angle shot.
I think Ali would win by dancing from the outside and wearing Tyson down but I wouldn't be surprised if Tyson did some damage when he managed to get inside. All this talk of Rope-a-Dope doesn't make sense because Ali didn't do that until he was past his prime.
I don't care what anyone says, Calzaghe is a very good fighter that i'm pretty definite could beat anyone in the world right now.
Americans always argue for American boxers at this point, but i'm an all round boxing fan that loves all types of fighters, and I actually hate a lot of Brittish boxers and think in the majority they're shit. Saying that, I would say that Calzaghe is just too damn good for anyone else right now.
I agree with that.
Ali is by far the better ring general, tactician, etc - so he's the overwhelming favorite but Tyson still has the proverbial Puncher's Chance. Tyson was the equal or better of Ken Norton, who beat Ali once and lost the rematch in a split decision - and many will argue that it was Norton who won the second fight, too.
Tyson beat an aging Larry Holmes - not the equivalent of Ali beating a prime Frazier or Foreman, but about the same as Ali beating an aging Floyd Patterson.
Behavior wise Tyson was always an idiot, although Ali spent much of his career saying more than his share of nasty, hateful things. And unlike Tyson, Ali didn't have the excuse of being some dumbass street punk of questionable sanity. However, also unlike Tyson, Ali has tried to make amends in his post-fighting career.
Yeah, Ken Norton owned Ali something fierce. We're all assuming 15 rounds in a ring big enough for Ali to dance his way to a unanimous decision. What happens if it's a four rounder in a tight ring?
Ali beat Norton in a controversial 3rd fight by decision too, but that was far from prime Ali.
Ali-Frazier III essentially broke both fighters. Frazier retired soon after that, and Ali was never again close to what he was.