My brief tribute to Muhammad Ali
And The "Ali Vs. Tyson" Debate...
As I'm sure you've probably heard, Muhammad Ali passed away a few days ago, and yet another champion has been laid to rest.
If you're on of the folks who has angry things to say about Ali, just say them to yourself, loudly, and pretend that your complaint has been heard by me.
Suffice it to say, this guy was really really ridiculously good.
He had lightning fast hands, with exceptional accuracy. Most folks also never realized how hard he hit until they got into the ring with him... and then they would say something profound like, "He actually hits really hard."
Brilliant.
He also had alarmingly good head movement and defensive footwork. In this bizarre example, he literally stands in a corner with his hands down on the ropes, no ability to retreat whatsoever, and dodges 21 fierce punches thrown by a professional heavyweight boxer
It kinda makes you wonder why the guy didn't just punch him right in the solar plexus, but suffice it to say that pride does awful things to people's judgement.
Nevertheless, being able to dodge without even retreating, and to have the sheer balls that it takes to pull something of this sort is noteworthy.
Here are two excellent highlight reels that show exactly how much skill and ferocity this man had,
Most notably, in my opinion, there's the story of how Ali fought Ken Norton for 11 rounds with a broken jaw... or so it is claimed.
Ali's jaw was absolutely destroyed in the fight, but no one knows exactly when it happened.
He claims that it was in the second round, and if so, there has never been a greater display of toughness in the history of boxing.
(If there are more more impressively horrible stories, I'm sure you'll let me know.)
Hey... if you have a free hour and want to watch one of his most epic battles, check out "The Rumble in the Jungle", in which he fought the new champ at the time, George Foreman.
For the full story of the events leading up to that fight, and for a ton of exceptionally entertaining info about Ali's life, get a hold of the documentary, "When We Were Kings". It's awesome.
No matter how you look at it, this dude was awesome... and he was certainly a prolific champion. I wish him the same in the afterlife.
Then there's the great "Tyson vs. Ali" debate... who would win?
It's interesting to note that when you ask someone 'who was the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time', the answer is highly dependent upon the age/generation of the person you're asking.
If you ask my granddad, he would say, "Joe Lewis or Rocky Marciano".
If you ask my dad, he says "Ali."
If you ask anyone my age, he'd probably say "Tyson," and then do a crappy impression.
I'm not going to pick a winner in this discussion, because in a heavyweight fight, ANYTHING can happen. For critical analysis, there are a few things to consider:
When Ali was fighting, the heavyweight division was stacked with great fighters. Foreman, Frazier, and Norton could have been champions at any time.
(George actually came back in 1994 and won a heavyweight title as an old, fat guy! It was awesome.)
Many don't give Tyson a lot of credit because his division just wasn't as overwhelmingly stacked with talent. He murdered guys, but the noteworthy adversaries just weren't there.
Still he was a master of foot-work. He was explosive and fast with unbelievable reactions. Could Ali have scampered away the same way he did against lesser opponents?
Probably not... but even if Tyson caught him, Ali has shown the ability to take MASSIVE damage, and absorb devastating punches with incomprehensible toughness. Foreman probably punched just as hard as Tyson... and Ali "rope a dope'd" him.
So... in my opinion, the winner of this fight would depend on Tyson's success or failure in early rounds.
If Tyson really clipped Ali with a power shot, and shook Ali's brain early... I think that Tyson probably wins the fight. His power is just too much to handle for 8-9 remaining rounds if your brain has already been concussed.
Once you're shaken, it's easier to be re-shaken.
If Ali holds Tyson off through the 5th, I think Ali wins. Tyson was utterly dominant at times when everything was going his way. As long as he was winning rounds and scoring big strikes, his confidence was palpable.
However, when fights did not go his way, his heart and resolve seemed to collapse fairly quickly.
Lennox Lewis just dominated him with jabs that Tyson couldn't get inside... eventually, he just kinda fell over.
He bit Evander Hollyfield's ear off, just because he was losing through the first several rounds, and couldn't figure out a better way to hurt the guy... or perhaps just to get out of the fight.
If Muhammad Ali put 4 or 5 straight rounds of abuse on him, I think that Tyson would have slowly begun to collapse.
THAT SAID... my referenced instances of Tyson 'folding' were after his comeback.
Prior to his forced vacation, and under the watchful eye of Cus D'amato, he really seemed unstoppable.
In short, there's no right answer, or 'sure fire' prediction.
In a Heavy Weight fight... as one punch can end it all, at any moment... and that's why I never put money down on the big fellas...
If you disagree! I don't care... leave me alone.
Till next week...