Who is a better HW than Muhammad Ali?

[Mr. Ryan]

Joe Louis
Jim Jeffries
Jack Johnson
Jack Dempsey
Rocky Marciano

prime 1988 Mike Tyson
prime 1980 Larry Holmes
prime 1971 Joe Frazier

I have no idea how you could ascertain from this footage anything about Jeffries. Please, offer your observations on these fights.

[WLAD OWNS]

Prime vs Prime, there are lots of great heavyweights capable of beating Ali.

Wlad or Prime Vitali are definitely capable of beating Prime Ali.

[KESSLER]

Skillwise

And besides, I don't think anybody could beat Ali in his prime...

In his prime, I can't think of a heavyweight that could beat him.

[warp1432]

Some may feel sentimental and say Marciano, but if you compare Ali and Marciano's level of opposition, there isn't much comparison. Ali fought great champions when he was young and young champions when he was old. Can't beat that.

You could say Joe Louis since he had 25 title defenses, but his reign had it's down moments towards the end with the Walcott travesty and a long stretch where he fought guys like Buddy Baer. The problem was that Louis didn't have many young guns to prove himself against since the division he fought in was weak.

Still, Louis blew most of the guys he fought away and avenged several bad performances and defeats that most figured he couldn't.

Why is it that when people with a lot of the title defenses, the divsion is considered ****? To be honest Ali is really the only one who had consectuive really good title defenses (I forget the number he had), but even then he took like 4 years off. If he had been active for those 4 years, would his resume be just as impressive? In those 4 years contenders popped up here and there making names for themselves while Ali wasn't allowed to box.

It seems whenever you reign for a long time competition becomes harder and harder to find.

[T-97]

Prime vs Prime, there are lots of great heavyweights capable of beating Ali.

Wlad or Prime Vitali are definitely capable of beating Prime Ali.

No, maybe trouble him. But i highly doubt they would beat him....

[Jim Jeffries]

In his prime, I can't think of a heavyweight that could beat him.

When was his prime? Ali was 29 when Frazier beat him, 31 when Norton beat him, 21 when Cooper almost knocked him out. Ali was great, but anyone is beatable.

[The Hammer]

I have no idea how you could ascertain from this footage anything about Jeffries. Please, offer your observations on these fights.

I meant prime 1899 Jeffries, not the Jeffries in the video. I just edited my post to clarify that...

[Mr. Ryan]

I meant prime 1899 Jeffries, not the Jeffries in the video. I just edited my post to clarify that...

That video has Gus Ruhlin and Tom Sharkey fights with Jeffries, which took place between 1897-99. The existing footage was too grainy for you to even recognize who was who, let along make an assessment as to Jeffries being a superior fighter to anyone.

[WLAD OWNS]

No, maybe trouble him. But i highly doubt they would beat him....

I never said they WOULD, I said they're CAPABLE....the modern day big, skilled and powerful heavyweights like Wlad, Lewis and Vitali would give Ali a ****load of trouble and have a good chance of beating Ali.

[The Hammer]

That video has Gus Ruhlin and Tom Sharkey fights with Jeffries, which took place between 1897-99. The existing footage was too grainy for you to even recognize who was who, let along make an assessment as to Jeffries being a superior fighter to anyone.

My assessment is not based on old grainy videos.

Why do you think Ali is better than Joe Frazier, who defeated him in his prime (age 29)?

Ali had 2 warmup fights just before, so ring rust is not a good excuse.

Joe was shot after the Foreman fight, so the later fights with Ali should carry little weight.