Does Ali's fight with Terrell tell us how he'd handle the Klitschkos?

[physiker]

Ernie Terrell was 6'6" and a good boxer. He did not have the weight that the K bros have. Thus probably not the power, but OTOH he probably was a better mover than they are.

The fight with Terrell went the distance with Ali winning most, if not all, the rounds. Terrell has wins over Clevleand Williams, Chuvalo, Eddie Machen, and Doug Jones, and others.

Jones was the first to drop (then) Cassius Clay, if memory serves me right. Eddie Machen was doing well against a pre-Clay Sonny Liston, until he too got blinded by what I might call the "Liston liniment"!

Point is Terrell was no bum, and fought good competition himself. There wasn't all the old, obese fighters then, like the K bros usually fight.

And the reason the fight with Ali may have gone the distance is that when Ali was pissed at being called Clay, he often chose to let the fight go 15 rounds to maximiize the punishment. (As with Patterson, who he probably could have KOed early.)

So does the Terrell victory show that Ali would have had little trouble dancing, jabbing, out-thinking the K bros to easy victories?

[Levcon8686]

I don't think so. First of all, Vitali and Wlad don't fight exactly the same way and must be treated individually IMO.

Other than being similar height, what other characteristics does Terrell share with either Klitchko?

Not a whole lot if you ask me. I've only seen the Ali fight but from that I can see he has poor footwork/footspeed and can't judge distance well at all. Current Wlad is a better puncher- especially the jab, has a better all round defence and can judge the distance far better than Ernie Terrell.

Whether Ali beats Wlad is another question, but in no way does Ali whupping a 6'6 Terrell tell us much about a match up with Wlad.

[Battle*Hardened]

Maybe, but one thing is for sure, Terrell would be either Klits best win if they could win.

[them_apples]

I don't think so. First of all, Vitali and Wlad don't fight exactly the same way and must be treated individually IMO.

Other than being similar height, what other characteristics does Terrell share with either Klitchko?

Not a whole lot if you ask me. I've only seen the Ali fight but from that I can see he has poor footwork/footspeed and can't judge distance well at all. Current Wlad is a better puncher- especially the jab, has a better all round defence and can judge the distance far better than Ernie Terrell.

Whether Ali beats Wlad is another question, but in no way does Ali whupping a 6'6 Terrell tell us much about a match up with Wlad.

The Klits are bigger and stronger than Terrel, but Ali would still beat them. The Klits are very robotic and don't like movement. If that cuban wasn't such a ***** you could see how even his movement was beffudling Vitali. Wladmir is very very robotic to an extremity and I don't see his style posing much of a threat since he fights like 6'4 Clevland Williams only more jab jab right hand and less left hook.

I see the strength factor making it a closer fight though, Ali winning probably a boring decision. Against big opponents he always upped his game though so who knows.

[physiker]

Maybe, but one thing is for sure, Terrell would be either Klits best win if they could win.

Ah, that's another issue. How would the K bros do against Terrell?

Yeah, would be a great win for them. Not used to fighting anyone not fat or old.

I think it would be close decision with Vitali--either way.

For Wlad, early Wlad gets KOed by Terrrell, Recent Wlad beats Terrell.

In those days, going 15 agasint Ali was rare--unless like I said, Ali let it go 15.

[hweightblogger]

Ernie Terrell was 6'6" and a good boxer. He did not have the weight that the K bros have. Thus probably not the power, but OTOH he probably was a better mover than they are.

Nobody is a better mover than Wladimir Klitschko. His footwork is so superb that he barely gets hit just by repositioning himself.

And what is this nonsense "probably not the power"?

Ernie Terrell IS ONE OF THE WEAKEST MOST FEATHERFISTED GUYS ever witnessed in the whole history of real heavyweight boxing.

He scored only 2 KOs (in his entire career) in real heavyweight fights.

1 KO against Garcia (who started at 150+ lbs).
and 1 KO against a 33-16 bum (Bill Drover).

Ernie Terrell is NOTHING compared to the Klitschkos.

Terrell's real heavyweight record (200x2) is 9-5.

Additionally Terrell claims that Ali thumbed him ("Clay as Clay can") so that his eye got jammed and was fixed in one direction since the early rounds.

The fight Ali-vs-Terrell does not show how well Ali handled a tall guy but HOW BAD ALI performed against a tall guy.

Point is Terrell was no bum, and fought good competition himself. There wasn't all the old, obese fighters then, like the K bros usually fight.

Don't spin the facts. Terrell's medium weight is 197 lbs. He was a CRUISER. Compare Terrell with modern cruisers not with real heavyweights 50 pounds heavier.

That Terrell is even brought up shows how desperate AliFans find someone comparable to the Klitschkos. Give it up: NOBODY is remotely comparable to Wladimir Klitschko. Ali has never faced anyone with such a power+experience+size+weight+reach. Don't even try to mention 210+ lbs Foreman or cruiser Frazier.

[hweightblogger]

The Klits are bigger and stronger than Terrel, but Ali would still beat them. The Klits are very robotic and don't like movement.

I never saw "robotism" on scorecards. Only AliFans think than being non-robotic (= "dancing") is a virtue. At heavyweight winning and KOing is a virtue, not Irish dancing (The Clay had Irish ancestors).

And you got it wrong anyway: Wladimir Klitschko LOVES dancing opponents. The biggest problems he had was against Tony Thompson and Sam Peter and Corrie Sanders who are everything BUT dancers.

And hey, Ross Puritty didn't swing his leg either. It's utterly BIZARRE to claim that the Klitschkos don't like movers.

Cassius "The greatest" Clay is like made for Wlad: Zero reflexes and 50% of the time mid-air or leaning against the ropes.

[physiker]

You have some good points there Hweight, about Terrell. But some of his wins were against good fighters--Chuvalo, Williams, Machen.

But I have little doubt that Ali would have beaten the 2 K's.

When each faced real competition, they lost. Lewis destroyed Vitali's face, and Wlad couldn't handle Sanders and others.

Yes, don't try to pre-empt, regarding Foreman. Foreman's punches were harder than anything the K's have. And Foreman had a good and powerful jab too. Ali outfought him and out quicked him, till he tired out.

Certainly Wlad would gas out against Ali. And then get KOed. Would be much like the Foreman fight!

Vitali def more trouble for Ali, a 15 round decision enabled by prime Ali's dancing and jabbing. Maybe a boring fight.

[hweightblogger]

You have some good points there Hweight, about Terrell. But some of his wins were against good fighters--Chuvalo, Williams, Machen.

But I have little doubt that Ali would have beaten the 2 K's.

When each faced real competition, they lost. Lewis destroyed Vitali's face, and Wlad couldn't handle Sanders and others.

Yes, don't try to pre-empt, regarding Foreman. Foreman's punches were harder than anything the K's have. And Foreman had a good and powerful jab too. Ali outfought him and out quicked him, till he tired out.

Certainly Wlad would gas out against Ali. And then get KOed. Would be much like the Foreman fight!

Vitali def more trouble for Ali, a 15 round decision enabled by prime Ali's dancing and jabbing. Maybe a boring fight.

I disagree with everything you posted. You write the typical Ali Mythology and Klitschko hating nonsense. You sound like some teen who heard others talk about Ali. Everything you wrote is utterly baseless, and way too much to answer in this thread. In my blog I dissected 80% of what you claim here.

[Die Antwoord]

OMG ERNiE TERRELL WAS 6'6...HE MUST BE IDENTICAL TO BOTH KLITSCHKO'S

Come on, he was 6'6 212 lbs when he fought Ali. He was a stick compared to the monster brothers. Funniest thing was he was about 15 lbs over his prime weight when he fought Ali, lost 3 fights in a row that year, and never again won an even remotely decent bout. So saying the Klitschko's beat out of shape fighters is a bit humorous since Terrell was naturally and best when fighting around 195.

Wlad brutally beat Chris Byrd, that shows more how he would do against Ali than Ali beating an out of shape stick at the end of the sticks career.

Tony Thompson would KO1 Ernie Terrell. Tony Thompson is Ernie Terrell on steroids and HGH, and Wlad beat him down easily.

People bringing up the Solis fight are morons. I hate to be rude but thats the easiest way to put it. Herbie Hide landed on Vitali in the first, Gomez landed on Vitali in the first, Corrie Sanders landed on Vitali in the first...if you want, you can land a few shots on Vitali early in a bout while he finds his range, Vitali always starts out taking a few extra hits as he measures his opponent. Not to mention the fact that Vitali landed more on Solis and KO'd him in 1. Its like people are insane. I dont get it. But lets just pretend for one second Solis was landing power shots on Vitali (he wasnt), that Solis could have sustained those shots the entire fight (he couldnt, even if he was in the best shape, Vitali would have found the range...like he did in 2 minutes 40 seconds...and beat him to death), and that Vitali's shots wouldnt have eventually worn out or knocked out solis (they would have...like they did in 2 minutes and 40 seconds)....but lets just pretend for a second that the Klitschko haters are right. VITALI IS 40 ****ING YEARS OLD. The same dbags who say Ali was pre-prime when he robbed Doug Jones and refused to rematch him, the same people who say Ali was post prime when he lost to Ken Norton, Joe Frazier and went 15 and took a ton of shots, and was put down by Chuck Wepner...even though he was what, age 29-33 during this time and had 4 years off...the same dbags who claim Ali was hurt by his layoff that he spent fighting amateur bouts, talk about a 40 year old Vitali, who has about 100 pro kickboxing fights, a 4 year injury related layoff, several surgeries etc...like he is freaking prime. Oh no, Ali robbing Ken Norton twice doesnt matter, he was post prime...and his loss to Norton where his jaw was broke doesnt count since he was only in his 14th fight since returning from his 3 year layoff...but every fight Vitali fights is prime and 100% counts towards fantasy matchups.

Its a joke. Vitali or Wlad would be bigger and stronger than anyone Ali ever fought. Vitali or Wlad wouldnt be scared of him or give in to his mind games. You think Vitali is going to get tired by a rope a dope? You think a jab is going to put Vitali down? If prime Ali fought prime Vitali, Vitali would have beat the Parkinson gene out of Ali, he wouldnt be shaking today, he'd be completely brain dead.