Greatest Heavyweight Tournament - Round 1 - Muhammad Ali vs Evander Holyfield

[StuBoxing]

Hi, this is the first bout from round 1 of the 'greatest heavyweight of all time' tournament. Muhammad Ali vs Evander Holyfield. Please state who you think would win out of these two boxers. Give a reason why and how you think the fight would be won (KO, TKO, PTS etc.) Thankyou for your time!!! Remember, the fighter who gets the most votes will go through the the second round!!! Please visit my website for this tournament to see how it is progressing at... http://www.expage.com/alltimeheavyweight

[Born to Win]

Hello and Welcome.

Why don't you add a poll to this thread?

Both Holyfield and Ali were great fighters. Either Holyfield by late TKO or Ali by UD. I am going with Muhammad Ali on this one.

[Easy-E]

Hello and Welcome.

Why don't you add a poll to this thread?

Both Holyfield and Ali were great fighters. Either Holyfield by late TKO or Ali by UD. I am going with Muhammad Ali on this one.

I cannot possibly see a situation where Holyfield would ever come close to stopping one of boxing's best chins of all time.

Ali ud or maybe tko in dominating fashion.

[enadeus]

My best guess would be Ali by UD.

[AllEyesOpen]

I cant be sure, but that's a hell of a round 1 Stuboxing. Ali is Ali and could probably come away with the win, but the sustained accurate pressure that Holyfield can deliver is hard to walk through, of course i'd put my money on Ali, but it would be an entertaining fight, cant wiat for round 2.

[AintGottaClue]

holy is great but just not enough to beat ali

[Southpaw Stinger]

Ali by late TKO

[-Antonio-]

For some reason i think this is a pretty good match up for Holy. He can keep pressure on Ali the whole fight. I say Ali close UD though.

[K-DOGG]

Okay, let's think about this. Prime Ali would be the one who destroyed Cleveland Williams in 3. Prime Holyfield...ahh, that's a little trickier. If I was going to pick one, I'd say the guy who stopped Dokes in 10; that, to me, was Holyfield at his best at heavyweight.

Next question, how do theire styles match up? Well, Larry Donald was the cloesest Holyfield ever came to facing Ali's style or some rendition of it; but Holy was long shot by then, so, it's not really a fair comparison. Buster Douglas would have been a good comparison if he hadn't ballooned up to 246 and essentially quit after being dropped in the 3rd. Then, there's the Chris Byrd fight; but Evander was old by then, even though he had just beaten Hasim Rahman. One could also reference the first Michael Moore fight in which "Double M" outboxed Evander; but Holy was supposedly injured in that fight. Looks like we're going to have to use our imaginations on this one.

Now, who did Ali face who could be compared to Evander? Zora Folley's pretty close, though smaller and slower. Jerry Quarry is another comparable fighter, though that was in Ali's second career. (just thought....Holyfield-Quarry would be a war, wouldn't it?)

Holy was a boxer-puncher with the warrior mentality of a Joe Frazier or a Rocky Marciano if he got hit good. He was prone to really press the attack if his juices got flowing. This can be seen in his war with Dwight Muhammad Qawi, Michael Dokes, and Bert Cooper....none of which are like Ali. Ali wasn't about trading punches. He was about hitting you and getting out of there before you had a chance to respond. Holyfield showed the ability to do this too against a much slower and older opponent in George Foreman and to some extent Rid**** Bowe in the second match; but both are stalkers, Ali was not.

Both Ali and Holyfield had good chins and huge hearts; and neither were particularly hard punchers, so, I think it's safe to say the odds are this one's going the distance. Also, Holyfield had a "holey" defense, so Ali wouldn't have too much trouble finding his mark; and I don't think Evander would handle Ali's movement that well. Also, Ali's handspeed would make it difficult for Evander to counter.

Now, here's the key, IMO: Ken Norton outjabbed Ali and the timing of his jab through Ali off. In other words, if you're facing a guy whose game plan revolves around his jab, the key to beating him is by out-jabbing him and taking his jab away. Evander, if he employed such a tactic, would be able to keep this fight close. Also, Ali was alway open to the left hook, and Evander's left hook was arguably his best punch.


Synopsis: Holy would have trouble with Ali early on, due to Muhammad being on his bicycle and staying our of range, as he did in most of his early fights to work off the nervous energy. By the 2nd or 3rd, Holy would be using the jab to throw Ali's rythm off a little. This fight would be very techncial from this point on. I can see both men getting staggered by the other: Ali, more than likely by a quick Holyfield left hook and Evander by a blistering shot...either a hook off the jab or a right had or the 3rd punch in a blindingly fast three punch combo, whether a hook or a right; but neither man would succomb to the other.

In the end, Ali's lateral movement and fast hands would be too much for Evander to overcome. There would be a few fireworks in between; but overall Ali will dictate this one.

End result....Ali by a relatively close UD.

[Tysonisgod]

Ali by close UD