Tyson v Ali

Mercenary · Jun 6, 2010

Ali relied on his long reach, lightning reflexes and deceptive power to beat his opponents whereas Tyson relied on brute strength and all out attack. Both were exciting to watch in their own way but who would win a fight between the two when they were both at their best?

I know most of us here would have a soft spot for Ali but think about the question carefully before you vote.

Tyson tended to excel against taller opponents whilst the 6' 3" Ali found it hard to comprehensively beat the shorter Joe Frazier in any of their fights together. Ali's main strength was to use his speed to expose the oppopnents defence and use that split second to send in a blistering uppercut to knock the guy flat on his back. Tyson being much shorter than Ali wouldnt be as easy to uppercut and Ali would have to rely on wearing him down rather than finishing him off earlier on.

Tyson on the other hand has enough power to make Ali's rope-a-dope style tactics work against him. Ali could normally take a lot of punishment but how would he cope against a rampaging Tyson at his peak whose every punch is a potential knockout blow? There's punishment and then there's demolition.

Tyson was a one man wrecking crew and i think if Ali went for the rope-a-dope tactic, Tyson would win the match but if Ali managed to make Tyson burn himself out by extending the match past the 7th/8th round and then land one of his magic blows then Ali would win.

The key to the match would be space, if Ali managed to maintain some distance between himself and Tyson in the early rounds then he could tire him out. Also Ali's long reach wouldnt be of much use if Tyson got too close, thats when Tysons shorter arms and power packed blows would come into play!

So who do you think would win?

Inferno · Jun 6, 2010

Mercenary said: ↑

Ali relied on his long reach, lightning reflexes and deceptive power to beat his opponents whereas Tyson relied on brute strength and all out attack. Both were exciting to watch in their own way but who would win a fight between the two when they were both at their best?

I know most of us here would have a soft spot for Ali but think about the question carefully before you vote.

Tyson tended to excel against taller opponents whilst the 6' 3" Ali found it hard to comprehensively beat the shorter Joe Frazier in any of their fights together. Ali's main strength was to use his speed to expose the oppopnents defence and use that split second to send in a blistering uppercut to knock the guy flat on his back. Tyson being much shorter than Ali wouldnt be as easy to uppercut and Ali would have to rely on wearing him down rather than finishing him off earlier on.

Tyson on the other hand has enough power to make Ali's rope-a-dope style tactics work against him. Ali could normally take a lot of punishment but how would he cope against a rampaging Tyson at his peak whose every punch is a potential knockout blow? There's punishment and then there's demolition.

Tyson was a one man wrecking crew and i think if Ali went for the rope-a-dope tactic, Tyson would win the match but if Ali managed to make Tyson burn himself out by extending the match past the 7th/8th round and then land one of his magic blows then Ali would win.

The key to the match would be space, if Ali managed to maintain some distance between himself and Tyson in the early rounds then he could tire him out. Also Ali's long reach wouldnt be of much use if Tyson got too close, thats when Tysons shorter arms and power packed blows would come into play!

So who do you think would win?

Ali, Mike Tyson was the strongest in terms of power, but Ali was better all round, Tyson really struggled against the better fighters like Lewis,Holyfield maybe he was past his peak...

If Ali did try the rope a dope style then Tyson might just bite his ear off if he got frustrated..

Observer · Jun 7, 2010

Ali was a master tactician. He would outsmart Tyson before the fight began. If you look at Tysons fight then you would realise that those guys who survived the first 3-4 rounds woyuld move on to fight the full quota of rounds. No one would doubt that Ali was able to stay away with his dancing, ligtning handspeed,stamina and intellect to neutralize Tyson for 3-4 rounds of dancing in the ring. After this period I think Tyson would have been unfamilar conditions and hence Ali would annihilate him. Apart from that Ali has PROVED that he can fight hard hitting guys...do you guys remember the "the rumble in the jungle"=rope and dope where he neutralized the bone crushing Foreman? Almost nobody gave Ali a chance to win, but he did what he knew he could do.

It's right that Ali had some tough goings against small fighters - especially Frazier, but then we have to look at the fact that Frazier was an extremely tough fighter capable of taking a beating. Tyson has never shown this ability - on contrary he has been all to willing to fall in a prolonged fight in his later part of his career. Also look at what a relatively old Ali did to Frazier in his third fight against Frazier.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5o-yxwBJuk&feature=related]YouTube - Muhammad Ali full training regime 1974 Part 1/3[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALtuXNH22fA]YouTube - Muhammad Ali vs George Foreman[/ame]

Observer · Jun 8, 2010

Ali was very tough fighter. He fought a major part of a match against Ken Norton with a broken jaw. He lost, but refused to stop the match and thus endured the pain until the fight ended.

ALbIe · Dec 24, 2010

tyson could take pain as he endured a lot of punishing blows from buster douglas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rizzy · Dec 27, 2010

Ali was alot tougher mentally and knew how to exploit the weaknesses of his opponents see how he played George Foreman who relied on brute strength and Foreman was also much younger and fitter.

Wajid · Aug 5, 2011

Observer said: ↑

Ali was very tough fighter. He fought a major part of a match against Ken Norton with a broken jaw. He lost, but refused to stop the match and thus endured the pain until the fight ended.

This FTW Ali had a will of Iron, with tyson we'll never know because once he lost his direction it was all down hill from there. Maybe if Cus damato was around for a little longer, things would have been better for tyson.

Alis fights with smokin joe are the stuff of legend aswell. Tyson was never really battle hardened like Ali. Frazier was a legend in his own right popular rumour has it that ali was on the verge of calling it a day while others say ali collapsed after the fight. Ali wins it simply because of the fact that we KNOW he fought some of the greates boxers ever to put gloves on in an era that we have never seen since.