Ali never said Tyson would beat him,it was a joke during a talk show while both were complimenting eachother.
Tyson beat the guy that beat Ali? ha ha ha
you mean best of Holmes against a half dead Ali who was at the 28. year of his boxing career?! and when did Tyson beat Holmes? at Holmes prime or when Holmes was not even near the top at rankings?
"END OF THE YEAR" rankings of the mentioned athletes when the fights happenned.
1988 that Tyson beats Holmes (
where is Holmes?);
Mike Tyson, Champion
1.Evander Holyfield
2.Carl Williams
3.Adilson Rodrigues
4.Tim Withersthingy
5.Michael Dokes
6.Razor Ruddock
7.Tony Tucker
8.Orlin Norris
9.James (Buster) Douglas
10.Francesco Damiani
1980 that Holmes beats Ali (
where is Ali?)
Larry Holmes, Champion
1.Mike Weaver
2.Gerry Cooney
3.Leon Spinks
4.Michael Dokes
5.Gerrie Coetzee
6.Marty Monroe
7.Trevor Berbick
8.Greg Page
9.Bernardo Mercado
10.Ken Norton
1964 Ali beats Liston;
Sonny Liston, Champion
1.Muhammad Ali
2.Doug Jones
3.Ernie Terrell
4.Cleveland Williams
5.Zora Folley
6.Eddie Machen
7.Floyd Patterson
8.Karl Mildenberger
9.George Chuvalo
10.Brian London
1965 Ali beats Liston;
Muhammad Ali, Champion
1.
Sonny Liston 2.Floyd Patterson
3.Ernie Terrell
4.Cleveland Williams
5.George Chuvalo
6.Zora Folley
7.Karl Mildenberger
8.Roger Rischer
9.Eddie Machen
10.Doug Jones
1965 Ali beats Patterson;
Muhammad Ali, Champion
1.Ernie Terrell
2.
Floyd Patterson 3.George Chuvalo
4.Karl Mildenberger
5.Zora Folley
6.Amos Lincoln
7.Thad Spencer
8.Doug Jones
9.Hubert Hilton
10.Brian London
1973 Ali beats Norton;
George Foreman, Champion
1.Muhammad Ali
2.Joe Frazier
3.
Ken Norton 4.Jerry Quarry
5.Ron Lyle
6.Earnie Shavers
7.Oscar Bonavena
8.Joe Bugner
9.Jimmy Ellis
10.Chuck Wepner
1974 when Ali beats Foreman and Frazier ;
Muhammad Ali, Champion
1.
George Foreman 2.
Joe Frazier 3.Ron Lyle
4.Oscar Bonavena
5.Joe Bugner
6.Ken Norton
7.Jerry Quarry
8.Chuck Wepner
9.Henry Clark
10.Larry Middleton
1976 when Ali beats Norton again;
Muhammad Ali, Champion
1.George Foreman
2.
Ken Norton 3.Jimmy Young
4.Duane Bobick
5.Ron Lyle
6.Larry Holmes
7.Howard Smith
8.Johnny Boudreaux
9.Stan Ward
10.Joe Bugner
the question is,could someone like Douglas ever beat Ali or Foreman at their good years? funny question huh
Foreman was good enough to win the title 20 years after his prime in mid 90s (i do not wanna even think what he would do if he could box in 90s with the shape that he was in 70s,probably he would be prohibited to box).
i guess someone was intimidated by the King;
Mike Tyson, "Believe it or not, with all that poetry and the butterflies, what I learned from Ali was meanness. He was the meanest fighter of all time. He'd be in there with Foreman, hardest puncher of all time, he'd be in there with Frazier, another hardest puncher, and he'd be taking it, boom, getting pounded, and then he'd turn, when it was his time, and you'd look at that face, and he's screaming. [Does an Ali impression] "I'm not [Throws a punch] scared [Throws a punch] of you, you f**king f*ggot," Tyson said."
did someone say mental power?
Foreman is quoted as saying, “
I hit Muhammad with the hardest shot to the body that I ever delivered on any opponent. Anybody else in the world would have crumbled. Muhammad cringed; I could see it hurt. And then he looked at me; he had that look in his eyes, like he was saying I’m not going to let you hurt me.”
Foreman 6,3
Tyson 5,11
Ali (
at 32) wins over Foreman (
at 24)
Ali was not at his best but Foreman was at his best
Tyson (
at 22) wins over Holmes (
at 39)
Tyson was at his best but Holmes was not at his best
Foreman wins the title at the
age of 45 in mid 90s
ESPN’s 50 Greatest Fighters (not greatest heavyweights but greatest pound for pound boxers) :
1. Sugar Ray Robinson
2. Muhammad Ali
3. Harry Greb
4. Henry Armstrong
5. Joe Louis
6. Willie Pep
7. Roberto Duran
8. Benny Leonard
9. Sam Langford
10. Jack Johnson
11. Jack Dempsey
12. Joe Gans
13. Sugar Ray Leonard
14. Gene Tunney
15. Bob Fitzsimmons
16. Jimmy Wilde
17. Ezzard Charles
18. Mickey Walker
19. Archie Moore
20. Stanley Ketchel
21. George Foreman
22. Tony Canzoneri
23. Barney Ross
24. Jimmy McLarnin
25. Julio Cesar Chavez
26. Marcel Cerdan
27. Rocky Marciano
28. Joe Frazier
29. Sandy Saddler
30. Terry McGovern
31. Billy Conn
32. Carlos Monzon
33. Jose Napoles
34. Emile Griffith
35. Marvin Hagler
36. Eder Jofre
37. Thomas Hearns
38. Larry Holmes
39. Ruben Olivares
40. Evander Holyfield
41. Ted "Kid" Lewis
42. Alexis Arguello
43. Pernell Whitaker
44. Roy Jones Jr.
45. Bernard Hopkins
46. Mike Tyson
47. Barbados Joe Walcott
48. George Dixon
49. Mike Spinks
50. Salvador Sanchez
any of the boxers in their shapes that they lost to Tyson,could beat Foreman,Frazier,Norton or Liston in their shapes when Ali beat them? please tell me if Larry Holmes at 39 (that he was not even ranked in top 10) could beat 24 years old Foreman ...
who did Tyson beat that is considered as one of the best boxers in the history (except the near dead shape of 39 years old Holmes who was not even ranked) ?
and who would not consider Foreman (who got the title in 90s when he was 45 ;D ),Frazier and Liston as one of the top boxers in the history? Ali beat them when Ali was over 30 years old and after 3 years of prohibition to box.
*************************************************
Muhammad Ali said, “George Foreman! George Foreman is not boxing, he is just trying to kill someone!”
Foreman, "The only thing that came to my mind was, well, how did he know? This was true: I was trying to finish everyone I had to confront, and sheer anger substituted for tactics."
************************************************
Foreman, "I had a great advantage. Ali was well over the hill, and I was a clear favorite. I thought Ali would be the easiest one.
He was not in his best form, I was the most powerful puncher that had ever been, so the most realistic forecast was a knock-out after three to four rounds."
"When he looked at me after the first round, I read in his eyes: “I have survived.” He must have read in mine: “Oh you have, haven’t you?” But his tactics eventually worked. I wanted to knock him out; he just wanted to win. It was right to call his technique rope-a-dope. I was the dope, and he roped me. "
"All my best punches went astray. I might as well be hitting the air. Ali was one of the cleverest boxers I have ever seen, and I had disregarded it. I was blinded by my physical advantage, really great as it was. "
"
Only then did I understand why Ali had never been knocked out. To him the punches that stretched out 99 percent of boxers did little more than added excitement. He was looking at me as if to say, “
Hey, George, I am here, ain’t going nowhere, you are not going to get rid of me.” I have never seen such brave people, inside or outside the ring. No words can describe his courage."
"He was also good at provoking jokes, I must admit, though they never affected me.
I remember a great series that I was able to give him once, several punches on the body and head, tipped with another one on the liver. The series was real good and he was wobbling and I thought he was mine at last. But he said to me, “
Is that all, George?” I am not going to forget these words. I thought, what a devil of a man, what he said was true, I really could not offer him anything else. By all boxing standards, such a series meant victory. But he played by his own standards, he always did."
*************************************************
Don King,
"
Every erudite pundit, 95 to 98 per cent, said Ali was over the hill, he was finished, he was old and Foreman was a young buck and they said the man is going to kill him.
I got phone calls saying 'you're a mercenary, you should not let Ali go in there. He stood for too much for us for you to put him in there to get him slaughtered'.
I went to Foreman and he told me: "
Man, I don't wanna fight this guy. He's an old man, he's finished, he's over the hill. If I beat him they're gonna look at me with condemnation.
I went to Ali and said "he ain't gonna fight you". So Ali says: "Get him, I don't care what it is coz I'm gonna whup him. You get him."
So I went back to Foreman and said: "Ali says he's gonna whup you and you're going bye, bye, bye."
So Foreman says: "He talks too much, I gotta shut his mouth."
And I'm sayin': "That's it, that's it George. This is how you get him and shut his mouth. Give him an opportunity so you can then shut that mouth and then me and you can move on."
Foreman's shape during the years that Ali beat him;
Foreman at 45 when he won the title in 1990s