All time great fighters, that could have NEVER beaten another fighter based on styles

Must have competed at the same weight as the other fighter competed in.

List'em


Duran vs Hearns. Duran aint beating Hearns at any weight they both have in common.
Ditto for Mayweather vs Hearns. In fact Hearns is the ONLY guy that I'd say definitely beats Mayweather at 147lbs
Ditto for Whitaker vs Hearns

Hearns' style owns a lot of other fighters in history.

Frazier vs Foreman

Name some others...

 

Floyd vs Thesaurus

 

I know he beat a past prime version, but IMO Tyson's style beats any version of Holmes.

For one, Mike had the footspeed and ability to cut off the ring on any version of Holmes. And two, Larry always had a tendency to keep his left hand low enough for Tyson to come over it.

The late 70s/early 80s Holmes lasts longer and is more competitive, but in the end I always see Mike catching him and stopping him.

 

I think a prime Ali would always beat Joe Louis.

Controversial but I think Evander Holyfield beats any version of Tyson. Evander was all wrong for Mike.

 

You say always like they actually fought. LOL.

I'd pick the 60s Ali over any heavyweight in history, but the Brown Bomber was no joke and would probably hurt Ali at some point. But yes, I'd expect Ali to win.

86-88 Tyson beats Holy, I have no doubt about that.

 

Holy had the stuff to beat Tyson. He was all chin and heart with good handspeed and he'd just keep fighting through any pain. Tyson was more talented (faster hands, more power, better defense, even better chin) but mentally he wouldn't be able to hang indefinitely in the toe to toe brawl.

 

If a prime Tyson and a prime Holy fought 10 times I doubt Holy would win 9 or 10 so I don't think it qualifies.

 

I think Hatton's mauling tactics would've worked against any version of Tszyu.

 

To an extent, but a younger sharper Tszyu would catch Ricky coming in a lot easier.

 

That is definitely the argument against it. But I think Tszyu was at his best coming forward and leading. He didn't like to mix offense and defense.

 

I've NEVER been much a of Tszyu fan, and I usually go against him in MM's, but he stops Hatton in his prime.

People forget how close the fight was until the later rounds when Hatton's youth took over.

Tszyu was catching Hatton, but clearly didn't have the same velocity and sharpness on his shots that he once had, and he had difficulty pulling the trigger in general.

The Tszyu that beat MAG would sharp shoot Hatton.

 

ANOTHER thing about prime Tszyu vs Hatton, let's consider that the fight happens on neutral turf where there's no hometown ref allowing Hatton to grapple.

Prime Tszyu vs Hatton on neutral turf, where Hatton's mauling is monitored, and Hatton REALLY has no chance.

 

I think Whitaker schools Chavez at any weight, any time, something the JCC groupies hate hearing.

 

What about Chavez vs De La Hoya? Granted...Chavez was about 100 years old when they fought but even in his prime Chavez would have been slower, smaller and less powerful than De La Hoya and his style was always to apply pressure

 

This is always a hotly debated one.

I concede that DLH always gives Chavez a lot of problems, but I'd pick the 89-90 Chavez to win.

Just an ENTIRELY different beast for Oscar to face. DLH would control the early rounds, but prime Chavez would steadily score more and more, and by the late rounds I think he'd be in control as Oscar fades.

Chavez by competitive, yet clear decision.

 

Lewis always beats Holyfield, for me. Especially the pre-steroids Holyfield.

I think Whitaker-Chavez at lightweight is competitive but I go with Sweet Pea to win a decision.

What about Hopkins vs Calzaghe? Was Calzaghe's workrate the key to beating B-Hop or does B-Hop in his prime make his advantage in skill count?

 

Prime Hopkins outboxes Calz.

 

I was gonna say Lewis / Holy too.

 

Tszyu was not shot when he fought Hatton, and was even coming one if not the best performance of his life. People only say this to cover the fact that they gave no shot to Hatton prior to the fight


Lol at Calz-Hopkins. Joe got a controversial decision (with most ringside media scoring it for Bhop) over a past 40 Hopkins and now he would always beat him

 

another terrible exemple. The second fight was razor close. It's ridiculous to think that a tyounger Holy couldn't improve on this a bit if they fought ten times

 

Pre-Indiana Tyson BEATS Holyfield...

Even w/PED's Holy STRUGGLED to Make 210 Back Then...He was More Filled Out by the Time he Actually Faced Mike AND More Seasoned (Particularly in Terms of Using his Head for "Accidental" Butts and Clinching)...

Easy to Forget Now, but Post-Indiana Tyson had SUCCESS Against Holyfield "Early Doors"...Buckled Him w/the Very 1st Shot he Threw...Pre-Indiana Tyson Had a Higher Workrate Too...

Fucking Bert Cooper Nearly KO'ed Holyfield, Back Then...Chin and Heart Can Only Take You Soooooooooo Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar, Against a Guy w/the Speed and Power of Tyson...

Would Definitely Be Interesting if Holy Survived the Early Going, but No Way Does he Manage to Do That 10 Out of 10...

Holy Had Post-Indiana Tyson's Number for Sure, but REED Doesn't Think that was Case w/a Younger Mike...





REED

 

Yup. REED summed it up. Pre-prison Tyson beats Holy, but Holy obviously has his moments against the early 90s Tyson, who was ALREADY on the decline.

I don't think Holy does well at all against the 87-88 Tyson. I think he gets his ass whupped.

 

Cotto-Mosley would have been a different story in Shane's prime. I think prime Mosley would have gotten Cotto out of there late.

 

Benitez-Hearns

Benitez would slip a six punch flurry from Hearns but fire nothing back because he isn't in range to land clean

 

Calzaghe only barely beat a slightly past prime Hopkins, you have to figure that a prime Hopkins would win. It'll still be competitive and close though

 

Agreed. No way does Lewis own Holyfield from what we saw. I'd take a younger Holyfield to beat Lewis more often than not actually

 

Perhaps, but only if Shane managed to badly hurt him with a single punch, which is possible. Cotto aside from chin was always a better fighter than Shane and in their actually fight it was only close because cotto inexplicably stopped fighting late and let Shane back into the fight. Cotto would outbox Shane even though he had slower hands

 

I think you are misinterpreting events. In theor first fight, Lewis dominated. But he bought into the criticism mostly from the Holyfield camp - no surprise - that he ran too much and didn't engage. So in the second fight he made a conscious decision to engage more. And as a result, the fight was closer. But the first fight is what it looks like when Lewis is just trying to win. And holyfield couldn't do shit.

 

Nah....you're the one misinterpreting events,

In the first fight, Evander was pissed because of pre-fight comment from Lewis suggesting that he was a hypocrite due to him having multiple kids out of wedlock while professing Christianity. This prompted Holyfield to make the bold prediction that he'd knock Lewis out in 3 rounds. Holyfield fooled himself into believing this was a revelation from God and as such he didn't prepare all that well mentally or physically, just coasted in the first 2 rounds and the went all out to stop Lewis in the 3rd. When he failed in the KO attempt, he realized that there was no God involved in this and now he was lost without a plan B. So Lewis won the rest of the fight...although it was more competitive than people seem to remember. of Course the DRAW verdict was BS but still it's not like it was Lewis vs Tua either.

In the rematch Holyfield prepared properly and it was a different fight. That was an OLD Holyfield anyway. A younger fresher Evander beats Lewis more often than not due to styles...even though I think Lewis is the better fighter.