was ron lyle past his prime when he fought ali?

[rightsideup]

He tried not to punch himself out as foreman had done but Ali implemented the exact strategy he outlined to Howard c and scored a stoppage.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Didn't lyles spend most of his "prime" years in prison...

And can you blame a guy for not trying to get into another wild brawl like the foreman fight

[K-DOGG]

He tried not to punch himself out as foreman had done but Ali implemented the exact strategy he outlined to Howard c and scored a stoppage.

I'd say he was right on the tail end of it, perhaps. He was actually winning the fight when Ali caught him with that beautiful right hand, which got him in trouble.

Some in the crowd even thought it was a premature stoppage.

[TBear]

He was past his prime when he fought Lynn Ball.

[Sugarj]

I'd say that Lyle was very much prime at that time. For that era it was considered that he peaked quite late (34-35 years old), but that wouldn't be considered old for a heavyweight these days. He only turned pro at 30!

After Ali he would go on to great fights with Foreman & Shavers......

[Ray Corso]

Lyle wasn't even in 5 years when he fought Ali. Ron's problem was consistance in his training camps and mental preparation and thats a major problem for many many good fighters.
Fans forget or don't know what it takes to physically get ready then ad the mental focus that the vast majority of fans have no clue about. If you can't "get right" prior to a fight and theres the smallest doubt about yourself the
smallest thought can escalate in a few seconds then how do you recover?
Boxing is NOT easy!!
They matched him with Young because Young wasn't a big puncher and thought as long as Lyle had some hustle
in him he'd be ready for Ali next. Well he wasn't ready for Young and he did
ok Ali but failed.
I personally liked Lyle he was the man from tough times who tried to give boxing a go and he was well schooled and pretty well rounded also but
the street demons were present.
Hell if this sport were easy Shaq would the heavyweight champion.
He probably could be anyways the division is horrible.
Ray

[K-DOGG]

I'd say that Lyle was very much prime at that time. For that era it was considered that he peaked quite late (34-35 years old), but that wouldn't be considered old for a heavyweight these days. He only turned pro at 30!

After Ali he would go on to great fights with Foreman & Shavers......

I thought the Shavers fight was before the Ali fight......thought it was how he earned a shot at the title.

[Scott9945]

I thought the Shavers fight was before the Ali fight......thought it was how he earned a shot at the title.

Lyle fought Shavers about 4 months after the Ali fight, and then fought Foreman about another 4 months after that.

[Sugarj]

I thought the Shavers fight was before the Ali fight......thought it was how he earned a shot at the title.

It was his fights with Middleton, Bonavena and Ellis that brought him into contention; The Shavers fight was immediately after the Ali defeat.....

[The Old LefHook]

Lyle didn't exactly have a prime in the normal sense. What was Walcott's prime? Ali was certainly past his prime. A few years earlier he would have dispatched of Lyle easily. He would barely have touched the Ali who beat big Cat Williams.

Lyle would be heavyweight champion today.