Ali Uncharacteristically Aggressive Against Mac Foster.

Fair enough, Russell mentioned Ali's matches in Japan, and Inoki by name.

Mac Foster to me is overrated. His best wins over Thad Spencer and Cleveland Williams happened when they were on the slide. He also beat Folley in his last fight. Ever time Foster fought someone in his prime and ranked, he lost.

Mac Foster vs. Cleveland Williams or Zora Folley in their primes probably would have gone differently.

As a side note, Mac Foster did floor Sonny Liston in sparring. While Liston was past his best by then, it's no accident Liston never selected Mac Foster as an opponent. Instead Liston bet $10,000.00 for Mac Foster to beat Quarry in 1970. Quarry put it to Mac Foster, stopping him in six rounds.

 

Wait a minute! Are you suggesting it was a farce?! Are you also opining Ali Wasn’t taking the fight seriously and saw that Inoki was?! Thank you for enlightening us all.

 

There are times when I have to say I find Ali over rated ..

 

Lost all respect for Bugner in their second fight in 1975. The "never has so little been done with so much" wannabe fought only to survive that night.
Never had a defining win in his career; and don't bring up Frazier, maybe his best performance (in a loss) and Joe was coming off his first fight after being beat down by Foreman.

 

I dunno. I was kind of impressed with how effectively he pressured Foster. Even went to the body from time to time. It wasn't his style, but it was interesting to watch him use an approach that everyone said he was completely incapable of using to good effect.

 

Ali had some fights in the 60's and more fights in the 70's where he didn't look great, sometimes allowing guys who would be lucky to win a round vs. Lewis or Klitschko to have some moments against him.

But he also was great when he had to be. The Lyle fight, behind on points, and the Foreman fight for example.
Other times Ali could not seize the moment and win. Examples the first Frazier fight when Frazier beat him and was close to a stoppage in round 11, and the first Norton fight where I think it if was 15 rounds, Ali get's TKO'd.

Rising to take it to Foreman, then considered near unbeatable ( who crushed Frazier and Norton before ) at the time I think was Ali finest hour, not winning re-matches vs. Frazier who was a bit past it or Norton on the cards, in a fight he did not deserve.

You just can't take away anyone's best win. In Ali's case beating the undefeated Foreman is an eraser of sorts to his losses when you consider who Foreman destroyed.

I guess it goes to show how important a re-match can be to a fighters career. If Frazier and Norton didn't give them, Ali is viewed differently. Still an ATG top 10 guy based on the Foreman and Liston win's but not 1 or 2 for sure.

I don't view Mac Foster as one of Ali top ten wins.

Foreman
Frazier x2
Lyle
Liston 1
Terrell
Quarry
Shavers
Norton ( 2nd fight )
Patterson

^^^ Likely his best ten wins.

 

Foreman and Liston (1) are by far his best .. Manila is up there too .. I thought the Lyle fight was a poor performance saved by Lyle freezing up ..

 

He never boxed as well vs Liston, but the ending was a bit fishy. Manila was the other legendary performance by Ali. Still wonder what if there was a 15th round.

 

A hour before the fight? Did Ali admit this? Source please. If Ali himself said it on record after the fight, I might buy it. Otherwise its sounds like a made up excuse. Ali took this loss hard.

Fighters are in their dressing room / getting their hands tapes ( often viewed by the other fighters camp), warming up, getting instructions from the referee, and getting mental ready before the fight.

Was Ali vs Norton 1 was delayed?