Was Ali the greatest heavyweight of all time?

The fight against Bonavena, his first full 15 rds after coming back, clearly shows this as well.

 

Against Chuvalo in 1966 he was the same weight he was for FOTC, but he had clearly more defined muscle tone in 1966.

 

Agree your praise for Ali, but with regards to beating top ranked hw's, Ruddock, Mason,Mercer,Golota,Tua,Morrison,Grant,Botha,Holyfield,Tyson,Tucker,Klitschko,Bruno,Mcall,Rahman,. Lennox's resume was comparable save for maybe a Bowe in 94 ish ?

 

Interesting. ..Foreman is way overrated and when Ali and Frazier met as peak and unbeaten , Frazier beat Ali.

 

Ali's greatness transcended boxing.
He's number 1 , greatness of that level is about more than the sport.
Was he the best fighter? Imo Lennox of the Ruddock/ Grant/ Tua/ Golota / Rahman2 fights beats anyone who ever lived, but being the greatest covers a wider brief.

 

Agree but just a footnote...so did Lennox

 

That's 15 wins you've listed for Lewis.

In the 70's alone Ali beat Bonavena, Quarryx2, Frazierx2, Ellis, MacFoster, Al Lewis, Patterson, Chuvalo, Bugnerx2, Nortonx2, Foreman, Wepner, Lyle, Young, Shavers and L. Spinks. All of them were top 10 ranked or just thereabouts when he beat them. That's 20 wins. Except Louis and perhaps Holmes there are preciously few HWs who can beat or even match that number.

Over his whole career Ali had about 35 wins over fighters who were top 10 ranked at the time he beat them. That would be about double the number Lewis had.

 

What other fighters coming back from a 3,5 year inactivity do you view as peak?

 

Pure insanity. This is why he is indeed the Greatest!!!

 

Thanks for the Tapia reference. We can't hold that against Ali though. Tapia was just that good.

 

He does indeed seem to fit the bill. That was a long ban. I don't know anything about how he spent it, but it should have made a difference whether he kept busy training or not.

 

Yes it would. Reason being is what Ali was before and what he became after that lay off. Sure the hand speed was their, he really didn't start losing that until after about 74 or 75. But the foot speed was noticeably slower and not consistent like it was before the layoff. Ali was a fighter that depended on his athleticism for his defense. (Like Roy Jones) And once that athleticism started to decline as it does when a fighter starts approaching 30 all the habits(bad) that he got away with in his youth, he didn't get away with after the forced lay-off. That decline of athleticism and loss of foot speed made for some of the most exciting fights in the history of boxing, And really cemented (At least in my opinion as the best Heavy in history) That toughness, will to win, guile, incredible heart and chin against the deepest era in heavy history is indeed the reason he deserves to be called "The Greatest of all times". (At least for the heavyweight div) Also Holyfield DOES get a pass, everyone gave him a pass for the Bowe lost. Noting 1st The size differences and Holyfield was older and had been in so many wars prior to the Bowe fight. He gets a pass, and rightfully so . Lewis however got sparked TWICE by a little above average competition in Mccall and Rahman in the prime of or just past the prime of his career. He doesn't deserve a pass.

 

He ramped up his cocaine use, died a couple of times in the ER. After that boxing was the easy part.

 

I'm not knocking Ali, just saying Lennox had a very deep resume also. Wepner and Al Blue Lewis couldn't be classed as top opponents.