Floyd Mayweather takes swipe at Muhammad Ali while ranking greatest boxers

I agree, Ali's résumé is nuts. Mayweather's is a bit tainted. It's not bad perse, but it's not as good as it could've been had he fought his best wins earlier.

You doing the new survey thread mate? Should be fun!

 

There is a thread on this forum that details the number wins over top 10 ranked fighters, at the time of the fight, that Ali beat. I'm pretty it was 33 all in all. Louis had 30, I think. From there it's a sharp drop.

Since he beat some top 10 ranked opponents more than once, your figure seems to correspond pretty well with the one in that thread.

 

I've just looked at the survey thread...

...That's my July spoken for then

 

I can't find that thread right now, but I think Ali had 21 wins overs guys ranked in the top 5 at the time of the fight as well.

Machen and Holmes were probably the only notable fighters he didn't beat during his career. And with the exception of Williams, every good fighter he beat was either in his prime or reasonably close to it.

As we've already stated, he can't be accused of ducking Machen. Holmes had a stronger claim for a shot (in '78), but not as strong as Norton's.

Ali's second reign was quite crappy after Norton III, but when he still was anywhere near his prime he was always up for any challenge.

 

Does not surprise me. I think I tallied 25/26 of Ali's opponents in the Top-5 range - but, my count is no doubt a rougher cut.

And this is another aspect of Ali's career, which adds valuable strength to his ledger.

Agreed on all counts.

I too think it would be fair to say that the year-end 1976 represented the outer limit of Ali's worthwhile career. But, so much of what he did inside of that is credit-worthy.

 

Ingemar Johansson? Though Ingo retired in '63, so there was only a small window for that. If he'd stuck around I guess he would have been one of Ali's defences in the 60s like Patterson, Folley etc.

Someone recently a posted a list of all the top 10 rated fighters that the heavyweight champs faced in their careers. Ali and Louis were way out in front. There is a reason why pretty much everyone rates them as the top two.

 

Yeah, Ingo could have been a possible opponent for an up and coming Ali in '62 or '63. Never heard that it was discussed, though.

Yep. They are in a league of their own. Also in terms of wins for the lineal title. Is there anyone else who even breaks 10? Wlad probably does, but with Vitaly around he was never as undisputed as Ali or Louis.

 

So it's Ali's dominance in one division, even though being past his best for the larger part of his period at the top, compared to Floyd being the best for some time in at least three division, while also being past his best for a sizeable time, and for the most part being the smaller fighter.

 

neither one is anywere near the best of all time!

 

true

 

Bull !!!
Was Moore in his prime ? Liston ? Patterson ? Williams ?

 

It was one short sentence and you manage to miss that I Wrote "except for Williams"?

Moore was old as hell, but he came off a draw with Pastrano and a brutal KO of the rated Lavorante, so while he wasn't in his prime of course he was hardly shot either.

And as for Liston I know you are one of those who say he was 163, but he was seven months off from taking Patterson out in one round, so try as you might you won't convince me he was way past his prime in that fight. And Patterson himself would go on beating top contenders for seven years and was ranked nr 1 when he faced Ali, so...

 

My point was that Floyd wasn't the only one who fought men that were passed their prime.

 

No one said he was. Ali's main opponents were all prime or close to it, though.