There were some things about the death that did make me wonder. I don’t know that much about purse straps but it must be a strong one if it supported his weight if he hung himself. His wife smiling for the cameras when she got released by authorities kind of rubbed me the wrong way. But trying to use his ring performances to argue he wouldn’t kill himself always made no sense. Everyday life is different than sports. Going thru all that hell in the ring shows that boxing was important to him, and now his career was over. He had well-known issues with alcohol abuse, which has high correlations with depression and suicide. You knew when watching him fight that there was a good chance it could catch up with him and he would suffer brain damage, he took a scary amount of hits to the head. Besides, taking a horrendous beating in the ring and refusing to quit brings you closer to death, not farther.
I do. His fight against Holmes alone was all about him being an ATG. He REFUSED to concede that title, and he walked through a hail of punches to prove it. Some people thought he won, and though I thought he lost too many early rounds to keep it, I don't argue with those who feel he did. I have him at #20 ATG...above Briggs, Weaver, Thomas, Tubbs, Tucker...
Guess it depends where one chooses to draw the line. The possibly 20th greatest heavyweight ever probably doesn't qualify compared to that position in other weight classes.
I think casual old guy fans are more willing to say he’s great than the weirdos on this site. The thread happened and a lot of people are giving “great, but...” answers with one or two who just think he was great. https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/very-good-or-great-volume-1-ken-norton.221577/
Ali's Zaire rope-a-dope wouldn't have worked as well against most of the elite heavyweights of the past 50 years...including Anthony Joshua.
Anthony Joshua’s casual hunt-and-peck against a lazy Ruiz in the rematch wouldn’t have worked against most of the elite heavyweights of the past 50 years ... most especially Muhammad Ali.
Are you saying that you think the rope-a-dope would have worked as well against Joshua as it did against Foreman, or did you just mean this as an aside?
- James Toney was not a defensive genius (got hit too much & ended up punch-drunk) - Muhammad Ali couldn't fight on the inside - Larry Holmes had no left hook - Floyd Mayweather wasn't a runner
I think both are true. I also don’t think Ali would have necessarily rope-a-doped Joshua but I certainly believe he would beat him. Joshua is nowhere near Foreman’s equal in cutting off the ring and we see what happens when he faces a counter-puncher with relatively fast hands (but nowhere near as fast as Ali’s).
- Rocky Marciano would have been a top 5 heavyweight in the 70s - Evander Holyfield was a dirty fighter - Lennox Lewis had a pretty good chin (minus the 2 major incidences)
