Muhammad Ali is generally recognised as the greatest HW Boxer, and more often than not he is the number 1 on most top 10 HW lists. BUT sometimes I see some people ranking Louis above Ali and this Thread is directed to those guys, who do so. What are you arguments for ranking Louis above Ali? Does he have the resume, H2H ability and accomplishments required, to surpass Muhammad?
Either pick is fine. There is no wrong answer here. What I will say is that people who pick Louis, to be consistent, should be prioritising the world title as a factor, that's Louis's great strength, all those defence. Behind that you have consistency and consistentcy. Becasue there is no question of when beat the better and greater fighters, that is Ali. That is why I voted for him.
That's true. But it doesn't need to be Lewis, it can be Holmes, Fury, Wladrimir. H2h is way speculative, so you can pick whoever you like within reason.
Ali's resume is something not many heavyweights can par on level with imo. Which is why I have hime 1.
I agree. Holmes and Wlad are two great calls as well. It also depends quite a bit on the guy they're pitched against.
I'd agree but what if he had an extra loss against Norton and had been stopped against Cooper? Two things that could well have happened.
IMO Ali fought way better opposition regardless, which is why he had extra loses in the first place with guys like Norton.
I remember that Ali and Joe Frazier, had a hard time gaining acceptance by the experts from previous generations whose heroes were Louis, Dempsey, and others of that generation, with Marciano just above them Even as experts from even farther back did the same with Jeffires, Johnson, Fitzsimmons, ahead of Dempsey and Louis So forgetting what others say, he was a good tactician, didnt lay on the ropes and take a beating like Ali, but he sure didnt have Ali's chin and he never beat another great heavyweight. I wonder, how would he have held off a young tiger like Mike Tyson?
Ali - prime Ali with the movement and evasiveness - was special. It's hard matching him up in the imagination against fighters. Slower more hittable Ali I think would have been dog treats.
Strong consistent lateral movement troubled Louis and it really showed that fight, not counting Louis out though.
