True or false did we miss out on seeing true peak Ali?

yes, I think we missed out on some good years he was gone and then some years he had to get back in shape.. Frazier might not have been able to make as much ground had Ali been active.

 

Those years are usually a prime for a boxer or any athlete in general in pro sports . . there are always exceptions to the rule but ,, It just makes what Ali accomplished so much more remarkable imo

 

I think it’s a possibility. He was awesome both before and after so it stands to reason that maybe we missed the truly sweet spot.

 

Yes I think we did. Maybe he beats Frazier too, if no exile.

 

Speed. Man-strength. Durability. Prime. Faded. Rusty. Past it. Showing signs. Jaw. Wasn't a fan of him then but. Frazier. Piling up points. Young. Shavers. Prime. Footwork. Williams literally shot. Only ___ rounds in ___ years. Jungle. Don King. But regained the title. Should never have lost but regained. Padilla. Angie. Rumble.

 

Angelo Dundee said, we never saw the prime Ali ",and I agree with him.

 

To a degree, yes. The degree however is usually grossly overestimated and mythologized because of his media image and casual fans' perception of his career. Same thing with Tyson, really.

Thing is, plenty of boxers missed their potential, peak condition. I don't happen to see people lament that. Foreman for example missed his potential peak form when he retired at the age of 27 (take away one year from his career post-Zaire and then we've seen him mostly getting up on his feet and trying out a new style with Gil Clancy.)

Me personally, I consider 30-32/3 to the conflux of skill, physicality, and experience for most boxers. Give or take depending on the style, wear and tear, etc. As for Ali missing his potential best self: we didn't get to see that. He'd certainly be better if he theoretically train through those three years. Then again, such what if is a bitter game that can be applied to any athlete.

 

I sometimes think that Muhammad could n't actually have GOT any better than he was against Cleveland Williams and Ernie Terrell. He was absolutely awesome around this time. What we would have seen,had he not been exiled for three and a half years,was that peak lasting quite a few years longer. !966-67 was his prime and 1972-74 his "Seventies" prime.

 

If he fights Frazier in 68/9', he outclasses him imo.

He said he wanted to retire early, which is why he never learned a proper cross, always depending on his reflexes, which caused him trouble when they started fading. For all we know we could've seen Ali retiring around 40-0.

I doubt he would've retired though, when you're on top, it attracts any man to stay on top.

Would he have even fought Norton? Norton was in the lower top 10 when Ali fought him, only reason was he was fighting every contender in the world to get a shot at Foreman.

 

The years after 25 were usually a fighters best at that time. Nowadays it would probably be the years just after 30. So probably, yes, in short.

 

Impossible to say.
Without the break he might have got bored and lost his sharpness quickly. We don't know, he might have had a nightmare outing in his next 1967 fight for all we know. Folley might have been his last prime performance anyway, we just don't know.

 

True

 

No, it can't be applied to any athlete. How many were forced out of their sport at 25 do you mean?

Foreman choose to retire at 27 because he hadn't recovered mentally from losing the title and couldn't handle losing again. That's not quite the same as being banned.

Louis lost some good years going into WW2, though. I think we got to see him at his peak at 28, though, but I would have liked to have seen his career uninterrupted.

SRL decided to retire smack in his physical prime, but as with Foreman it was his own decision and when a fighter no longer wants to continue I don't think we miss anything but them underperforming.

Dempsey is another that pissed away good years by his own choice. But he didn't have the decency to vacate the title. And the same with him, someone who can't be arsed to turn up likely isn't going to set the place on fire if he does.

Tyson is a better comparison to Ali. His time in prison meant that he lost a good chunk of his physical prime and some great match-ups never took place. Mainly him and Holy in their physical primes of course, but I'd have loved to see him and Bowe somewhere in '92, '93 as well.

 

Ali did it by his own choice too though.