Who was the best opponent Muhammad Ali faced at the time of their fight?

I think Liston would have a case if he had taken Ali as seriously as he should have and prepared accordingly, but he in all likelihood didn't.

 

The obvious ones Foreman and Frazier and Norton. I would say Liston was actually the best man he beat but I don’t think Liston was seriously training at that point in his career. To comfortable to much partying no fire

 

Joe Frazier.

 

Same thing happened to Wlad.

Fury and Joshua were the two best fighters he ever faced as a pro ... and they came in his last two outings when he was older than Ali.

 

Joe Frazier...FOTC...March 8, 1971. You would have had to kill Frazier that night to beat him. Joe was never the same again. He left EVERYTHING he had in the ring that night. I think that the Joe from that night in '71 beats any version of Ali.

 

1 Larry Holmes
2 George Foreman
3 Joe Frazier
4 Sonny Liston
5 Floyd Patterson
6 Ken Norton
7 Jimmy Ellis
8 Jerry Quarry
9 Jimmy Young
10 Leon Spinks

 

Not in Sonny's case. He wasn't in top physical condition in Miami. For whatever reason and it showed in the ring. Liston fought a terrible fight. He was in what we call 3 round shape. Perhaps expecting Clay/Ali to fold early.

 

He was certainly on a mission at that time in his career.

 

If you're asking who was the closest to his prime when Ali faced him, it's between Frazier and Foreman.
If you're asking who's the best (in his prime) from all the opponents Ali faced, the answer is Liston.

 

Holmes, Foreman, Frazier.

 

He fought Holmes, Foreman and Frazier in their prime. All unbeaten, all World champs. Take your pick, there’s a case for all three.

But at the time of their fights I think that Foreman’s fearsome KO power and aura of danger and invincibility at the time of the Ali fight probably swings it for me.

That’s not to say he would be the highest in an all time retrospective Top 10, but I just think that Foreman in 1974 was feared more than Frazier in ‘71 and Holmes in ‘80. Foreman’s destruction of the previously unbeaten and all conquering Frazier a year before the Ali fight cemented that opinion.

 

Plus, terrifying obliteration of the Ali-jaw-breaking Norton.

 

I would say the Norton who fought Ali the first time was peak, the sharpest, fitter version. My man Kenny brought his A game to the ring and put that Ali mouthpiece to eat porridge with a straw
Frazier FOTC was also peak IMO.
Foreman, I suppose so, but he had glaring shortcomings back then which Ali exploited to the fullest.

 

Joe Frazier in Fight 1. Norton in Fight 1. Jimmy Young.

 

I'd say as others have Joe Frazier every time. Ken Norton took him to his limits and tested him mentally and physically. Jimmy Young gave him a hard time but that could be due to Muhammad Ali's sub standard condition at the time. Larry Holmes after he left as a sparring partner in 1975 if he had got an opportunity to fight him a year a two later before Ken Norton in 1976 or Earnie Shavers in 1977 got to him that would have been a much more interesting match up than we got after his layoff/retirement in 1980.