Fair enough guy has one controversial loss to an ATG and an injury stoppage. Has wins against big punchers and slick boxers. Huge guy with no clear stylistic kryptonite. I was more on the fence about fury or Bowe than vitali
1 - Muhammad Ali 2 - Joe Louis 3 - Lennox Lewis 4 - George Foreman / Larry Holmes 5 - Sonny Liston 6 - Riddick Bowe 7 - Joe Frazier 8 - Mike Tyson 9 - Harry Wills
Louis was great for his day but too slow and flat footed and average sized to mix it in the modern era. I like Holmes and Tyson, think they can give anyone hell from any era ... Ali was a bit of a punching bag all throughout the 70s. That may have been ok against Frazier, Norton and Shavers, but I don't think it would fare very well against the likes of Tyson, Lewis, or any of the big boys from Klitschko brothers on
Pre-exile Ali. The guy from the Terrell and Williams fights would be a real rough time for any HW ever.
That's a very small sample size when you get down to it. And why do we bestow the "exile" connotation only for Ali? He was suspended from boxing. Nobody says Big Baby Miller was "exiled" No one ever said Mike Tyson was "exiled" But we always use that term for Ali like he was some castaway on a desert island. The reality is he was living at home spending time with family and friends while his countrymen were busy getting blown to peices in Vietnam
You might be able to use it for others, but when people feel the exile was an injustice when it was a matter of principle & others get to be conscientious objectors, & then the Superme Court, no radical institution, votes unanimously for his reinstatement, it is a highly apt term. And most believe that our involvement was very wrong, & nobody should have gotten blown to bits. Also the guy named 2 fights when he was at his peak, does not mean there were not others. 7 in '66-early '67 before they got rid of him. And you might use the 3 fights before that, Liston & Patterson two. Ali had some great virtues & large flaws. Do you dislike him on every score, as a fighter & man?
Terrell was average at best and Williams was shot, thus making Ali look much better than he actually was.
No, but I don't blindly put him on a pedestal either. It always annoys me when I see these hypothetical matches with Ali vs whoever, and the consensus is that x fighter would have zero shot against him, because we'll, it's just Ali. No fighter, NO FIGHTER, is bigger then the sport....and furthermore there IS plenty of footage of Ali exposing his flaws and weakness along with his great attributes...so to suggest that he simply could not be touched by any other fighter, even at his peak, is none sense. One thing I do not like about him however, it's a bit hypocritical for fans to complain about the antics and poor sportsmanship of guys like Adrian Broner or Floyd Mayweather because they are "brash" or "loud mouths" or what have you, but then we turn around and celebrate Ali for acting the exact same way. As if it's cute and funny when Ali does it, but not anyone else
He looked quick compared to some of his opponents, sure....but nah, I would say modern guys are much more fleet of foot and can throw hands with better speed