The fallacy of Ali's "prime"

Mohammad Ali lost his step and his legs due to exile.
He is too young for it to happen naturally.
Between a person's 25 and 28 years of age, a healthy person is still gaining physical attributes, not losing them.
So IMHO we really haven't seen Mohammad Ali's peak

 

You don’t last fifteen highly competitive rounds with Joe Frazier if you have, “lost your legs.”

The excuses for that Ali loss must have embarrassed Ali personally, so deep-seated & extremist are they. He was never going to beat a guy like Frazier in a first-time meeting, unless it’s very early in Frazier’s career. He had never endured anything like him & under-estimated the threat.

Ali was always losing that first fight, even in the late 60’s. But the amount of ability he lost, which is real to be fair, has been exaggerated unlike any story in mythology I have ever seen, in or out of sports.

 

I didn't mention Frazier at all, FOTC, or look for an excuse for that Ali defeat (I didn't even think about it).

 

He wouldn't be a problem for Anthony Joshua

 

Tenacity and willpower only goes so far against dudes half a foot taller that also average 40-50 lbs more with modern nutrition, training methods and PEDs, like you see in todays era of giants.

 

Who are so amazingly far & away superior that they end up with middling careers & zero legacy, en masse, virtually without exception.

 

If they fought earlier Ali likely would’ve gone in underestimating Frazier like he did in FOTC while enraging him as well, that doesn’t bode well. He could have won since Frazier hadn’t hit his peak yet but he needed to learn Frazier’s style to adjust his way of fighting him as seen in the rematches.

 

AJ? Wlad? They’re very modern fighters.

 

How does Klitschko’s legacy hold up next to Frazier’s?

 

Frazier wasn’t overly spectacular IMO.

 

I certainly feel the same way about both Klitschko’s.

 

Nice one.

 

I wouldn’t say Ali “lost” his legs relative to the legs of other fighter - but then no one had the leg capabilities that Ali had in the first place.

The point for me is that primeAli’s leg speed was so sublime and well maintained throughout a fight, it was a feature that couldn’t last forever and would likely reduce before anything else.

As a loose analogy, I’ve read that people’s sprinting speed peaks at about age 24-25 (based on non professionals I believe).

When one holds a particularly extraordinary feature, especially singularly, as Ali did in terms of peak mobility, the longevity of same is limited and there is certainly only one way to go from the level of movement he displayed - and that is down.

Alis ability to move and maintain the movement he did at peak was appreciably reduced when he came back to fight Frazier.

 

Try Roberto Duran on for size. Fought Buchanan in his 29th fight and beat De Jesus for the second time about 5+ years later which is when a great many believe he showed himself to be at his utter peak. A big majority believe he improved post De Jesus II and by the time he won the rubber match he had 60+ fights under his belt and even given a great many were easy keep busy fights for many years and many fights.

Peak does not = prime.

Ali was peaking right when he went into exile and he only needed a worthy opponent to drive that home. That came after the layoff when he was absolutely no longer peak.

 

Hi Buddy.
Firstly welcome on board, good to see the forum attracting new members, and with time I am sure you will blossom and become a member that is afforded admiration for yours posts, in the meantime to state that Ali is overrated is ( I know its your opinion, I am respecting that ) well, difficult for me to comprehend, maybe it's because I grew up with Ali, that has been levelled at me before in the past, a large percentage of the forum either have Louis or Ali as their number 1 , which is only opinions granted, but we have to put some credence to that stat, don't we,
as I have said on numerous occasions I respect everyone's opinion and, and yours is no different, but I am struggling with this one.
As for he " doesn't beat " which you have put in 3 times, how can you, or anybody for that matter, know this ? in the written word the phrase comes across as a tad presumptuous, and a little bit all knowing, which none of us are, the more reasoned, " for me " or " the way I see it " is softer on the eye, anyway, the old man has vented his spleen ( in a instructive way, I would hope ) or I am overreacting and getting a little sensitive with the passing of time, moving on, I am sure you will be posting lots of interesting and informative articles on here in the near future, again good to have you as a member.
stay safe DBC, chat soon.