Capable contender? Ernie Terell was an awesome heavyweight but he was wayyyy past his prime by the time he fought Ali. Losing to Thad Spencer, Manuel Ramos and going the distance with a washed up Doug Jones. Ali meat riders are unbelievable lmao The same Ernie who defeated Cleveland Williams was tenfold faster and he would have given Ali a much harder fight
Terrell was 28 years old and had been the number 1 contender for the last 2 years,the highest ranking he achieved, for the 2 years prior to that he had been number 3. Ernie was unbeaten in his last 15 fights over the previous5 years and had beaten Jones Chuvalo and Machen ,in his previous 3 fights. His losses to Spencer and Ramos occurred after his loss to Ali. Who was a more capable ,deserving contender than no 1 for the previous 2 years Terrell? You time scale is out mate!
I had just started a similar post not long ago and thought why bother hahaha. Good post Mac but i can already imagine the reply.
Remarkably Ali looked just as fresh in the 15th round as in the first round in his fight with Terrell. To bad we missed out on Ali's prime years. I really think he would be in discussion for the P4P greatest of all-time if it was not for the 3 and a half year layoff This content is protected
I agree wholeheartedly. I think he wasn't the same after that beating, he took from Ali. I don't think Pre Ali Terrell loses to Spencer and Ramos. But yeah Terrell was as good as he ever was against Ali.
And yet Terrell was much faster against Cleveland Williams but you didn't answer on that for some reason...
I emphatically disproved all your claims as anyone here could have done. You've seen some highlights of the 2nd Terrell v Williams fight and drawn the conclusion Terrell was "waaay past it for the Ali fight",from them. Terrell had not lost for 5 years ,and was at 28 bang in his prime ,the WBA champ and the number 1 contender,having beaten 3 top ten ranked men in his last 3 fights. If you had found the balls to admit you made a simple chronological mistake no one would have thought any more of it,but you didn't , instead you mugged yourself further and have now made yourself a laughing stock. Not really a good look for a newbie with just 8 posts behind him. On the plus side ,you can only improve!
Ok so It's not just that. Ernie also struggled with Chuvalo, and Doug Jones and Machen past their primes while before that he defeated Cleveland Williams, Zora Folley and knocked out Bob Foster. Yes Terrell was still young but he clearly lost a significant amount of speed. Watch the second Cleveland fight and tell me he wasn't a lot faster back then
I've seen the highlights you have seen. Terrell beat Jones by the following scores .145-140,146-140, 146-141. He beat Chuvalo by the following scores.72-65, 73-65, 69-65. Machen by the following72-65 ,72-68, 70-67, Those are clear unanimous decisions that to do not indicate any struggling. Machen had lost just one of his previous 12 fights and that was to Floyd Patterson,he was 33 years old and ranked no 9. You need to do some research! I've learned a lot here and you can do the same,if you are receptive to doing so,if not you are not only wasting your time,but everyone else's too.
Terrell's fights were a bit like watching paint dry (the rematch against Williams was pretty good, though), but I sat through a part of the one against Chuvalo not long ago and he didn't look slower. He had put on some much needed lean weight against Ali, though. That was peak Terrell, he was just so tentative against Ali that everything he does looks pretty bad in the fight. But slowed down, no. That was peak Terrell, I just think he was mentally, more than physically, ruined by Ali. To be showed up like that in front of the whole world would mess most people up. Patterson was incredibly resilient and came back strong, but many fighters have lost their way for less than happened to Terrell that night.