Was Ali faster than Bob Pastor, Billy Conn or Usyk?

Hi Buddy.
Precisely, you have ( once again ) treated the posters on this topic, to a virtuoso breakdown of Ali, his style and skill, and what made him the fighter he was, thank you, if I could just have my input, for me to just say " his speed " doesn't do his moving around the ring justice, not by a long stretch, in the period from say 63/4 to 67 he was a sight to behold, the boxing world had never seen a HW, well not any weight come to that, move ( a better description ) like Ali, he seemed to glide across the canvas, much in the fashion of a hovercraft, we all have seen speedy fighters, that are skittish, running back and forth, almost doing mini marathons, they didn't look smooth, unlike Ali, they would stab out the jab,in staccato fashion, followed by a right cross or hook, compared to Ali it looked somewhat awkward, when he unleashed his punches, they came in salvos, faster than the naked eye could see, he looked majestic, and the opponent was bewildered and befuddled, I not sure what impressed the most his balattik feet, or his blistering combos, lest we forget he was a big man, so to say he had speed, it's like saying Shakespeare was a writer, I feel blessed that I saw him in real time, he is No 1 in my mind, always has, always will be.
Stay safe META5, your post fell kindly on my eyes.
Mike.

 

and larger and stronger

 

Ali is clearly faster than Pastor. Pastor on film has good motion and a frequent jab but doesn't possess elite level athleticism. He's more like a Virgil Hill imo.
Conn looks very fast in his fight with Louis, the first bout. He's much smaller though, so he could of been conceivably faster but their is not much footage of Conn.
Usyk is not as fast as Ali at heavyweight. However he is both more technically sound and his endurance is better. It's equal or better than pre exile Ali and it's certainly better than the Ali that took breaks on the ropes in any version post exile. However pure speed at heavy which was the question goes to Ali.

 

Those other guys were some pretty fast men. Especially Conn. but I think Ali was just a little bit faster, even if only for a small part of his career in the 60s

 

I think Ali was faster than both Pastor and Conn in terms of feet and hands.

Atop the speed they did possess, the aforementioned fighters also benefited from the fact that they presented as smaller targets.

As to Louis’ own hand speed - a bit less than Ali’s but phenomenal nonetheless and would give Ali trouble in due measure, just IMO.

 

I believe he was the fastest but the one wrench I want to throw out is that Archie Moore thought Tyson had faster hands.

Actually, I will throw two, in that those who are judging Usyk by what they see now are not seeing the best Usyk. That was really around the WSB years. But its hard to bet against Ali in speed.

 

Louis & Tyson had faster combinations. Ali had faster single shots, 1-2s & reflexes.

 

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Ali could put together lightning combos (see @Marvelous Marvin ‘s link of Ali vs London) but Louis and Tyson were certainly in that same realm - but Joe and Mike put more heat into each and every punch of their combos which made the relative speed of their delivery even more impressive, just IMO.

 

Of course he was! And taller and heavier and more fluid and coordinated.

 

I think Ali was just one of one. Sometimes special people come along. God given talent.