Would Ali have won the FOTC had he taken more tune up fights before?

Not a fan of UFC.

 

You want to be staring up at my ceiling?!? I KNEW IT!!

Stay safe buddy, chat soon.

 

Look out Rocky, now we’re all coming for you!

And that’s the way it is.
Good night, and good luck.
Yours truly, the Pugginator.

 

Am I the only one that thought Ali looked like poop in FOTC? It was the first fight of Ali I ever watched and I was disappointed. "Isn't this guy supposed to be the most elusive, fastest, best pure boxing heavyweight EVER, why isn't he moving or boxing?" Then I watched some of his full fights from pre-exile and then I saw the version of Ali that existed in my head.

I literally just rewatched the fight right now before commenting this to jog my memory and my initial impression stop stands. It didn't seem like a masterclass from Frazier. How did Frazier get passed Ali's incredible footwork? He didn't, it was nowhere to be seen in this fight. How did he get passed Ali's godly hand speed and reflex speed? He didn't. How did he get passed Ali's incredible stamina? He didn't. Hell the commentator literally just said as I was typing that Ali is a sitting duck lol. How anyone can watch this impartially and conclude that peak Frazier would beat peak Ali is beyond me, or that he would beat "any heavyweight that night". There's nothing he did in this fight and no problems that he solved that would make me think he'd beat peak Ali or that this version would have beaten the George that he lost to.

 

Without denigrating Joe people want to pretend the three year and five month hiatus never happenred. All I ask them ro do in the name of fairness is to ask themselves how they think things would have went if the shoe was on the other foot and Joe was coming off a three year and five month layoff and Muhammad was fighting on the regular.

 

Quiet so far on that front.

 

He started off really fast but then Frazier's pace started to get to him after 4/5 rounds. He couldn't really get out the way of the left hook.

Frazier forced him to expand a lot of energy and he didn't quite have as quick feet as a few years earlier. I felt like at times Frazier couldn't miss with the left hook Ali didn't know how to avoid it.

 

Yes, he would have beaten Joe,imo.

 

Joe was always going to be a tough out. That being said put him on the other side of a handicap match.

 

Hi Pugguy.
Your words are most humbling, thank you, as to that scoundrel @RockyValdez plagiarising my words, if I knew where he lived I would send the boys round, instead I will ask him to swear on a stack of Ring magazines to desist from using that phrase ever again, that said it's nice to see members call each other by names, and include some pleasantries in their posts, I have strived for years to see as much, and I believe there is a move of late to that effect, when I first joined, the language and tone was sometimes very confrontational, it jarred with me, and I set myself a mission to make the forum a more friendly polite, understanding, and forgiving environment, I would like to believe that has been the case, I feel real , and I mean real friendships have been forged between myself and dozens of you guys, and I feel all we benefit as a result.
Stay safe Pugguy, chat soon. Rocky don't you dare....
Mike.

 

Frazier is why he didn’t have the “quick feet” IMO brother, Ali was not “rusty” he’d been training during his exile sparring and working out along the east coast he’d had two hard training camps for the number 1 and 2 contender and fought a tough 15 rounder against Bonavena. Was he 3.5 years older? Yes but still in his physical prime if anything’s to blame its age. Against Norton in fight two he suddenly had his legs back he even did his stupid up on his toes wheeling the jab routine with the Euro guys he beat up no one heard of plenty of times in the 70s… it was for show, Ali at his best was mostly pretty stationary compared to say the Williams bout.

 

I'm racking my brain trying to work out if and how the "Pegginator" may have somehow worked into that

 

Excellent Mike. It doesn’t hurt to lubricate the wheels of discussion a little bit.

As to Rocky, seems like a nice fella but he does need to desist or at least start paying us royalties.

As of this moment, he already owes you some serious $$$ in that regard.

 

The “Pegginator”?

Man, with just one change of a letter, that’s a whole new meaning that I will officially distance myself from, right here, right now.


So conceited, I’ve also referred to myself previously as “The Pugitol”, as in, don’t “storm” me or I’ll have to call in the “Pugnational Guard”! Is that egocentric or what?

 

Pugmania abound!!! Will the forum become pugccentric?

I might start a thread in the lounge - replace one word in a song title with "pug". Heck, at this rate we might even be able to exchange three letters in one of the words with pug, or tag it onto the word anywhere.

Robbie Nevil - Just Like Pug (i want to be just like pug)
The Pixies - Where is my Pug
Sam Cooke - A Pug is Gonna Come
Jimmy Hendrix - Purple Pug/Voodoo Pug
Led Zep - Stairway to Pug
Bob Marley - No Woman No Pug
Led Zep - Whole Lotta Pug