Ali's Greatest Performance Poll

I'm leaning this way as well, but since Folley wasn't an option...

 

As demonstrations of breathtaking athleticism, nothing will ever top Williams and Liston I. But Williams was never a Sonny Liston.

Clay tamed a bona fide beast with sheerly commanding physical prowess. He was a ferocious Greek statue come to life, moving fluidly in the ring on supple, powerful legs, shooting out punishing jabs and combinations with cutting accuracy, and a guy that could take heavy punishment and shrug it off. All against an all-time-great champion defending his crown.

Having just been floored by a Henry Cooper, which accounted for the 7-to-1 odds against, young Clay also overnight developed into a sage of the ring: calm, efficient, against a champion flashing murder who chased him all over the ring, the Greatest seemed to know just what to do, down to split seconds, a marvelous, boy-faced wise man who made the impossible seem pedestrian.

I love to watch Clay against Liston. It is a genius at work.

 

williams fight was just on another level

 

I voted for the Terrell fight. Ali was really on that day! :bbb

 

I thought Ali 'show cased' his talents and I only heard the fight on the radio live, but had the chance to see the video much much later. There wasn't anything that he could do that he didn't do against Williams. Williams in his prime would not have stood a chance.

But what he did to Terrell was at another level altogether. 'What's my name?' POP! 'What's my name?' POP. I listened to that on the radio too. My mother listening to me swore at him and called him a '*******' for his activity. I was really glad for Ali. I knew what he was doing and that it was right.

In the context of the social setting Terrell was the 'establishment' which wished to deny Ali his own identity. Terrell represented the 'white' man, white culture, in that respect. It was a big, personal thing for Ali. It was who he had found that he was as a person. 'What's my name?'

I think in that context the fight with Terrell is a better exhibition of Ali's skills and much more a representation of who he was as a person. He would not allow a culture to nullify him. It was this attitude that made him great in all other aspects of the ring experience.

Ali would have nothing of it.

 

I didn't choose any of the available poll options, as I believe them all to be incorrect. Ali's best performance was clearly against Trevor Berbick.

 

LOL What about Larry Holmes?

 

I went for Liston I because he was up against the unbeatable monster and relatively untested himself. The fact that Cooper nearly took him out must have made him incredibly nervous for this fight. To be an 8-1 underdog, 23 years of age, and humiliate your opponent that bad even despite being blinded by an illegal substance from Liston, is absolutely amazing.

 

The first two weren't great. Sonny Liston said he was 31 but most experts agree he was closer to 40. Cleveland Williams was 34 and had recently been shot (and I mean actually shot with a gun!).

George Foreman was prime but the fight was a stylistic mismatch in Ali's favor, as the Foreman-Young fight illustrated 3 years later.

I'll go with the Terrell fight, as it was more of a challenge for Ali.

 

My pick is not one where he displayed great ability neccessarily, but rather a lot of guts and adaptability...Zaire.

 

Williams, followed by Foreman.

 

And that is based on absolutely nothing, and the "Liston is halfway into his coffin!" talk only came after Clay outclassed and humiliated him. Going into the fight he was going to murder him inside three rounds, and that's what counts because that's when Clay had to perform.

p.s. Most sources have him being 32 years of age.

 

Someone recently posted an interview Clay did shortly before the fight, and there he predicted that this would be the tune by many if he'd beat Liston even though it sure wasn't before the fight. Smart kid.

 

Ali/Clay himself did say that Liston was an "old man" and it wasn't just hype. He thought there was no way Liston could keep up with him in the later rounds due to his age.

Quotes from the interview:

"So I'm saying I will win this fight in the eighth round because I think Liston will be worn out by then. If he's not, I sure can go on longer until he is. I'm 22 and he's 34 or 36 and I just don't believe he can outlast me."

"It's easier to like an ugly old man than it is to like a loudmouth kid, and everybody wants him to teach me a lesson. But just as sure as I do the teaching and win, people will say, "Aw, so what? Liston was a nothing anyway." People are hypocrites, if you don't know that already."

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1075663/index.htm