Sorry if this has been done a hundred times before. The majority of people have Ali as the best heavyweight who ever lived what would you guys say that separated him from the likes of Louis, tyson and lewis and all the rest? Or do you disagree with him being the best heavy ever?
I see him and Louis as being distinctly seperated from the rest of the pack in terms of resume. When it comes down to seperating him and Louis it is much harder. You could almost call them 1A and 1B.
Liston, Patterson, Frazier, Norton, Foreman, Shavers, Lyle, Quarry, Bonavena, Chuvalo, Bugner, Foster, Foster, Ellis, Folley, Williams, Mildenberger, Moore, Spinks and Terrell. They all conspired to make him great.
...Interesting theory, but I think it all boils down to him brainwashing the media with repetition. :hi:
Ability and the media combined. Ali had all that speed and athleticism. He also had a great chin and durability and heart. You can see how good he was. I also think in Liston and Foreman he had 2 great fighters who were seen as monsters by the public. These 2 were also made to measure for him. 2 greats with different styles may have made it much harder. In many respects the lay off helped him. It allowed the comeback (which people love) and it allowed Foreman to become a big name that he could the chop down. He also fought in the colour TV age and many people still remember him. It's hard for any fighter once those who are from their day slowly die off. Ali's tub thumpers are still alive.
The media are the reason people who know nothing about Boxing cite Muhammad Ali as the greatest. Ali's ability and resume are why we, the fans, cite him as the best.
Fighting literally every elite fighter over 2 decades and defeating them all also helps abit. Beating 3/10 all time P4P HW's, including himself that makes nearly half the top 10 p4p, (exactly half if you can squeeze Patterson in there), also helps abit. He is a fact based, visually evident great.
I know dude, I just find it hysterical when some posters come out with those conspiracy theories...it's almost as if Ali doesn't have the best resume in Heavyweight history.
His resume is arguably the best at heavyweight. Not necessarily though. To be honest, I thought Ken Norton beat him every time they fought. That taints his resume quite a lot from where I'm standing.
The Liston fights were a joke. Not Ali's fault, but I can hardly go along with the feeling that those two wins represent glorious victories over a great fighter. If Liston was great he left his greatness in the locker room for those fights, pathetic really.
Ali makes a mockery of Liston all night long, anyone saying Liston didn't turn up for the first fight...bitterness, he just got badly outclassed. Badly...outclassed.