His fight against London or his fight against Williams. Ali danced amazing in both fights and put in lighting fast combinations.
I can remember talking to my Grandparents (they both liked a good fight) about the London fight and they were both adament that London embarrased himself and surrendered. When I pointed out that he was hopelessly outclassed they snorted and laughed. Imagine how they would feel about Audley Harrison if they were about now!
Tough one to call really. Muhammad was awesome in both fights. Suppose I've got to say the Williams one,as 'The Big Cat' passed his best as maybe,was a better fighter than 'The Blackpool Rock' I recall Brian London taking a fusilade of punches,and the only thing holding him up was the speed of Ali's blows !
Williams was shot down 3 months before the fight , so thats why i rate the london win as the better one
If a man was shot in any near time frame before a fight then he was in no shape to fight , period ... interesting how Ali gets raves for destroying a damaged Williams and Dempsey gets **** for blowing out Miske ... but then Ali has benefitted from a tremendous amount of desanitizing and revision in the past few decades ...
Brian London had a damaged chin. And Cleveland Williams had a damaged leg. And Thad Spencer, clearly one of the Top-Rated heavyweights at the time watched both of those fights, trying to figure out how he could get a Title shot.
I'm going with Ernie Terrell, he was a Peak Grade B+ boxer & Ali utterly dominated him for 15 rounds. In H2H terms (at the time he fought them), Terrell was the best opponent Pre-Exile Ali beat, & he did it in an absolutely beautiful performance which demonstrates his phenomenal Peak skills better than any other fight. :bbb
For me against Williams. He was ranked, not as shot as some people have you believe and could genuinley punch. Awesome performance
No he was quite literally Shot, the bullet in his torso made him drop to about 160lbs on life-support in hospital, just 3 months before the fight. :verysad
I would lean toward his performance versus Brian London. Though London wasn't regarded as a World Class fighter, he could on occasion put up a decent fight. No one in their right mind, thought Brian London had a chance of winning, but several fighters, (including Floyd Patterson) thought London would give Ali a rough night. The general truth, Brian London, on his best night, was maybe a #25 rated heavyweight. Prior to his bout with Muhammad Ali, and since January 1959 he had gone in 23-bouts, 13-10-0 (7 KO's), and had been stopped (KO'd) 5 times. Still, Ali did KO London in the proper way, and in the right way.
Indeed, a good classic member posted a high quality link which confirmed it before. Hopefully they will see this post & provide the link again. :good