If you look back at Ali's second title reign, it is pretty interesting to note that after KOing Foreman in Zaire , Ali would essentially only floor an exhausted Chuck Wepner and the grossly over matched Dunn and Cooperman. That's over the course of fourteen fights .. if you go back further, other than the Foster fight , he had not knocked anyone down in the previous ten fights before that .. Foreman aside, he essentially knocked down only four men in his final twenty four fights, three where journeymen and one a blown up light heavyweight ... I'm not saying he was not a great fighter but he clearly was no puncher in any significant sense ..
Both Bonavena and Foreman were stopped more to exhaustion than anything else. Bonavena was done for even before thatleft hook landed. The same punch wouldn't have affected him the same way or maybe not even have decked in the early rounds. Same with Foreman...and we all know he fought an incredibly stupid fight in exhausting himself at the expense of the rope-a-dope. What kills me are those who insist that Ali WAS a big puncher...to which it can be asked then....so how come in a total of 41 rounds vs Joe Frazier , he never once decked the so called "chinny" Smokin Joe? Maybe Joe wasn't exactly "chinny" as so many so called boxing scribes insist nowadays, or maybe Ali just could not punch.
In Ali’s last 24 fights, he stopped George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Jerry Quarry, Ron Lyle, Floyd Patterson, Bob Foster, Richard Dunn, Chuck Wepner, Jean Pierre Coopman, Al Lewis … and scored roughly 13 knockdowns. In his second comeback as a whole - 32 fights - he stopped George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Jerry Quarry (twice), Ron Lyle, Jimmy Ellis, Oscar Bonavena, Floyd Patterson, Bob Foster, Richard Dunn, Chuck Wepner, Jean Pierre Coopman, Jurgen Blin and Al Lewis … and scored roughly 21 knockdowns. Best puncher ever? Not even close. But Ali punched just fine, even during his comeback. He punched well enough to win the title by knockout and make 10 successful title defenses (five via stoppage).
Absolute featherfist. His KO% against real HWs(200+) was under 20%. He scored most of his knockouts on bums and glass chinned blown up LHWs and Cruiserweights. In 30 rounds against the glass chin bum Spinks, he couldn't even knock him down. Most of his stoppage wins against real HWs were mostly TKOs resulting from exhaustion.
Its not so much that he had power. It is more that he was a finisher. They are two different things, and the latter is better!
I know the stats .. I'm talking power ... he was hitting a blind Frazier time and again flush and could not drop him .. 39 rounds wit Norton and never wobbled him .. surely your not calling him any sort of puncher .. ?
7/10 I would say. 6 foot 3 what 220? If youre over 200 pounds you're gonna have a decent shot. He's not gonna be bombing people out like Foreman or Tyson, but if he catches you slipping he will KO you. Don't forget KO stoppage over Foreman and Liston. Real "POWER" is taking a beating like that and then catching Foreman with a beautiful flurry.
He stopped Foreman, Frazier, Lyle, Quarry, Bonavena in his comeback ... how often did those guys get stopped? Do non-punchers stop those guys? Futch didn't send Frazier out for the last round because, if he did, he thought Frazier would DIE. Not get knocked out, DIe ... as in beaten TO DEATH. When was Frazier ever beaten before or after where his trained feared for Frazier's life? Do you fear for a man's life when he's facing someone who can't punch? C'mon.
Ali has speed and movement but when he planted himself he could hurt you, also he could be very accurate when he was focused and in condition. I would never even call him a puncher in the class of Walcott, Charles or Patterson but Ali could also be accurate, could pin-point and he obviously hurt a lot of the Big guys, Liston,Foreman,Big Cat, He would always have trouble with the smaller men, Jones,Cooper,Frazier,Spinks and others. So as far as power he may be average but delivery, timing and precision were far above average
He had deceptive power; tremendous accuracy with blinding speed and over 200 pounds behind his punches. He wasn't a knockout fighter per say but if has you hurt you he can finish you.
Ali's power could best be described as respectable in my view. Pre-exile I think it was more significant because he was faster and could catch opponents with more shots they couldn't see. Post-exile it was more about the volume wearing some opponents down.