How impressive is it

Very impressive!

 

It's actually even more impressive when you take into account the fact that he actually only missed 18 names from Ring's top 10 in 12 years

Years 63-67
He missed 8 names from Ring's top 10

Years 68-70 (which he couldn't fight)
He missed only 5 names from Ring's top 10

Years 72-75
He missed only 5 names from Ring's top 10

 

I judge champions on 3 things (mostly): dominance, longevity, and quality of opposition. It's rare to see a champion who had all 3. Some champions are dominant but fall off quick. Some are dominant and have long reigns but quality of opposition was subpar. Ali was a dominant champion, he was the greatest HW of 60s & 70s, and he fought in the golden era of HW boxing. GOAT HW

 

That's why he was so good, most of his fights were against quality competition.

 

It's quite astonishing really, and I suspect unprecedented, although I'm sure someone can correct me!

 

Probably the only one with comparable resume at HW is Louis, who also fought most ranked contenders in his career.

 

Incredible and that's why he'd the King of the Heavyweights.

 

After reading this thread I thought I'd take a look at the present Ring Magazine top 10 where the champion position is vacant and have a bit of a comparison on who's fought who.
Of the present top 10 Fury has only fought one and that's Wilder.
Wilder has fought 2, that's Fury and Ortiz.
Joshua in fairness has fought 4, that's Ruiz, Whyte, Parker and Povetkin.
Of course this is all still ongoing, but it does emphasise it's now a different game.

 

Stunning really, it really makes me mad when looking at so called champs of the last 20 years.

 

Today we have many challengers and too many champions!

Watered down boxing world for so many years even the fan base knowledge of what great boxing is all about is watered down!