Johnny Owen's stamina and workrate overcame so many physical disadvantages up to a point. Where's Saad 54? I was expecting him to come out of leftfield with a name like, oh, Matthew Saad Muhammad!
My thought too ... I'd even add the qualifier that he wasn't always the most dedicated guy for conditioning. Holmes insists Ali did very little in prepping for Foreman, and as one of Ali's sparring partners, he should know; there's even some video footage of them a few years back where Larry says to Ali that he hardly trained at all - and Muhammad doesn't dispute it. From all I gather, Frazier wasn't seen as a scary guy by the Ali camp anymore, and I'd be surprised if Ali (also distracted by his marriage issues at the time) put forth more than a casual approach getting ready. When you consider he had Frazier on his chest for 14 rounds hammering at his ribs, his kidneys, his shoulders, and yeah periodically cracking him in the skull ... to take all that punishment in that heat and still be firing back - wow. In top shape, that would be pretty remarkable. Out of top shape, it's unreal. Ferdie Pacheco said Ali had the best recuperative powers he'd ever seen. Age eventually took those away along with everything else, but he definitely had something special.
I came to post this. Dorsey competed at a world-class level ONLY because of his engine. I’ll throw another guy out for mention: Jessie James Hughes. His motor was kind of one gear, couldn’t explode to a higher level, but a tank couldn’t have dissuaded him and he would fight in that gear from the first minute to the last. I’d have loved to see him over 15 rounds, pretty sure he’d have been just as good over 20.
Marcos Villasana. He wasn't quite Salavador Sanchez or Jeff Fenech but he proved he could hang with one of them over the full course of their brutal contest, and was so durable that Fenech managed to break both his hands on Villasana's iron dome/chin.
Johnny Tapia was a guy with a helluva motor. Threw a lot of punches but also utilized footwork. Perpetual motion. Not to mention perpetual emotion, which also burns energy.
