Use any criteria you feel is appropriate. 1. Floyd Patterson 2. Ernie Terrell 3. Sonny Liston 4. Karl Mildenberger 5. George Chuvalo 6. Zora Folley 7. Henry Cooper 8. Cleveland Williams 9. Brian London I found this to be harder than ranking the challengers from Ali's second reign. Here, Liston is obviously the best of the bunch, but that performance in Lewiston was so awful (even if Sonny was jobbed). Patterson and Terrell kind of threw me, too. In the end I ranked Patterson higher for his overall career. Williams I downgraded due to his being in less than prime condition at the end of 1966.
I like your ranking, mine would be just slightly different. Liston Patterson Terrell Folley Mildenberger Chuvalo Cooper Williams London I rank Liston as #1 based on him being clearly the best of the bunch, but I see your argument, and TBH the fight is so controversial that in could've been a No contest (the knockdown itself, the count and the stoppage). Still a successful defence for Ali.
Nice list. I can totally see ranking Liston first. I think in more recent times the Lewiston fight would have been ruled "no contest," like you say. But then the situation involving the (no) count wouldn't have happened nowadays. I can totally see putting Folley higher than I did, too.
With hindsight: 1: Patterson 2: Liston 3: Terrell 4: Chuvalo 5: Mildenberger 6: Cooper 7: Folley 8: Williams 9: London
I'd place Folley higher despite his age and many fights. He was on a good run and gave a very good account of himself against Ali. Probably ahead of Chuvalo. Just what Liston had left for their second meet is hard to know, so his place might be right but it could also be higher.
I certainly don't disagree with either of those points. It bothers me how much Liston was jobbed in the rematch. Declare it "no contest", fight again in September.
Muhammad Ali destroyed Henry Cooper in their title bout on May 21 1966, TKO 6, no knockdown in this one. Karl Mildenberger gave Ali a difficult time on Sept 10 1966 in Frankfurt, Germany. But it was Mildenberger's southpaw stance that troubled him before stopping Karl, TKO 12. Ali clearly out boxed Ernie Terrell on Feb 6 1967, unanimous 15 round decision.
1 Liston 2 Patterson 3 Terrell 4 Zora 5 Chuvalo 6 Mildenberger 7 Cooper 8 Williams 9 London Arguably better then the second go at it.
I am making two lists. One based on overall greatness, and the other based on how dangerous a fighter was when he faced Ali. For instance, I would rank Chuvalo over Patterson and Williams in the second list, but not in the first. List 1-Overall Greatness: 1. Sonny Liston 2. Floyd Patterson 3. Ernie Terrell 4. Zora Folley 5. Cleveland Williams 6. Henry Cooper 7. George Chuvalo 8. Karl Mildenberger 9. Brian London List 2-Situational Greatness: 1. Ernie Terrell 2. George Chuvalo 3. Sonny Liston 4. Henry Cooper 5. Karl Mildenberger 6. Brian London 7. Zora Folley 8. Floyd Patterson 9. Cleveland Williams
