He wasn’t bad, but he lacked the ambition in my opinion to become a really good fighter. He became too comfortable in assisting his brother and became a reliable sparring partner for Ali, but unfortunately this hindered his own development, since to be anything in boxing a boxer has to be selfish toward their own career as a fighter. Here is some footage of Rahman Ali This content is protected
This is great. I never saw this before, nor have I ever seen Rahman fight for that matter. It would have been cool to see him against better opposition. His opponent wasn't much. He came in with some damage already to his left eye and had a very unorthodox bob and weave. To tell you the truth, it looked more like a bob and heave. The sort of position one has been in coming home from the pub on a Saturday night. Funny things stick in the head though. I'm sure I saw a Junior Grant fight Lou Esa on the undercard of a big fight. I looked up Esa's record and found him fighting a Billy Grant on the undercard of Duran-Alvaro Rojas. I recall the fight being abbreviated and them showing filler fights to make up time. I looked up Billy Grant and his 'career' started after Junior's ended. Curiously, they are both from the Bahamas. I think it's the same fighter.
had a lousy record if you look at his opposition, but looked like he had some skills in that video. I think he had a brother that fought also
So Rahman Ali followed his brother’s religious influence and likewise acquired a Muslim name. Interesting
good post and video Wow. It seems like Rahman has some good speed and was probably the same size as Muhammad. He does not appear to be quite as fast as Muhammad but not too far behind either. Certainly his speed is well above average for a heavy. Do you think a dedicated Rahman would have been a top contender? He likely isn't beating Foreman or Frazier but after watching that video, i have a feeling he could beat a lot of top guys in that era if he was dedicated.
maybe. But he seems to have some serious athleticism in the video posted. I have a hard time believing he couldn't do better if he was more determined.
In boxing I think you need to be a fighter first. Most fighters are not good athletes. You have to be tough enough to get in there and take the blows, or amazingly gifted to the point where you don't have to take many of them. Rhaman Ali was neither.
Theres no telling how far anyone could go unless they had the best of everything and had the right attitude to get there. you can see ability. But ability ain’t squat if the attitude and right help isn’t there. Having one without the other won’t do it. Every world champion was a full time job for a team of people to get him there. Nobody did anything on their own. The champions show a commitment that others buy into. And there are others who try like mad and just won’t get anywhere because nobody bought what they were selling. So Even with the best of everything you still have to have the right temperament to be successful.
