Cleveland Williams vs Muhammad Ali will always be one of the most ugliest fight I've ever seen. That fight will never ever be Muhammad Ali's best performance. IMO it should be illegal to put in any highlight reels. It sad to see a great fighter like Williams getting beat up like that considering who he was back then. This content is protected Here is a documentary about him, hope you guys enjoy... RIP Cleveland Williams
Its still Ali's best performance out of 61 pro bouts, thats like making a Buster Douglas career highlights and not include the Tyson KO. Besides that Williams is indeed a warrior and has my respect. I recommend checking out the video OP linked if you haven't seen much of him.
A fighter's best performance will always be over a decrepit fighter. It just makes sense. You don't look your best against an equal. This is a great video. Thanks for the upload.
The Big Cat was missing how many feet of his intestines in the Ali fight? Ali may have been in his athletic prime and a fighter weakened as much as Cleveland was in the wrong place at the wrong time
Liston said he hit the hardest Satterfield said he hit the hardest Machen said he hit the hardest (at least what the documentary says...) Foreman said he is one of the holy trinity of the hardest punchers he faced. In conclusion, Williams hit really hard.
He was a tough guy. Nearly 100 pro fights and lot of close encounters with top fighters. More than anything, for a man to survive multiple gun shots AND then fight again is something to be respected
No offense but Williams was anything but "great". He had an absolutely terrible resume and all he had, was power and size that was good for his era only. He got clipped by mediocre opponents before he got shot. He is overrated as a means of boosting the resume of probably the most overrated fighter of all time, that is Sonny Liston. But I have to give Williams credit though as he was a real warrior and never backed down to any type of opposition he faced.
What? Can you consider that he Williams was avoided a lot during his career?? He had solid wins over Terrell, Billy Daniels, Alex Miteff, Young Jack Johnson and Sonny Banks. He showed great effort against Liston 2x and Eddie Machen. He may not be great p4p, but great as a h2h fighter.
Cleveland Williams, just like Liston, was avoided by the fighters of an extremely weak and undersized era. Those guys you mentioned that Williams had wins on were literally tomato cans. Machen was a somewhat decent fighter but not great. Williams is both not a P4P and H2H great. He would've been easily knocked out by real H2H greats like Holyfield, Holmes, Lewis, Louis, etc.
The era is not weak. His era is filled with the likes of Prime Folley, Machen, Liston, Patterson, Cooper! They also has some boxers such Joe Erskine, Ingemar Johansonn, Bob Satterfield, Ernie Terrell and upcoming boxers such as George Chuvalo, Karl Mildenberger, Doug Jones and ALI at the mid 60's. Ali beat all of those boxers from that "weak era" when they were already PAST THEIR PRIME but why is Ali credited so much for beating them? Ali just beat a weaker version of that weak era. Liston, Folley, Patterson, Cooper were already past their prime by the time Ali fought him. If Williams was not gunshot, he was already past his best by the time he fought him, but somehow I can imagine people crediting Ali for beating him anyway... I'm I saying the era is strong af? no, but I'm not saying the era is weak either. I just personally think that the era is much harder than people usually thought it was.
Well, that's novel. But let's face it, a lot of people are on fire against journeymen and fringe contenders but don't look so hot against the top contenders.
