If fighter A beats fighter B when both are in their primes is he better atg fighter??

not necessarily. What if they rematch and fighter B wins then they have a third fight and fighter B wins you can't really say fighter A is better. Take Gatti and Ward for example.

As far as your example, I definitely think Prime Ali would have schooled prime Louis 10 times out of 10.

 

Has to be one of the main points to consider otherwise WTF is the point of them fighting?

There are obviously a few exceptions, mainly jumping weight classes, rest of resume, etc but H2H result should be at the top of the criteria list IMO.

 

Not necessarily. Some fighters just beat some others. Douglas beat Tyson but Tysons consistency and quality of opposition and achievements outstrip Buster in terms of greatness. Douglas win is probably a better win than any of Tysons but he is not the greater fighter

 

Obviously not. Styles make fights. Vince Phillips stopped a prime Kostya Tszyu. Junior Jones stopped a prime Marco Antonio Barrera. These defeats were not avenged. And yet of course Tszyu and Barrera are far greater than Phillips or Jones.

 

Head to Head I would say yes, but ATG status is more about who accomplished more.

 

In this instance, yes

 

Ali might beat Louis 10 times out of 10, but he'd be in all out Ali jogging mode in the ring and he'd have more in common with Sergio Mora on that night than anything.

I agree Louis is the better HW all time, because his impact on the sport itself is so monstrous that, along with his stellar accomplishments in the ring which are only rivaled by Ali, that it propels him in my opinion to #1 HW. Per era, I do not find Louis' competition any worse than Alis', and Louis was much more unbeatable at his time (my opinion) than Ali. Plus, in the late 60's every major athlete started getting on steroids and heavily too...

Just typing this, it amazes me the fan following that Ali has and how much hatred Mayweather gets. Ali was more of a **** talker (per era) and his fighting style was very agitating; backpedal, clinch, push down on back of neck, taunt, backpedal, clinch, push down on back of neck, dance around, and so on... Yeah he's the second best heavyweight in my opinion and probably #5 on my P4P all time list, but in and out of the ring, comparable to Mayweather.

 

Difference is Ali was prepared to back his smack talk up!!! Who could/should Ali have fought that he didnt???

There is your answer