Ali may not be the greatest but he has the greatest signature win

He wasn't, he was 29, Armstrong retired him. He was also a pfp talent, staple 25 ATG in an era where you fight so often you generally pick up more losses than that

And then went on to become a top 5/3 WW of all time.

Different eras, high activity level, mess of rules and bad decisions. Tend not to read into loses to much without footage, unless there happening multiple times to the same style or person, for the most part there flukes that get corrected

Read above.

 

For me Ali is, was & always will be THE GREATEST!!
As great as he was, just think what he would have accomplished had he not been banned from the sport for 3 1/2 years while in his prime for what were purely political reasons

 

As for Margarito having 5 losses ? He, like Pac, was a pro fighter as a teenager fighting grown men, seasoned fighters, to feed his family of course he has losses.
as far as the Mosely debacle went he never had a chance
That Naz inspired uproar in his dressing room pre fight then when he got to the ring he was greeted by a juiced to the gills AGAIN!! proven & self confessed Juicer in Mosely

 

Klitschko vs Peter? How?

 

How many top 10 fighters had Foreman beat at this point? 3 or 4 maybe? Boxed 7 rounds in the last 2 years and 19 in the last 4. Sorry, but this win is so romanticised it actually hurts.

Incredible win, but the best of all time? No way not having it.

 

Benitez-Cervantes always gets sold way too short in these discussions for some reason.

I know 140 isn't a prestige division, but you've got a legit ATG at the weight right there in the middle of his championship years that gets beat by a 17 year old kid.

We will never see something like that again.

 

Foreman had stopped his last 3 opponents in 4 rounds combined (4 rounds and 26 seconds to be precise). He stopped Frazier and Norton in the 2nd round. Dropped Frazier 6 times and Norton 3 times. Foreman was 40-0 with 37 KOs. Foreman was in his prime. Ali was past his prime. Foreman at his peak was arguably the most devastating fighter ever. Show me a fighter who was in his prime, destroyed great fighters like they were bums, and ended up getting whooped by a fighter who was past his prime. That doesn't happen very often.

 

First Ali IS pretty much universally rated as the greatest of all hwt champions and deservingly so.

Ali had three world class wins that put him head and shoulders over all.

Liston 1 - Liston was thought unbeatable. Ali the huge underdog beats Sonny up over six rounds for the TKO win.

Foreman - Again an opponent thought to be unbeatable in his prime. Ali regains the title by ten count KO.

Frazier 3 - Ali faced a determined and ferocious No 1 contender in 1975. In an epic battle where Ali looked spent and ready to go mid round 11. Instead he fought back to overwhelm Frazier for the stoppage win. It was this fight that checked all historians boxes to prove Ali was indeed the greatest.

 

My point isn’t about where Ali was at in his career. It’s the fact Foreman wasn’t the opponent people make him out to be. Like I said, 19 rounds boxed in the last 4 years and Foreman hadn’t fought anyone of great relevance apart from his wins over Frazier and Norton. These are facts, facts that are just as relevant as Foreman being an undefeated fighter who had just knocked out the lineal champ and a top contender in 2 rounds a piece.

I don’t know, maybe I’m over compensating, for people romanticising the win, but it’s quite clear to me that Joe Louis was far more experienced against world class opposition in the 2 years he’d be fighting than Foreman in was in RUTJ.

 

Good summary man.
But Lamotta vs Robinson was 161 vs. 145 lbs. 2 Divisions different today.
Limits how impressive that win was.

 

I tend to agree.

 

I'm seeing 2 different convos here. P4P & signature win.

Best signature win-
3. Tyson stopping Spinks at the time both were undefeated & billed as most expensive fight at the time. Ali, Zale, Bert Sugar, Rocky Graziano & of course Teddy Atlas predicted Spinks would outbox Tyson. History of this fight says it surpassed 1987 Super Bowl viewers. Signature win that solidified one champ.

2. an old Foreman stopping Moorer coming from behind with one punch. A 45 year old wasn't supposed to do that.

1. Ali stopping Foreman. as stated above- Gold medalist, spanked Frazier, gets stopped. From his own team to Cosell this was supposed to be a lopsided beating.

Foreman is on both sides of this equation!

 

Very true ..