Ali overrated says Larry Holmes

I watched Ali-Foreman 3-4 times and Ali made use of the criminally loose ropes.
If you claim it was a uniquely hot day when Foreman lost to Young , and on that one I don't have very good excuses for Foreman , then you just show that Foreman is a fighter suspect to heat exhaustion .
People also try to either ignore or excuse the fact that Ali never rematched Foreman , and Ali was known to rematch many of his opponents , with 2 of them even fought him 3 times.
Under any normal conditions , Foreman would have beaten Ali worse than Frazier , Norton or Doug Jones ever did.
If styles make fights then Pacquiao should better fight Wladimir at some catchweight , because he will brutally stop him for sure ...

 

Yes,it was Maxim's comment about the heat that inspired my quip about the air conditioners ! Ali seems to have had the heat as an unknown ally more than once. Prior to Muhammad's second fight with Joe Bugner in Malaysia,Joe said that as he was the younger man,by eight years,he'd be able to withstand the tropical conditions far better than Ali. After the fight,Bugner commented that Ali was more used to hot conditions than he was,as Muhammad lived and trained in Deep South Miami,earlier in his career

 

The Doug Jones bout was very much a transitional battle for the 21 year old Cassius Clay. It was the type of fight when a young upcoming fighter just about manages to scrape through,yet becomes a more mature fighter when he comes out the other side. Joe Frazier had his with the first Oscar Bonavena bout,and George Foreman was all the better after his extremely close shave with Gregorio Peralta,the first time. Frazier and Norton would have been tough opponents for the Ali of 1967. In 1974,Muhammad would have beaten George whether they'd fought in Zaire,Madison Square Garden,Antarctica or Narnia ! Styles DO count,occasionaly. Foreman would have blasted out Frazier and Norton any day of the week. Ali would never have had as big a problem with George as he did with Joe or Ken.

 

The Doug Jones fight should have been a Draw...........

When the people in attendance clearly view a fight differently than the Judges,
or the Sports-Writers disagree completely, a boxing commissioner should have the
legal authority to over-rule the scoring, and dictate a Draw.

Scoring is subjective, and sometimes, only one scoring judge is required.

 

There's always going to be a bit of controversy in these kind of fights. Some say that Bonavena should have got the nod in the first Frazier fight,and Foreman was extremely lucky in getting the decision in the first Peralta one. It's always Ali's close ones that get mentioned though. Far more than anyone elses.

 

George Foreman was a beast an incredible record of 76 Fights and 71 wins,was destroying opposition with Sheer Power and Brutality,was never knocked out in all His career then along come the Great Man Ali 32 Years old after having 3 years of His prime taken from Him,not only did he take back His World Title but he become the only Man to TKO Big George Ali was 32 and George was 25 and in his absolute prime.!!!

Those who Criticise Ali must be on medication.!!!!!

 

i scored ali 6 rounds doug jones 4 rounds. that was a good win at the time - jones had wins over zora folley and bob foster coming into this fight. dont know how the ref scored it 8-1 to ali tho lol.

 

Holmes would have been a tough fight for Ali at any stage of Ali's career.

 

"Im going down in history not Mike Tyson, he going down in history as an SOB. Watch somewhere down the line, your gonna destroy yourself....." Larry Holmes

 

I remember that comment on HBO. Larry would sometimes say some real wild stuff.

 

i don't think the point about the heat is to show that ali had an unfair advantage. if it is, then that's silly because clearly the conditions were the same for both men. i think it's more a question of how the fight would have panned out given more usual conditions. the purpose of asking this question is to see whether ali beat foreman because he made the best of the adverse conditions, or if he would have beaten him regardless, because he was just that much better.

for me, ali probably would have won anyway - part of his greatness was his adaptability and will to win.

 

well it didnt work out too well for him did it

i can still hear that 1-2 Tyson catches him with

 

He was correct about the last bit, though.

 

Ali and Joe Louis are masterclass.
All the other champions, contenders and pretenders can fight, discuss and criticise till the end of days who is the best of the rest.
Frazier of march 8, 1971 would´ve beaten the whole bunch - but Foreman.
Holmes would´ve beaten Foreman.
Johansson KOéd Patterson. And Patterson would´ve have outclassed Marciano.
Marciano would´ve destroyed Johansson with ease.

 

Must have been the doing of one of Elijah Muhammad miracles.

The simple truth