Ali takes the best right hand in HW history on the chin

Not a bad arguement.. he was only ever floored by left hooks.

 

Bingo...

I also don't see why he couldn't have taken the same shot 10 years earlier.

 

No... he just never got floored by a righthand!

 

Its difficult to accurately gauge such a thing.

What we DO know, is that Ali did not get tagged quite as often as a younger man, whereas in older age he was slower and often fought at closer range. Therefore he was there to get hit with bigger shots. He also fought most of his biggest punchers later in life, ie Foreman, Frazier, Shavers, etc. So we never really saw him take that kind of a shot in his youth. Also, as Flamengo pointed out his primary weakness was left hooks, and unless I'm forgetting someone, were the only punches that ever dropped him. He actually stood up to the right hands of Liston, Foreman and Shavers quite well.

I personally don't think that most men are capable of taking greater punishment at 35 than they are at 25. Sure, there are exceptions to the rule, such as in the case where a man puts a lot of muscle mass on, strengthens his legs, builds muscle around his neck and shoulder areas. Then, maybe he can take a better shot than he did when he was younger. But, in most cases, I don't think so. Ali's training regimens did not incorporate much in the way of building muscle. In fact, his body composition seemed to deteriorate.

 

It might have improved, although I'm not big on the theory that a person's ability to take a punch gets better. I'm not sure how physiologically it's possible, provided of course we're talking about an adult.

Maybe those neck excercises work. I don't know.

Hell of a punch though.

 

That isnt the best right hand in history, Shavers is off balance when he throws it there

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x71zo2_earnie-shavers_sport
05:50

 

Well yes, I do buy the mental issue. From that standpoint it does make sense.

It's certainly been proven to work in the opposite manner ie. when a fighter 'loses' his chin.

 

Youve come up trumps again Mac,and that was an Ali past his best ,it sounds like Norton ,doing commentary,he would know about Shavers power!