Ali vs Lyle was a weird fight, what's your opinion?

I saw that fight on prime time on ABC that Friday evening of May 16 1975, Muhammad Ali spent most of the 15 rounder trying to replicate the famed Rope A Dope on an aggressive Ron Lyle who really did not fall for it, that right hand that Ali connected on Lyle to me looked for like a chopping right hand, the same right hand that he used against Karl Mildenberger in Sept 1966, this one also staggered Lyle into a corner enabling Ali to score an 11th round stoppage to retain his title in his second title defense in his second title reign.

 

The narrative of this fight seems to be Lyle outboxed Ali before being stopped when it honestly couldn't have been any further than the truth. Ali was doing nothing the entire fight, as he was in one of his lazy moods. Lyle was winning rounds by virtue of being the more (and only) active fighter.

 

Other than everything already said which is undeniably true, it should have been a great or at least, very good fight, and it was an awful fight between two prime boxers.

 

It was kind of odd.

 

I agree. Furthermore, Young was virtually unknown and didn't even have a ranking.

 

I've wondered why that occurred myself.

 

That right though.

 

There was nothing innocent about that right hand. It landed right in the jaw and vibrated Lyle's whole body, reducing his legs to jelly. It was one of the most vicious right hands Ali ever landed cleanly. If you watch it in slow motion you can see just how badly it affected Lyle.

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Not unusual in that time (or before).

Hell, Jersey Joe was 5-5 in his last 10 fights before he beat Ezzard Charles for the title … with two of those losses to Ezzard (including in their previous fight, which wasn’t close) and had lost two in a row (Ezz and Rex Layne).

By all appearances, they were just going to keep giving Joe title shots until he won one.

 

Straight as an arrow and it went right through him.

 

That right though

 

To me, Lyle was an enigma.

While it’s true that it was against lesser lights, Lyle was killing it early career - very nice highlight reel for KOs.

It seemed to promise better than what was later to come.

He had the power, all the physical equipment and fair skills but he was a bust in some big fights.

Did he lack confidence - especially against bigger names? I dunno. Why did he fight down to Ali, just enough to eclipse him until round 11 - as if subordinating himself?

When Lyle sparred Ali and later Norton, both Ali and Frazier seemed to identify a lack of assertiveness in Ron’s game - though Ron either hadn’t yet turned pro or wasn’t long into his pro career at that stage.

No question, Ali’s right hand was a beauty - and I also don’t understand how anyone could argue with the ultimate stoppage…when every box was ticked to stop the fight..including a particularly nasty left hook among the final punches that dangerously snapped Lyle’s head back…

Ali should’ve put in more effort in every round - I remember one boxing mag. headlined their cover after the fight with - “Nobody Laughs at an Unfunny Clown” accompanied by a photo of Ali just covering himself up mid-ring.