Ali weight training for 1975 Thrilla in Manila

Never read Ali lifted weights. Remember Ken Norton saying one of his regret's was not lifting weights . Joe Louis said
his foundation for power came from carrying large blocks of ice up stairs ( work ) and Henry Armstrong hammering nails into
railroad ( work) was where he got his stamina from. Sugar Ray Leonard only started lifted weight when fighting Hector
Camacho from martial artist Billy Blanks and Gerry Cooney from another martial artist Richard Barathy who use to train
NFL player Mark Gastenau. Barathy emphasied light weights on a pulley the type you find on universal machine.

 

There is a very long history of fighters lifting weights. This was typically done during road work. The fighter would stop during his run and lift any general object and then throw it. Large rocks, logs etc. Many past greats developed shoulder and arm strength during manual jobs such as Johnson carrying bails of cotton or Dempsey digging in mines or Fitzsimmons pounding on an Anvil...all done hour after hour daily as a means of subsistence.

 

I would like to see the quote from the book or after the fight, maybe its so but I've never come across either from any scribe before or since the fight.

 

Yes in those aspects but not stationary weights in the gym which is a pretty new addition to boxing training. A few in the seventies began using light weights fairly fast seeing it didn't slow down Bruce Lee who religiously trained with them this way.

 

The greatest fighters ever to live never used free weights.

The question in my mind is the more any athlete trains performing the sport the better at that sport he will become. Spending an hour of precious gym time lifting weights will not make any fighter a higher skilled fighter. In effect it takes away time that could be dedicated to learning the craft.

 

Wish I could have seen Ali workout...did get to see a few other champs and challengers workout or fight but never ali..great

 

Dundee was completely against weight training so I doubt it. I never saw free weights at Deer Lake.