Anybody Not Have Ali In The Top Spot?

H2H I have Ali, but overall I now have Joe Louis at the top.

It's something my opinion has shifted on very recently. The depth of Louis's achievement is just insane.

 

I feel my top 3 Ali, Louis, Lewis could be interchangeable depending on what you are looking for. If you weigh H2H very heavily you can start to make arguments for other guys.

 

Louis is top.

 

I like Louis personally, but that might just be the non conformist in me speaking.

If we had the coverage & tech that we began to see from the 60s onwards I think he’d still be a household name and the contenders from the era would be looked back on in a different light.

50-1 before he retired with his only loss avenged emphatically.

Rematched virtually all of his close decisions or contests (minus Farr) again, won all of them emphatically.

Dominated his era like no other heavyweight before or after him (apart from maybe Sullivan)

Record number of consecutive title defences

Faced incredibly stiff competition very very early in his career, 4 former lineal champs in just over 2 years

Had fantastic longevity, his comeback wasn’t that bad either

 

I have Lewis at the top, great resume and career. He also has the size, skill, and power to compete in any era

 

Ali for me. He had far tougher opposition and I think accomplished more. My favorite is Louis though.

 

Lewis has a chance against any heavyweight but going h2h, I would favour Ali, Holmes, Tyson and maybe Holyfield, all at their best over him.

 

Joe Louis

 

Alot of people put Louis in top spot, I suppose because of number of title defenses.

I would put Clay's level of opposition well above that of Louis's though.

Clay should certainly be on top spot at HW, but I do feel he still gets overrated a bit skill wise. People make him out to be unbeatable but the truth is he had his share of losses, gift decisions and trouble with lesser fighters.

I've watched about a third of his fights, and while the hand speed was definitely there, it's not quite as good as it's made out to be, not to mention he had underwhelming power for a guy with such superior physical tools.

I think what really makes Clay great was that he was able to evolve his game to still get the most out of himself when everything else was slipping. But even at that point he was racking up a lot of gift decisions.

Legacy wise, gotta give top spot to Clay, but head 2 head matchup, Clay is may be a Top 5.

I would pick Lewis, Tyson and possibly the Ks to all beat him inside the ring. If Kronk Fury fought him I'd probably pick Kronk Fury too.

Clay pulled that rope a dope on Foreman, but all those guys I mentioned are far to accurate to lay on the ropes against.

 

Hahahahaha that tickled

 

Seriously why do you insist on calling Ali Clay?

Do you just have a need to be edgy?

 

Those "gift decisions" that you speak of happened long after Ali's prime, so I don't see how they have much bearing on peak Ali.

 

Probably Ruiz