Are you comfortable with Ali beating up smaller, aging men like Archie Moore and Floyd Patterson?

Ali stated that he was pretty uncomfortable with the match with Moore and that he was nowhere near what he used to be, he looked up to him and his hands were basically tied. I think it's kinda a similar situation to what Holmes had to go through with Muhammad later.

And as for Patterson, he was still a legitimate fighter in '72. He beat Bonavena that year, and was still able to give Ali a damn good fight.

These are completely fair questions to ask, though. Welcome to the forum, man, I hope you're enjoying it here so far.

 

Moore was a top 5 ranked fighter. Patterson was around too 5 too.

Ali was a fossil.

 

He was last ranked in 1978. He was completely gone from the list in 1979 and never got back in.

 

Patterson looked pretty good in '72 only the cut stopped him. Ali also wanted to fight Patterson in '78 before the Spinks proposal that would have been a real mismatch.

 

I'm very comfortable, but i'm not out to hate on the guy either.

 

Ali was not champ in 72 & fought a ton of bouts that year. Some of them were just stay busy bouts and some were high profile. We have not seen a heavyweight go down that same activity road since.

 

Patterson hadn't lost in2 years and 2 fights previously he had beaten Bonavena.Floyd was also ranked no7.

 

Ali was 20 when he fought Moore.

 

Floyd Patterson (Ali 1 fight) was a legitimate contender to regain the title.
Archie Moore didn't.

 

Berbick wasn't a champ either.

 

Patterson coming into the rematch vs Ali hadn't had a real legitimate loss since his last loss to Ali and was in good form.

Alot of people thought Patterson got robbed vs Ellis.

Both of the Quarry fights were very debatable in which Patterson had an argument to winning both fights.

Patterson convincingly beat Bonavena on points the same year he fought Ali.

Patterson also did better vs Ali in the rematch in a very competitive fight that was probably about even on points up until the stoppage.

So why should we criticise Ali for beating a notable contender in Patterson who was still competing at a good level ?

 

It shows that the 60s and 70s were great matchmaking eras at heavyweight more than deep eras. Early 70s Patterson and fifty year old Moore would obviously be nowhere near the heavyweight top ten today. I'm not even sure if Moore would make it at cruiser.

And then today you've got guys like Dychko and Jalolov who aren't even getting fights.

 

If people are bothered by it, then they should also scrutinize Mayweather's resume.