Best version of Muhammad Ali in your opinion

I like his performance against Terrell. Ernie was the best test of all the foes Ali faced before the exile. Terrell was tall, awkward, clever, and unorthodox, but Muhammad figured him out and destroyed him as evidenced by the fact that Ernie was never even close to being the same afterward. As referenced above, Williams and Folley were shot, but Ernie was not, at least until after Ali.

 

Nah, Folley had his main success with his right. Somewhat like Jones four years earlier - and Jones also had a similar style to Folley - but not nearly as much. Ali managed to roll with most of what Folley landed and gradually found his timing. Very good outing for the old Folley, though.

 

I'm sure this isn't what the OP was looking for, but my best version of Muhammad is the one who would sneak into hospitals to visit sick kids without the press knowing.

 

This might be unpopular... The 2nd Norton fight.

He didn't look invincible, that's because he had a stylistic nightmare in front of him, that's the most he ever had to move in the 70's. I believe even the Ali from 67' would have more trouble with Norton, in 73' he was experienced and had been through wars and knew what it was like to get hit, he developed tactics for when specific things wouldn't go his way. The Ali from the Cleveland fight never had to adjust like that.

 

Williams. I get that Williams was shot (literally, and literally), but it was how Ali moved there and what he could do that was insane. How mobile he was. How he managed to throw damaging rights and combos while moving backwards. That obscene final flurry he threw.

Ali looked superhuman there. I can’t imagine anyone who could have beat that guy.

 

Definitely Jerry Quarry II. That was his Cat Williams fight of the 1970's.

 

I think Ali had real trouble with Zora Foley's jab, a jab Foley used to Ali's midsection and chest with great effectiveness. He fought a very smart fight and he kept Ali off balance jabbing his body and chest. The knock down and KO by Ali were the only two punches Ali seemed able to land. The Foley fight might have been a precursor to the trouble Ali would have with Ken Norton's jab some 6 years later.

 

The case is definitely there. Was he indeed better for the JQ rematch than he was for Foreman?

 

Ali's lean was really geared for slipping the left hook and for otherwise slipping counters in general. He couldn't lean away from Zora's right leads or body shots in that way. Norton's overhand right didn't afford Muhammad that opportunity in their first bout, so Ali assiduously ducked that right in their rematch.

Frazier really pounded him with the hook to the body. He was also focused and relentless with his primary weapon, yet also patient, keeping going with his hook to the body where JQ quickly got discouraged in his rematch with Ali after landing his own hard hooks downstairs. One did not counter Muhammad Ali after Cooper decked him with a counter hook in '63. (For their 1966 rematch, Ali trained himself down to 201 pounds, and avoided Cooper's hook like the plague. I'm not at all sure Frazier would've been competitive with the Ali of the Cooper rematch. Joe wouldn't have gotten hurt, but I think he'd have had an extremely frustrating and futile 15 rounds with an impossibly elusive target. Muhammad proved with Chuvalo I and Terrell that he could chose to be that elusive through the Championship Distance. The very irony of Manila is that Ali produced a stoppage precisely because he was past his peak and no longer the same athlete he was in the 1960's.)

 

After their first fight Eddie Futch said a version of Ali from 2 to 3 years earlier would have beat Norton so i'm not overly buying it.

 

I’m a big fan of Ali’s performance in the first Liston fight, boxing more conventionally and far more seriously than in previous fights.

He may not have yet hit his substantive prime but I still think that performance ranks right up there with performances that are more generally accepted as being during his actual prime.

Even future ATGs can overachieve at earlier (pre prime) points during their career - the first Liston fight might be THE fight when Ali had the most adrenaline coursing through him - thereby lifting his performance to sublime levels - even for Ali AT that stage of his career.

Otherwise, I’ll take the Terrell fight also. IMO, Ali did exactly what he did against Williams BUT against a younger, unimpaired and much less willing to engage opponent - and Ali proved he could do it over and over for the full 15 rounds if necessary without fatiguing.

Of course, Ali’s successes were far more dramatic against Williams than they were against Terrell, but the only difference lay in the opponent, just imo.

The quality of Ali’s performance against Terrell was the same as in the Williams fight - but to repeat, the added bonus was that Ali proved he could keep it up over the long haul.

 

If the 1966-1967 version of Ali blasts Ken like he does here at 3:56, replayed at 4:42, with 50 seconds left to go in round six, Norton's gone. (As it was, Ken probably did well to get out of that round.)

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Nice one!!!!

 

I fully agree regarding the first Liston fight Pug it’s a very underrated Ali performance because people tend to concentrate on Liston’s shortcomings.
I mean the fight before Ali had been heavily floored by Cooper and apparently going in with a killer like Liston he was going to be badly knocked out.
You’re spot on he fought a disciplined and sensible fight using the jab and his superior footwork against Sonny who was never good at cutting off the ring.
Ali knew he couldn’t take liberties with Liston like he did with Cooper and adjusted accordingly.