Best version of Muhammad Ali in your opinion

This is one of those instances where you can hear the impact of his jabs and other shots. He wasn't flicking his jab here, it was no "snake lick," it was sharp and hard. And he was still growing at barely age 22. It was eight months since nine year 36 fight veteran Cooper decked him in his previous outing, and 11 months since 25 fight 26 year old veteran Doug Jones (who had massive experience and was coming off his stoppage wins over Bob Foster [who shouldn't have been in with Jones just ten fights in for his first scheduled ten rounder] and Zora Folley [this one was super legit and avenged a previous decision loss to Folley]) nearly blew young Clay over with a hard right.

I don't think he ever believed he could take liberties with Liston, but was unduly relaxed with an extremely bloody Cooper, trying to draw matters out to make good on a fifth round prediction, when he could've produced a halt before Henry would've ever had a chance to floor him.

Despite that knockdown, he made a tremendous scene in the ring a month later following Liston-Patterson II, and Sonny played right along with it. ("Is he around now? Put the gloves back on!" In fact, they cordially shook hands before and after their two bouts when Liston would be introduced prior to the GOAT's other fights, not making any scene in those instances.)

 

When you talk about Ali...you talk about the Ali of 1963-1967...not the 1970's Ali...he became a punching bag!...Look how he ended up...worse than any Heavyweight Champion in history!

 

No, he ended up second worse in Heavyweight Championship history to Ezzard Charles, and in both cases, it was really due to one fight, if you accept Marciano-Charles I as the true culprit behind Ezz's "ALS."

Take away Shavers and Ali might even still be alive today like his brother Rahaman. I've been posting that opinion for over 15 years, and Larry Holmes has also expressed that belief on camera. Amputate his leg after the foolish Inoki farce (which almost happened prior to Norton III) and I believe Muhammad remains an articulate spokesman for the remainder of his life. (He didn't suffer from any dementia, but Parkinson's syndrome. During his final win, Howard Cosell pointed out how his timing was off. That's what Shavers did to him.)

 

Top post Cec, including the point about people only focusing on Liston’s shortcomings - Sonny was still a very dangerous fighter as at the time Ali beat him - and no one knew that better than Ali himself, thus the performance we saw from Muhammad.