Cassius Clay vs Brian London (August 6, 1966)

I think some are being unduly unkind to London. Sure he was no worldbeater, but he was a solid heavyweight. He went 11 rounds with a prime Patterson. He twice went 15 with Henry Cooper. No one stopped him from '62-'67, except Ali. He beat Howard King, Tom McNeeley, lost in 12 to Ingemar Johansson, in 15 to Cooper, in 10 to Thad Spencer. No he wasn't a threat to Ali, but he was veteran and experienced enough and had shown enough durability that he was likely going to go rounds with Ali in a losing effort. The early blowout was impressive. Even after that fight, through '67, London was still a durable guy, losing in 10 to Quarry and winning a 10-round decision over Folley. He fell apart after that. Point is, no he wasn't a top contender, but as of '66 he had shown that he was solid enough at that point in his career to go rounds with top guys, including some big punchers. Hence, Ali's domination and early annihilation has to be viewed as impressive.

 

Angelo Dundee accepted the fight because he figured it would be "like stealing candy from a baby" (I think that was the phrase he used).
Easy easy money.

 

To be honest it seems, to the untrained eye, like Senor Pepe has something against Muhammad Ali, judging by recent posts saying Floyd Patterson was crippled with a bad back, Liston fights were fixed and discrediting Brian London.

Yes he wasn't the best Ali has faced. But what champion faces number 1 contenders in every fight?

Question: were all the newspapers at the time (1966) calling Ali 'Cassius Clay?' He changed his name two years earlier. I wonder was it a gradual process or was his name change not accepted until the 70's due to his politics, I know he wasn't well liked at the time.

 

Well, he'd been famous as Cassius Clay for about 4 or 5 years.
If Wladimir Klitschko changed his name tomorrow, would WE start calling him by his new name ?
I doubt I would.

 

Well Pepe even the great Joe Louis had his "bum of the month" campaign. A great heavyweight champ like Ali is entitled to his easy money now and again,and London wasn't really that bad.
I mean you mention Ali being concerned about his "personal safety" that's why he ducked Liston,Frazier,Foreman,Shavers,Bonavena,Lyle,Quarry,Norton etc.

 

Did he ever change his name?
I've never seen where he went to court for a name change. Maybe he did.

I've heard clips of Cosell referring to him as Cassius Clay as late as 1966 or 1967. Cosell was deeply in Ali's pocket- his chief sycophant.

 

ali was fighting constantly so a few easy ones are a given. has any heavy champ since defended his title 7 times in a year?

maybe you pepe wanted ali to be defending his title 12 times a year.

 

Bear in mind England had just won the Football world cup there would have been a buzz about English sportsmen competing at world level then

 

Okay guys Senor Pepe has convinced me with his random-ass threads about Ali's amateur career and occasional easy fights. Muhammad Ali sucks now. We all agree. Senor Pepe can quit posting now.

 

I like the threads about Ali's amateur career.
I see a lot of Ali fans getting upset by Senor Pepe's threads, so maybe they should make some threads about Ali's amateur career or lesser known fighters of the era. :good