Could anybody beat prime Ali? If not, who comes the closest.

I think Ali just pre exile beats them all.

Larry Holmes would be one of the toughest, all business boxer with a fantastic jab. There would be no room for clowing, Ali would have to bring his A game.

Frazier and Norton obviously, but i think he'd get past both.

Tyson would be an absolute handful, but i think ali would drag him into deep water and eventually wear him down.

Lewis would be awkward.

 

Bowe would have "out worked" Ali? Ridiculous statement. Bowe would have no chance against Ali's speed. Mismatch.

 

I used to think that prime Ali was unbeatable, but who did he really beat in his "prime"? A shot Williams, decent but past his best Folley? One dimensional Terrell, chinny Cooper?

In fairness Ali looked incredible against Williams, but he never looked like that before or since. Why not? If he was so utterly dominant more often he might deserve the accolade "unbeatable", but he wasn't really.

He didn't beat Cooper in anything like the way he did Williams, for instance. Cooper was competitive in their 1966 fight until his hemophilia struck again.

Ali was tremendous overall, obviously, but people give him leeway all the time. His prime is moved to suit and when all else fails people can say "we never saw Ali in his prime"!

Was the best Ali unbeatable? Is anybody really unbeatable? All the great champions have nights when they are virtually faultless. You could argue Louis was more impressive against better opponents in his prime than Ali was(Baer and Schmeling trump Williams and Folley).

I don't hear many people claiming Louis was unbeatable. People say he was great and would be very hard to beat. The same should apply to Ali.

 

It's hard to say who could have beaten whom.
I think on their best day any champion could have eked out a win over any other champion.
Who would have thought Douglas could have beaten Tyson or Ali beating Liston the first time? No one.

 

Frazier.

 

Tony Galento of all people predicted that Ali would beat Liston!

 

I've heard of one or two other big names who predicted an Ali win. I don't remember who.
I'm sure there was someone we've heard of who predicted Douglas.
When I said "no one", I meant it figuratively.
Maybe 'almost no one' would have been better.

I'll tell you what I do think. If you pitted Ali against all the former champions, there would be at least one who could beat him every time and he would be a total surprise. I don't know who it would be.
Ali said several times "I was out on my feet and he didn't know it". There would be one who would know it and follow up on it.
Louis had a great killer instinct - maybe it would be him.

 

You don't think the 1964-1965 Ali is unbeatable? I do. Ali at his best displayed great hand speed, foot work, reflexes, mobility, unpredictability, body movement, and unreal head movement. A true fighting machine. If you look at Ali's 3 fights from 64 to 65. He achieved greatness in the first liston fight. Took out liston in 1 round in the 2nd fight and played around and toyed with floyd patterson from round 1 to round 12.

So the 1964-1965 Ali was at his best and 1966-1967 Ali was reaching his prime.

 

You have Ali jumping from barely surviving fights with the mediocre Doug Jones and Henry Cooper to invincibility in two years.
How do you say he did this?
By winning two fights with Liston (widely believed to be fixes) and by beating Floyd Patterson, one of the two or three worst champions in history.

I don't agree.

 

I don't think Williams was that far shot. Compare him in the 2nd Ernie Terrell fight and the Ali fight. He looks the same. He went on for 13 wins and 7 losses after the Ali fight also. I'm not saying getting shot didn't change him, I'm saying it wasn't as much as people say. Ali still would have stopped him either way.

 

Cassius Clay beats Muhammad Ali.

 

Ali was a pretty light puncher. Yes, he could pepper a bunch of cruiserweights at will, but little Joe Frazier proved that someone tough can take those punches and keep coming. Ali was very vulnerable to fast left hooks to the head. Frazier' hook was almost indefensible in their first fight.

Ali had weaknesses and was quite beatable.

 

Loius
Frazier
Holyfield