Did Ali have the easiest Heavyweight reign 65'-67'

Clay didn't run the WBA. He couldn't tell them to postpone his long deserved title shot because he had a close fight with Jones. :nono

 

Winning a losing in a galant effort does not always warrant getting a rematch. Jones lost fair and square. If he wanted another shot at clay, then he shouldn't have gone and lost some of his future fights. There are some who say that Tillis gave Tyson a little bit of trouble, within the same calendar year as fighting Berbick for the title. Doesn't mean that a rematch was needed.

Getting back to the subject, I still don't see how a single match that took place before Clay won the crown, has anything to do with him having a week reign...

 

Ali took some time off after winning the title, travelling around the world. This can of course be questioned. But Liston also took a year before rematching Patterson, Ingo took a year before rematching Floyd and Frazier took a year off after beating Ali (and then took on a non-ranked fighter).

So it doesn't stand out in any way.

 

Fair enough.

 

I'd be very surprised if Jones didn't take that exhibition pretty seriously. A good showing there was probably the best chance for him to get a title shot. Conversely, if Ali came off as superior it would seriously lessen any interest in a rematch. And that's exactly what happened.

As Magoo said, Tyson doesn't get any flak for not rematching Tillis. And that's without him having dominated him in an exhibition a couple of years after the actual fight.

 

Tyson did fight Tillis in an exhibition though, and based on that would have probably soundly beaten him by 1987-1988, although Tillis did last out the rounds. I'd call it almost the exact same situation, where a rematch was unnecessary considering how both of the competitors' careers went on.

 

Yeah? Didn't know that. Interesting tidbit. Thanks.

 

Mongooseman,

Long deserved title fight. The guy just turned 22. He was #1 after beating Doug Jones
in March 1963. (He was only 21 1/2 when he signed for the fight).

Long deserved title shots;
Eddie Machen (1957 thru 1965),,, (age 33)
Cleveland Williams (1959 thru 1967),,, (age 34)
Zora Folley (1957 thru 1967),,, (age 37)
Sonny Liston (1958 thru 1962),,, (age 30 thru 38, pick-a-number)

The problem with Heavyweight boxing back then, is that it lost its face.
Sonny was deamed to be "too close to the mob'
Floyd was considered 'weak'
Ingemar was noted as being 'limited'
And the rest of the bunch 'deeply flawed'

 

I read that Tyson looked a bit sluggish and lacklustre against Tillis in that exhibition (November '87 ?).
Anyway, Tillis was discredited severely by then as a contender.

Post-fight articles of Liston-Ali 1 generally name Jones, Machen, Patterson as likely challengers in the eventuality that Liston get denied a return match. Jones was definitely credible, but lost a couple of fights at the end of '64.

 

Just for the sake of comparison, here are the first nine defenses of Louis' title reign:

Farr
Mann
Thomas
Schmeling
Lewis (still the LH champion, but suffering from at least partial blindness when he fought his friend)
Roper
Galento
Pastor (pretty good contender, but basically gotten the shot because he lasted the distance against Louis the first time around)
Godoy I (coming off a loss to Primo, by DQ)

I dunno....Ali's list of challengers doesn't look that bad compared to some of these guys...

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9S4ZDHcdlQ[/ame]

 

Good stuff. :good

 

It's about equal.

 

Sluggish & lacklustre?! nut

 

Must you argue everything? I never said Ali had the longest wait for any fighter in history. I'm done responding to you.

And Ali was already #2, Jones was #6 by the WBA. Ali's wins over Moore, Daniel, and Lavorante shot him up the rankings but he had to wait for #1 Patterson to fed to Liston again.