Do you think Ali believed he could beat Holmes in 1980?

The problem with measuring Ali’s bombast as a reflection of his confidence is that Ali’s talk was sometimes employed as mantra-like feedback to reinforce his own confidence.

Arguably the greatest threat to Ali during his career was Joe Frazier - the very fighter Ali bad mouthed the worst - because Ali knew just how great Joe was and how much of a challenge he would be.

Holmes didn’t appear at all affected by Ali’s talk.

I always remember the clip of Ali sitting in a chair with his eyes closed.

Holmes went over and gave Ali a “playful” slap on the face - it seemed to me that Ali was somewhat stunned by Holmes own impudence and he replied to Larry with something like “Are you crazy?”