Does Muhammad Ali deserve to ranked top 5 ATG All Time?

I think people who list Ali's technical deficiencies as a reason to downgrade his greatness are completely missing the point.

 

I recognize Ali's technical deficiencies but still have him as best heavyweight. People who want to downgrade Ali will find a way to do so.

One time a guy even tried to say his resume was full of bums

 

I don't think he gets a pass for anything in the ring. His losses were epic.

Sugar Ray Robinson won and lost, too. They all won and lost.

 

I couldn't disagree more.

Name any fighter in boxing history besides Ali who was stripped of his world title because he wouldn't fight in a military action (not a war, no war was declared) that his country (not the world, his country) was engaged in?

Can you imagine if Denis Lebedev was told to go fight for Russia in Ukraine, and he said no, and the Russian government charged him with a crime, took his passport, and all the boxing sanctioning bodies stripped him because he wouldn't go kill Ukrainians?

Of course not. It was unprecedented what happened to Ali.

Ali's government turned on him. The boxing world turned on him. He wasn't allowed to leave the country. He had to fight to the Supreme Court to stay out of prison for five years. He lost everything.

I don't know if a couple of "nods" in a few close fights at the end of his career (that could've gone either way) came close to making up for all of that.

 

He was stripped by the WBA just for saying he didn't want to fight in the war. Before he even refused induction.

As for his close fights, yes, he could have lost to Shavers, Young and all three fights to Norton without it being a scandal of any sorts. And fighters have certainly suffered worse robberies than what even a loss to Jones or a draw with Frazier in the rematch would have been.

But Louis was also given the not in all the close fights he had (Pastor, Farr, Godoy and Walcott) and Robinson also had a lot of close victories. And, sure, Holmes should have been given the win in the rematch against Spinks, but he could also have lost against Norton, Witherspoon and Williams before that.

Duran could have lost both in Montreal and against Barkley without either being a robbery. Especially not the Barkley fight, which could have gone either way. He was also favored by some absurd scorecards against both Benitez and Hagler (against whom he was somehow ahead with only two rounds remaining), without winning, though.

And most insane of them all - Tyson was even with Douglas on the cards after 10 rounds.

So one should think twice before saying that Ali benefitted more than anyone else.

 

For me Muhammad Ali is #1 The Greatest of All Time
We were denied 3 1/2 years of his prime just imagine what he could have accomplished if not Banned for purely political reasons

 

Incidently Ali is in hospital with health drama's. Hopefully it's nothing dramatic but you always worry it's worse than they let on. They said he was ok and would be out after a short stay but some reports say it may be worse than first thought. Come on champ!