Frazier Ali I is surprisingly fairly one sided

Some Ali fans are very fair.
I love what he did often in & out of the ring, & I do not think a prime Frazier, Norton or Louis stand a very good chance against prime Ali.

But I recognize his flaws as a man & fighter.

 

I'm an Ali fan. One day I could post he is the #1 heavyweight of all time. Pick him to win alot of mythical fights I've been accused of bring an Ali fan boy. Other days I'm an Ali hater if I mention for example the excessive holding or some decisions he got later on in his career he should have lost.
Some are biased for Ali without realizing it.

 

Hi Buddy.
When you say " prime Ali " you mean the fighter from 64 to 66 right ?

 

Proud to be considering many of you are biased for Ali whether you admit it or not.

 

I think 1964-1967 he was prime, still fought into '67.
But peak? '66-'67.

 

After all this time I still score the fight 9 - 6 in rounds to Joe. Frazier's best ever performance but he had to wade through hell to get the win. Joe took as much punishment as Muhammad did even though he was a clear winner on the cards. That's why he slipped more than Muhammad did in fights following. I was/am a massive Ali fan but also admired Smokin' Joe from the off.

Ali and Frazier - They sure don't make 'em like that anymore.

 

In one of my boxing books by the excellent Harry Mullan, he talks about all the celebrities at ringside, black and white, the atmosphere and the way the fight was built up.
For his part, at the time, Frazier was just as dapper as Ali and a better singer.
Frazier never saw those heights again but seeing him rolling out of his crouch to throw that left hook is one of the best sights in boxing, ever.
Ali would go on to achieve more that fight is still THE fight in my opinion

 

I'm still not sure wether the Ali before the exile would have beat Frazier, you can't prepare for a fighter like that.

 

There was no-one else around quite like Smokin' Joe either.
It would take someone very special to beat that version of him.
No doubt all the leaning on that Ali did helped take a toll on Joe's back the way that crouching fighters like Marciano and Patterson suffered.

 

One of the few fights when all the hype beforehand was justified.

 

51 years ago, where did the time go ??

 

Yeah time flies as fast as an Ali jab or Frazier hook.

 

Just let me get my feelers back to what was going on a year ago, when this discussion was actually taking place.

Factually correct for sure, disingenuously so.

Well some are still using the hospital excuse as to why Ali beat him thereafter so there's that.

Ali tried to claim he won a fight that was judged against him? The list of boxers that haven't done this is highly likely to be shorter than the list that has.

And race is now brought up? Keep grinding that axe.

You've absolutely got a horse in this race yet accuse others of the same.

 

An "excuse" that was made by most before the actual fight. Cus D'Amato among them.

To be clear, to the say he was the same as before or better is the revisionistic stance, not the other way around.

 

Hi buddy.
Agreed ,the years 65/67 for me, were undoubtedly Clay/Ali,s finest, but my everlasting memories of him fighting were from Quarry onwards, they also coincided with my best years, as a young man about town, if you get my drift .
As for the HW,s the likes of Quarry, Bonavena, Chuvalo, Spencer, Lyle, Martin, and of course Frazier will forever be my favs, of course, Lewis ( whom I rate very high ) Bowe, Holyfield, Mercer, Douglas, etc, were good fighters within their own right.
Talk of yesteryear fighters, compared to today's' ( which is constant ) it was interesting to hear Eddie Hearn comment that " AJ is only a baby, got lots to learn " after the 2nd loss to Usyk , really !! he is 33, been a champ on and off for 5 years or so, then Warren saying that he wants to keep Joyce " busy " so we will have him fight in March, MARCH !! thats borderline 6 months away, also while I am at it, Parker was gassing very early in the fight, a fight he had months to prepare for ! also Wilder was done by the 3/4th round, only his commendable courage kept the fight interesting, lots of post about how the modern fighters are better trained, more aware of nutrition, eating habits, etc, well not all, that's for sure.
The likes of Fury, Wilder, and AJ, have not proved ( to me ) they could have hung with Ali, Frazier, Foreman, or even the Quarries and Chuvalo's of the fight game, or maybe I have my rose tinted glasses on again.
nice chatting my friend.