Gil Clancy's Top 10 P4P

"ZL: Okay, another name: Muhammad Ali.??GC: Ali I’ve known forever. I knew him since he was an amateur. His best asset, Ali’s was—nobody realizes—his best asset was that he could take the best punch in boxing. If he couldn’t take a great punch, he would’ve just been an ordinary heavyweight. But he could take those good punches that other guy nailed him with, and just come right back and score points and eventually get these guys out of there—most of them.

ZL: With few exceptions, you need to have a great chin to be successful in the heavyweight division, don’t you?

GC: You do need a great chin, yeah. But he had the best one. The best.

ZL: Lennox Lewis had a great career but he obviously didn’t have–

GC: (cutting in) Didn’t have the best chin in the world, no.

ZL: But he was able to overcome it because…?

GC: Well, because the talent that was around. He was a big guy, talented guy, and there wasn’t that much around in the heavyweight division."



Some of the punchers Lennox Lewis beat: Razor Ruddock, Frank Bruno, Tommy Morrison, Andrew Golota, Shannon Briggs, David Tua, Vitali Klitschko ....

 

I wonder where Carlos Monzon ranks on Clancy's list. You can tell based on his interviews and his color commentary that he didn't think very highly of Carlos. I think Clancy's fighters having 0% success against Monzon may have something to do with that.

 

oh boy
ZL: Do you like Ali matching up against any heavyweight—I mean, I know Norton gave him problems…but do you like him against any heavyweight that’s ever lived?

GC: Well, I think Marciano would have given him trouble, strange as it may seem. Even though Rocky was a small guy, he just had such a high energy level…work level…that he’d take it out of these bigger and stronger guys all the time. The reason I say that, I don’t know if you remember when Ali fought George Chuvalo. Chuvalo couldn’t punch, and he gave Ali trouble. Chuvalo’s style was a little bit similar to Marciano’s. So with Mariciano the way he could really punch, and the style he had, I think he would’ve always given Ali trouble.

 

I'm surprised Clancy said that. The 90s competition was actually comparable to the 70s...he's wrong.

 

I think maybe it's that Lennox didn't get those big fights that were legacy makers earlier in his career - Bowe didn't happen, Holyfield happened late and of course, Tyson happened even later. I think guys of Clancy's generation didn't rate him that highly but there's a lack of recognition that he was avoided. Also, compared to the 70s, there was a fair bit of time the titles were split. The 70s had the advantage of one official champion from the beginning of the decade through to 1978. The 90s had 90-92 and then the end of 99. The rest of the time the title was only partially unified (thanks Bowe) or completely split (thanks Foreman).

 

Gil said some nonsense but had some insightful pieces in there.
I like what he said about Duran "He knew where to be" in context to having "no jab" when you boil the fat off it that's boxing. Thinking ahead and knowing where to be at the right time. With the right sense of distance you could fight with your hands behind your back if you know where to be.

 

Just who does Gil hang out with?

 

Gil is like a lot, he has his biases and he has a mixture of incredibly insightful and at times not so insightful comments. I do love reading him tho but i don't take everything he says as gospel. He's a great read.

 

Your "opinion"...just like it's Gils's "opinion". There no right answer to this...it's what you like...simple!!!