Has any Heavyweight fought a tougher slate of opponents than Ali?

Holyfield

Qwai
DeLeon
Dokes
Thomas
Douglas
Foreman
Holmes
Bowe (3)
Lewis (2)
Tyson (2)
Moorer (2)
Mercer

Before the last word freaks jump , Qwai was still a bad ass , Thomas could still fight, Dokes certainly could still fight, Foreman was very tough, Holmes went on to beat guys for another eight years, Moorer and Mercer were very tough and Tyson/Bowe and Lewis speak for themselves ..

 

His record is the ONLY reason I put Ali as one of the top 3 heavyweights of all time. He really did fight all comers for the majority of his career. Unfortunately, he took massive beatings and got some gifted decisions that prolonged his career and lead to more abuse at the end.

Ali, Louis, and Lewis are my top 3 HW of all time because they cleared out the division (if Bowe doesn't duck and run, I think Lewis finishes that task).

 

Louis beat everybody in his division from the mid 30s onward. Had Louis never been born, several of those guys would have been champions.

 

He should have quit after the Rumble. Period. Most of the "gifts" came after that. If he was marketed properly he could have made more money outside the ring than he made in it.

 

Holyfield.

Fighting Bowe and Lewis is a greater accomplishent than fighting 70s heavies.

 

Breaking it down,how many other all time great heavyweights in their primes did Ali fight? I would say Frazier in 71, Foreman in 74 and Holmes in 80.

 

That list is in no way is comparable to Ali's resume, getting decision wins over two heavyweights in their 40's is hardly sterling. Plus he lost to Lewis, Moorer and Bowe2x . Tyson was pretty much on the downward trend also , mentally more than physically so looking at that list I'd say his best win was over Bowe. A guy who ducked Lennox Lewis and who wouldn't be among Ali's top 5 wins of all time

 

.....and he lost to both of them. Quite an accomplishment

 

If you look at the Ring Heavyweight end of year rankings from 1962 to 1980 it’s quite remarkable how many contenders Ali fought.
One year I can’t remember which he’d fought all 10.

 

No

 

First of all the question was level of opposition not record .. second of all I completely disagree .. the Foreman and Holmes Holyfield fought easily defeat most of Ali's list of opponents .. Many feel the Foreman he fought beats the Foreman Ali fought including Teddy Atlas .. Tyson was still blowing guys out so the talk of him being down is nonsense .. he may not have been 1987 but he'd have crushed 99% of Ali's list .. Lewis and Bowe would have as well without debate .. take out a prime Frazier who was great but small and blind in one eye and a both aging and highly inactive Liston and what is so incredible about his opponents ? An old Patterson ? A 204 pound Bonavena ? Quarry who lost to not just Ali but Frazier, Ellis, Chuvalo and barely squeezed by a post title Patterson ? Shavers and Lyle are famous names but they certainly don't match up favorably to Holyfield's opponents .. Norton who was hell on boxers but never defeated a major puncher ? I am not saying that Ali didn't fight tough guys or that he ducked anyone or that he was not an exceptional fighter .. I am just saying I feel Evander fought even bigger, tougher and better opposition as a sum total .. I also completely disagree with your assessment of Bowe and feel the best Bowe had a very good shot of beating any Ali opponent ..

 

We're not talking about who could beat another guys opponents, but who fought the most and best boxers IN HIS DAY, which is all you can do, honestly.

Some interesting names in this thread. Fireman Jim Flynn comes to mind. Horrible boxer (horrrible in Canelo voice) but yeah, he fought everyone in his day. KO'd Dempsey; his fight vs Johnson was disgraceful (DQ'd due to constant headbutting) but he got in the ring with them.

Ezzard Charles, JJ Walcott and yes, Holyfield fought the best as well.

Only thing different about Ali was that all his bouts were spectacles, and he fought all over the world. I don't that could be said about Flynn, Charles, Walcott OR Holyfield.

 

You forgot my Coffey!

 

Ali was Ali .. period .. My interpretation is that this was another discussion ..

 

If it's not Ali it's some journeyman