How is it that ali "lost his legs" and declined during the layoff?

Ali did basically nothing from his last fight as champ with Zora Folley in March 1967...until his comeback against Quarry in
October 1970...

 

Maybe Parkinson's was slowly creeping up on him.

 

Ali spent a lot of time during those exile years going round to university s and college s giving speech s. Talking about his refusal to fight in Vietnam, he became a bit of a celebrity for that period. I would have been surprised if he even thought about a gym never mind step foot in one.

 

what? a young Ali had to move during all the fight constantly around the ring

 

No, moving forward requires more energy than lateral movement. Backing up guys who are your size or bigger take a lot out of you.

 

His competition also rose sharply after the layoff. Prime Frazier, prime Foreman, Prime Norton. That's a step up from his previous competition. Might have something to do with how he looked post layoff.

 

Also, he never really got into optimal shape after the layoff either. He was always carrying about 10 extra pounds post layoff. Agility and speed is best between about 24-27. After that it's starts to go. Combined with the fact that he didn't train then it lead to him being less mobile.

A boxer puncher like Marquez or Kovalev is in their prime around 30 because power and precision take long to develop or just simply leave the body later.

 

funny like people act like if tyson had a big merit because was smaller than his rivals.... tyson was shorter, but he was bigger than the most of his rivals in his prime( when he still used his move of head)
Tyson was not long but he was compact and wide like hell, a guy who is 5'10 of height and 220 pounds of ripped muscle to me is bigger than 6'3 225 larry holmes who added weight principally of fat, bigger than the 6'5 220 pounds tucker, 6'2 207 tillis,211 rivalta, 6'2 218 berbick, or the 228 pounder tirell biggs that was 6'5 of height. Tyson was far to be this "small guy who had to use his great movement to avoid shots from big monsters".
He was a short huge guy that had great confidence in his attack because was stronger and more powerful than the most of his rivals

 

Simply not training hard is enough to decline. It happens to fighters. Age can slow you down. Wear and tear can slow you down. Those are the two most common and inevitable causes of boxing erosion.

But also if you just stop training hard the body loses the ability. You can't just stop training hard and be like well I'm 25 years old there it's impossible for me to decline.

 

really ? then why many people repeat the words "facing bigger guys"? they were not bigger than him at all... only taller.
When you are smaller than your rival then you have to spend much more energy avoiding shots because he could hurt you more , but when you are shorter, stronger and wider than your rival you are not on this survival mode.
i think that prime Ali spent more energy moving all the fight

 

The jab is not a mechanical piston, you still have to put in the effort to throw it effectively.

 

Say names then. I said nothing close to what you're alluding to.