No, it's Glaukos the Hammer. In all seriousness though, he definitely is, or is close. There are not many fighters that I would pick to beat him, and those that I would pick would lose to more opponents than Ali H2H overall (IMO).
He's up there. Second only to the 80's Iron Mike Tyson. Then Louis, Holmes, Bowe, Liston...after that it gets dicey.
I've got Lewis as number 1, Ali as top 3 I can't decide who wins between Bowe and Ali, I think he loses to Wlad, Frazier and Lewis
Liston in top form has the tools to beat any champion. Not saying he would every time but he is a head to head monster.
Depends on the rules, someone like peak Jack Johnson would be really tough to beat with small gloves and clinches allowance, even for Ali.
Quite possibly, or even probably. If he isn't, he's close. Personally, if every HW great had a round robin among the top 25 - I think Larry would probably finish with the best overall record in my estimation - even if I believe him and Ali is a total toss-up.
Well, Ali looks amazing. Great active guard. M.Tyson was well on the way to becoming a heavyweight version of what Loma is today, I think he had better fundamentals than Ali.
My friend compared Fury`s power to Ali`s yesterday and I told him Ali hit harder, Liston didn`t know how to cut the ring off, about the energy thing I`m sure you`re right but I read somewhere that Ali took ballet lessons to move in a way that stopped his legs from tiring, he didn`t bend his leg too much when moving and he would push himself around the ring putting pressure on his foot and pushing his body around the ring, QI!
At his 60’s best he exhibited handspeed as good as the division has seen, movement that hasn’t been equaled before or since, and reflexes that were off the charts. In the 70’s he showed he had even more than his God given athletic gifts. He had desire, will, heart and courage that was as good as anyone and a chin that was pure granite. I seriously doubt a single fighter in the divisions history has had so many qualities that you expect in a great fighter going for them as Ali had. These more than compensated for his lack of a fight ending punch and flaws in his style. I’d still have him as the h2h best ever on the strength of these abundant qualities, which isn’t to say a given fighter couldn’t come out on top against him on a given night but I’d favour him to win more against the best than any other heavyweight champion.
