Is ali the only boxer in history to be great while losing his biggest asset

No. Larry lost his jab's speed (it was still great nun the less). He also lost his footwork too. So he just sort of danced or moved around in spurts too. He beat Ray Mercer by counter punching and slugging it with him.

 

No other heavyweight has ever moved around the ring like Ali did in the 60s. He was so graceful and light on his feet - it was astonishing to see for a man who weighed over 200 pounds. Ali lost his main asset but he also had other great assets aswell - speed, intelligence, adaptability, will power etc. Good post.

 

Ali Had so much Speed to begin with that in losing some, his 70's incarnation was still Very fast when he wished to turn it on, see his pre and post fights with Chuvalo for some sleight comparison, one must bare in also that a younger Ali was fighting guys like Cooper, London, Williams, Folly, and the Older Ali had to Cross swords with Younger faster fighters like Frazier, Bugner, Quarry, Norton, ect Ali may of lost some speed but maturity probably made him stronger, A Ring General who knew how to marshall his changing forces,

 

Yes. Not as much, but still yes.

 

I don't seem to recall Holmes " slugging " with Mercer. Although it's been 15 years since I've seen the fight. The only real exchange that remotely resembled slugging in that fight, occurred in the first round, and sent Holmes reeling. After that, Larry utilized the jab, and took full advantage of his reach and speed against Ray, who even being 10 years younger, was noticably slower than his veteran opponent.

 

The full fight is on youtube. Larry was slugging with Mercer in a couple of rounds. He was also counter punching. In the first round Mercer caught Holmes with a great jab right on the chin while Holmes was backing up, and it sent Holmes reeling. That wasn't an exchange.

Here is part 1, you can find the rest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8zsnFsVuro

 

Okay,

Well a couple of rounds maybe, but that's not what I remember happening for MOST of the fight.

 

An awful lot of champions who became renowned as skillful and stylish boxers started out as huge punchers whose hands couldn't withstand the force of repeated hard impact. Tommy Lougran may be the outstanding example of this, although Jimmy McLarnin also had a distinguised career.

Some would argue that the foremost asset of Bobby Chacon during his original rise to prominence was his legs. He was no cutie though, by the time he had his last title run, and Schoolboy closed out the last few years after the Mancini bout as a winner (retiring Art Frias in the process).

El Flaco Explosivo had been a slip and counter boxer-puncher, but towards the end of his career, he devolved into a get hit and counter type. Still, he got the job done more often than not.

To become a champion, and remain one through a year of title defenses, Hilmer Kenty lost his stick and move style by choice, to become an aggressive stalker, an elective loss which served him well while at the top.

Many fighters have adapted to the loss of size and strength advantages they enjoyed in their original weight classes. Duran has to be the classic example of this.

George Foreman evolved so completely over 20 years that I count him as two different incarnations.

There are other examples too numerous to mention, but I'm sure the others on this forum can identify plenty of them.

 

Joe Calzaghe was known as a stoppage specialist going into his fight with Robin Reid, with a ridiculously high stoppage % and had just scored a KD over Eubank in round one.

From there on though Joe's hand became increasingly brittle and problematic.

Unlike Ali however, despite losing his ability to continue doing what he best known for, actually improved as a fighter. Joe became a masterful boxer and developed a somewhat unique style, which he demonstrated perfectly against Jeff Lacy in 2006.

 

did you just call calzaghe a great fighter?????????:yikes

 

Good point but not really. Louis lost his spark but still got great wins like Walcott 2!

I would say that Ali and Louis are two guys who lost a major element in their game but generally still reigned king. Great fighters could do it. Like Holmes, he lowered his punchoutput, maintained his workrate, paced himself, stuck with the jab etc He wasn't 40 thinking he was 20. Hopkins is the latest to do it. He is 42 and fights like he is. Hopkins didn't quite pull it out against Taylor whereas I think Ali and Louis in dire moments pulled out a few.