Most underrated chins in boxing history

Most of the fight in Manilla was on the ropes, it was a phone booth war as was the first fight a lot of the time, both fighters were throwing large amounts of leather in both of those wars.

 

Great movement and outstretched arms, Leon Spinks couldn`t touch him.

 

True. But Ali was off the ropes a lot during the FOTC, especially during the first five rounds. I still remember Ali showing great movement and speed occasionally in Manila though too.

 

Ali had awful movement in Manilla and was out of shape, he took tons of punches in both figts whether he was moving or not, look at his jaw at the end of TFOTC.

 

Since I can't agree w/ you and you are clearly determined to disagree with me, I have to RTD myself on this fight pal. But yeah, Ali did take a lot of punishment in both matches.

 

Fair points Mark, good post. Ali was certainly never near that good again and certainly never in that mental and physical shape ever again. I don't think this particular stoppage points to a weak chin tho.

 

I don't think he danced remotely as much in the 70's as he did the 60's.

 

He slipped punches, parried them, even rolled with the odd one. He was also surprisingly effective at times with those outstretched arms while he backpeddled. His footwork defensively and sense of range were good and his jab, tho sometimes countered was a good defensive asset.

I'm not sure what you are seeing at times. You don't have the success Holmes had over so many years without being able to offset the incoming. You also said Liston had no defense at all when it is blatantly obvious he is very good defensively.

 

I agree, but that doesn't mean he still didn't do it frequently.

 

Maybe and Ali certainly finished well with very fast combo`s, it wasn`t just one punch, it was more to do with Lyle`s poor fundamentals than his chin.

 

He looked good in the rematch v Frazier and even hurt him in the second round of that bout.

 

That's primarily the one I was thinking of. Ali looked thoroughly like his hold self in terms of movement. He pretty much danced for the whole fight. The only thing he was doing differently was clinching more. I've always thought that was one of Ali's 5 best performances actually.

 

He threw tons of hooks in the figt also everytime Joe tried to get inside.

 

Another good post Mark.

 

Mine my mother could really knock your head off with a left hook- but I’ve come a long way since I was seven.