Muhammad Ali 1973/74

The way Larry could leave his left hand low he would be catching those right hands all night long Stevie.

 

I must admit i always felt that Ali circa Quarry 2nd combined the near as damn it speed of his first reign with the added strengh of full maturity - and good hands which effected him later down the road, the problem was it was a capability to perform at this level was rarely shown during this Pre-Norton "Roadshow Period"
Ali was bored for the most part but did show Flashes of this reserve capability in selected rounds of fights...Quarry 2nd and a couple of rounds of Patterson "Hinted" at this higher capability, I think Norton would certainly of noticed the difference in this more focused Ali..with Good Hands.

 

Ali himself did not rate his performance against Foreman very highly. He gave it an 8 out of 10. If you really watch that fight early on Ali was having trouble. George was trapping Ali in corners and along the ropes and at the same time Alis punches were not strong enough to keep George at bey. At the end of round one Foreman lands heavy full forse blows to Alis body that had to really hurt. After round one, inbetween rounds, ali realized that he was moving three steps to Georges one and in a ring with heavy canvas padding he was exhausting himself trying to keep away. This is why right at the very beginning of round two he tries going to the ropes and finds he can handle Foreman there. IMO Ali was better in his second bouts with Frazier and Norton than he was for Foremen.