Muhammad Ali, "Marciano, ohh he hit hard. I think he was better than Joe Frazier."

Excellent post, and in excellent point in the bold.

I posted these videos to see what people thought about what Ali was saying here. I believe a prime Ali beats a prime Marciano, and not trying to imply otherwise (Although I find the fight to be incredibly tough). I do feel Marciano at his best beats a Thrilla or FOTC form of Ali.

The one difference between Marciano and Frazier I've noticed is Frazier has had some opponents on the ropes try fighting him back. That was a no-no against Marciano and mainly opponents would run away to make sure they didn't get cornered. Against that small reach and big firepower that would be bad.

One thing Ali had somewhat of an overtendency to do is lay on the ropes or keep on the ropes. I feel Marciano capitalizes on this much better than Frazier does. Frazier has some better attributes to combat Ali (Footspeed and such) and I do feel Frazier does other things better that are important to do against an Ali. But Marciano does hit a little harder, it's getting the power there. It's still a very interesting matchup and it's nice to see Ali respect and recognize that. I was also interested to hear him say he thought Marciano was truly better than Frazier. Maybe because it's Joe Frazier, his big rivarly... who knows, but he gives him high praise indeed.

Yep, Ali is always a good laugh. Quite the character. I should post part 6 where he goes in his "I'm the greatest" mode and starts slapping around with Cossel to which Howard yells "Knock it off!"
Here's part 6. It's around 3 minutes in I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tddEUn-DKL0&feature=related

 

I think that's a fair assessment. One thing I think Marciano would do better than Frazier is capitalize when Ali is on the ropes better. Being on the ropes against Rocky was considered suicide. He would pour it on well.

I commented on that, too.

Haha yeah, Ali was quite the character. A little harsh but usually hilarious.