Muhammad Ali sparring for Quarry 1 (with Cus D'amato & Angelo Dundee commentary)

Excellent video. And in hindsight we know just how correct Cus was. Ali's legs would never be the same again, which of course isn't very surprising.

 

It's a myth that Ali lost all of his footspeed to the exile, just look at how he moved against Frazier in 1974. But, just as Cus points out, he did loose that extra inch, both in stamina and in speed, and in the really tough matches this would tell.

 

before the exhile ali had a lot of "youth speed". I never understood why peolple put his slowing down to being out for 3 years and not because he was simply 3 years older. Its phenomenal that he still had the hyperenergy of a 16 year old for the full 15 rounds at age 26. Though it is said 29 is about the peak for heavyeights the kind of high energy style he had would have been ready to slow down by then anyway. In the foley fight ali showed a slightly more mature display anyway, he paused and stood still for spells whilst he looked to unload the right. I think this was the direction his style was going to naturaly adapt to had he continued without the break. A slightly more subtle combination of counterpunching and slower dancing. perhaps after the layoff ali became distracted by this subtle evolution on style aiming to start all over again and concentrated on maintaining the full on dancing?