Muhammad Ali through old camera technology

Here is Ali’s fight with Lamar Clark

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It was filmed with older cameras, even for the time period, with the same production used for fights 20 years prior or so.

What you see is a clearly a handicapped version of what Ali really looked like in the ring. From this film, you can appreciate Ali through a “black and white lense,” but he appears woefully inadequate compared to more modern fighters.

He looks front heavy. Open. Straight up.

He looks fast and skilled, and can punch, but only for the standards of old school fighters. He doesn’t look prepared to fight the likes of Tommy Morrison, Buster Douglas, Lennox Lewis, etc. If you didn’t know it was Ali in that film you may think he’d get eaten up by those more modern fighters. Don’t get me wrong, he looks really good in the film, but based on this type of film, would you think he was the greatest fighter to ever grace the ring?

It’s only until you see his other fights in far greater quality that you see the Muhammad Ali you know. The one with the facial expressions that exude a deep awareness. The lightening reflexes, speed, and footwork. The punching technique that was extremely hard to deal with. The combination of physicality with authentic traits. The unorthodox tricky style.

But those things simply don’t appear in the Lamar Clark fight film due to the quality of the production. He looks almost like many other old school fighters confined to antiquated camera technology. You can see flashes of his brilliance if you look with a keen eye. But you don’t feel it. You can hardly see 90% of the picture of what Ali truly was in the ring.

Now imagine what even worse camera tech did for guys like Louis, Dempsey, Johnson, and the countless of accomplished fighters under them.

 

But it’s not the same.

Had his entire career been filmed in that manner you would never have seen his greatest moments the way you remember them today.

You would never see his facial expressions, his bulging eyes that would bait his opponents in.

You’d never see the subtleties of his skills like this:
https://giphy.com/gifs/black-and-white-boxing-7PwzEk6YKmPNC

Or like this
https://gifer.com/en/IycO

You’d barely be able to see his amazing slips like he performed in the Terrell fight.

There’s no emotion or feel in the Lamar Clark film. No personality. No real sense of his musculature, his reactions, his accuracy. It’s a shadow of Ali.

A significant portion of what made him great to watch in the ring is stripped.

Anyone who believes there is no significant difference is in my opinion being obtuse, or they have a low IQ.

 

Ali looks just fine in this film.
But he doesn’t look like Ali the fighter we all know and love.

 

So his entire career could be filmed in this manner and you’d see everything in his performances that you’ve seen with the cameras used at the time?

What about classic career moments like this?
https://gfycat.com/acclaimedinstructivedove

You realize that the quality and detail in this clip that makes it a memorable moment would be completely lost using that Lamar Clark film technology, right?

 

Sure. And Inception would be just as riveting with 1930s cameras.

Believe me, no difference.