Muhammad Ali vs Alvin Lewis,strangest fight The Greatest ever had so far

Ali went to the body more against taller opponents. He could have done so much more against Terrell, though. There the body was wide open the whole time

 

Muhammad seemed a little sluggish in this bout owing to a cold that had developed a couple of days prior to the fight. A truer reflection of his ability at this time was in his previous bout against Jerry Quarry. That was the best form he'd displayed up to that time since his return to the ring in 1970.

 

what i remember, when watching this almost forgotten bout on youtube for the very first time, was how competitive it looked.
i got the impression that neither of the fighters dominated (amazing, because muhammad was in his 2nd career´s prime), but observed that ali took many hard shots to the head, not being able or just too "lazy" to avoid or dodge them.
i thought the premature ending by the referee was not justified here.
to me it looked rather a bit like wanting to spare ali for bigger, more lucrative fights.

 

Totally agree re the Terrell fight. Ernie held his guard so high to protect his head. Ali could've belted the body for its own sake but to also bring down Terrell's guard. If Ali had paid due attention to both head and body, I really think he could've KO'd or stopped Terrell. Can't remember which round, but there was one in which Ali had Terrell in real trouble. The more Ali hurt Terrell, the more Ernie chose to cover up and just survive.

 

I always viewed Ali taking those shots against Lewis as being more a show of disdain than anything else. Not good policy but if he was sufficiently inclined, I think Ali was more than capable of avoiding most of those punches.