Muhammad Ali vs Ernie Terell

I cant believe it been nearly 2 years since wrote this https://imgur.com/gallery/45u05

 

Ali at his absolute peak. He had had good preparation with six defenses the year before and his concentration and motivation was very high for this one.

Think he tried to KO Ernie, but couldn't, though, despite the legend of Ali refusing to go for the kill. Terrell was durable and in shape and didn't expose his chin behind that high guard. Such a fighter is very, very hard to stop. If Ali had gone more to the body, I think he would have done it, though.

In Escudo's last GIF, one can see how Terrell winces after a rare left, right to his ribs, which he had to expose in order to protect his face with that long upper body. Had Ali been more consistent with that kind of attack, I think he would have broken Ernie down and opened him up for the kill.

 

I loved Ali , but was there ever a fighter around who such exagerated myths and legends grew ?

 

The media raised an issue with this fight regarding Ali being more cruel than necessary. There were still alot of the old guard around who covered Joe Louis.
What could they write about? Ali was dominant and nobody could touch him at that time. They had to focus on something negative. It was all too scary to have someone different up there.

 

Re-reading Terrell's statements pre- & post-fight indicate he did better against the prime Ali than he is given credit for. Especially the claim re: Ali thumbing him in the eye early in the fight.

 

Longhorn, in the early 70's Earnie and I talked and he very calmly showed me how Ali thumbed him in close during the first round. For the rest of the fight he said everything was a blur and the best he could do was keeping his hands up and surviving. Even without this I have never been impressed with Ali's performance in this bout.

 

Thank you for providing this info ^.

 

A fighter with an excuse for a humiliating loss? Now that's a first.

 

Interestingly I was actually in Louisville yesterday and today (RIP champ).

In his biography of Ali, Thomas Hauser wrote that the word coming out of Ali's camp after the fight was that, as everyone knows, Ali wanted to prolong Terrell's torture. Then he put his foot on the gas pedal, but after Terrell navigated his way through Ali's attempts to finish things, Ali found that he became arm-weary much more quickly than he expected. After exhausting himself, Ali just accumulated punishment without being able to put away Earnie, who despite being mob-backed was a legitimately world class fighter who was tough, cagey, and proud. That said, if Muhammad had gone for the kill from the jump it probably would have resembled the fight with Zora Folley, who was also tough, cagey, and proud.

Hauser's explanation holds water. Ali was fighting frequently around this time because he knew he was facing legal jeopardy surrounding the Vietnam controversy. I seem to remember watching archival footage from that era where Ali was complaining about burnout. Possibly ahead of the Mildenberger fight. That could correspond with tiring unusually early in a fight.

 

Depends on who you believe. Melankamos of Caria was supposedly never hit. Or threw a punch. Still won a gold medal in the ancient greek Olympics. Theagenes of Thasos and Euthymos of Lokroi were literally worshiped by cults.

 

this VV

 

mhuaha! awesome.

"With regard to his boxing, claims for him a unique style: he would totally avoid the punches of the other boxer without throwing any himself. Dio says he never lost a match, hit an opponent, or was struck by an opponent. Themistius reports that the emperor Titus was his lover "

 

Didn't Terrell say was thumbed in the eye or something? IMO Ali tired to stop him, but couldn't.