Muhammad Ali: Why is he rated #1 when he clearly isn't the greatest?

I have never ranked Ali as my p4p number 1. Until I read your post. Now I do.

 

Ali is clearly the greatest heavyweight of all time period. His record and the quality of opposition he defeated speaks for itself. The young Ali until he was stripped of his title is the best heavyweight the world has ever seen. When he came back after the 3 and a half years exile he had lost some of his speed but was able to prove himself top dog again this time in the greatest era of heavyweights being the 70's. When all is said and done and you scrutinize all the facts the heavyweights are ranked as follows:

1.Muhammed Ali
2. The great Jack Johnson
3. Larry Holmes
4. The great Joe Louis
5. Joe Frazier
6. George Foreman
7. Sonny Liston
8. Mike Tyson
9. Evander Holyfied
10. Gentleman Lennox Claudius Lewis(the last great heavyweight)

Honorable mention goes to the overprotected Rocky Marciano, Gentleman Gene Tunney, the great Jack Dempsey(the Manasa Mauler) and the great John L Sullivan and Sam Langford without whom none of this would have been possible.

 

I have no problem with that statement at all. He had 3 of his prime years taken from him too. Yeah, he's didn't have the luxury of weight jumping but not too many (if any) accomplished as much after a 3 year layoff. My top 3 is written in stone for now (Robinson, Langford, Greb) but I wouldn't getting too riled up seeing him anywhere between 4 and 9.

 

:rofl:rofl:rofl Beautiful!


If you really were the hot chic you posted a photo of as yourself, this would persuade me to ****ing swim across the Atlantic for you (well, assuming you live in the US, not just for the thing of it).

 

Thats reasonable. I can picture him deserving a rating between 4-9 as well.

 

I don't believe there is one particular heavyweight fighter who can be called the "greatest" the sport has ever seen.

Ali's greatness, in many ways is defined by the condition of his opponents after having fought him. Frazier, Foreman and Ken Norton were never the same fighters after their matches with Ali.

Secondly, Ali was robbed of the peak years of his career when he was exiled in 1967. When he came back, he had a very successful second reign as heavyweight champion and is the first to thrice win the title.

 

Overprotected?? Marciano CLEAN out his era. There was no one to fight when he retire. And dont say Patterson or Liston, Patterson was not in the top ten, and Liston would come 4 years after the Rock's retirement. How can you call Dempsey great, who didnt defend against his number 1 for 7 years in a row, and call the Rock overprotected when he fought and clean out his era.

 

This may sound surprising, but I don't think Ali actually gets enough credit for what he did in the 70's. I think it's just unheard of in any sport that an athlete looses the best 3+ years of his career and come back as strong as he did.

Some uses FOTC as a proof that a peak Frazier always would beat Ali. Personally, I'm amazed that Ali could give an absolute beast like Frazier such a good fight just 6 months after coming back from that lay-off. Norton seems to be more of a mark against him, but seeing how tough he was at 34 for a peak Holmes it's hard to hold that loss(es) too much against Ali.

And aside from these losses he beat Quarry, Ellis, Bonavena, Bugner, Lyle, Foreman etc. Several of them in a very one-sided fashion. Hell, did he even break a sweat in the rematch against Quarry? He was the only one to ever stop Bonavena and Foreman, despite not being seen as a puncher. Etc, etc.

It was just an absolutely amazing second career.

 

I think we can all pretty much agree that Muhammad Ali's opposition was absolutely sick to say the least. We don't have to look at the signature wins of his career either in order to see this. Hell, I counted only one fighter who had a losing record when he fought him. with only a handful of bouts, Ali was already taking on men who were 35-10, 44-2, 16-0, etc... Even the journeyman and trial hoarses he fought weren't that bad..

 

The second career is what makes him, not beating challengers of the calibre of London, Mildenberger, Williams, Chuvalo and Cooper.

 

ali's style is based on movement and speed....and durability when the going gets tough. i dont think it matters about hieght only reach and quickness. and ali had both.

i think he coudl throughly outbox bowe, with his movement. lewis i think is a bit flat footed could be a tough fight. wlad i'm unsure about i think wlad is a perfect foili for ali or a complete nightmare.
wlad couldnt get rid of rahman when hasim was sittign uncomfortably on the ropes. ali wouild of pawned and bishop wlad in that situation.

 

I do think he gets a bit of a free pass for the Norton trilogy, and the Young bout. It's also easy to forget that Frazier was looked at as being washed up and Ali was supposed to win an easier (relatively speaking) fight when they met the 3rd time.

Despite me playing devil's advocate when it comes to Ali lately, he had a spectacular career when it was all said and done. I just happen to think that because he was as charismatic as he was, that it's impossible for alot of people to not romanticize his career and look at it with rose-colored glasses.

 

Good points all.Thanks,by the way.Provocative.However,I know they were both past it at that point,but in my opinion,the Thrilla in Manila is the best heavyweight fight I've ever seen.Maybe they had just one great fight left in them,but that fight was beyond incredible.

 

Ali has a strong claim to the position of being #1

He defeated the best of the 1960's and 1970's heavyweights, and who he did lose to, he avenged those losses. His speed is something that no other HW in history can match, so it is hard to imagine any other HW champion being able to have defeated him on points. He is also one of the p4p holders of being an iron chinned *******, there's few HW champions you could name, if any at all, who had a punchers chance of knocking him out either.

He had to be 38, in the early stages of Parkinson's, inactive for over a year, and on a thyroid drug that messed up his metabolism, for a prime Larry Holmes to make him quit on his stool. Thats how tough he was. You would be hard pressed to find anyone to do the same feat in his prime or near prime.

I dont like Muhammad Ali all that well, most everyone knows that, but if I can admit that this man is more than likely the #1 HW in history, then I think others should come to grips with it too. He faced virtually every name opponent you can think of during his time, and what ones he didnt meet in the ring, who would give them a snow balls chance in hell to have beaten him, unless it was late 1978-early 1979 following the rematch with Spinks and before he retired as WBA champ?