Muhammad Ali's top 5 toughest opponents

Prime Ali would have found Holmes no harder than Liston IMO.

I have no idea why anybody would pick Holmes over Ali

 

Jimmy Young was a much tougher fight for him than Foreman or Liston. In fact most thought he beat Ali. They fought in 76 though is that why you didnt include him?

 

Define toughest. Do you mean toughest for Ali to defeat? In that case I would pick the people who beat him or came very close to beating him first-

Frazier, Norton, L. Spinks, Holmes, even Berbick. Vs. Spinks, Holmes, and Berbick he was very faded so it wasn't that these guys neede to be so tough to beat him... but the night they fought Ali they were among the toughest Ali ever faced due to his overall decline.

Now, these are the 5 who I really consider the toughest... for any HW to beat-

1. Holmes
2. Foreman
3. Frazier
4. Young
5. Lyle

Honorable mention to-

Norton, Liston, and Doug Jones

 

Anything happening after Manilla was far removed from his prime. Doug Jones would be a better a pick.

 

There was evidence of Ali's Parkinson's syndrome as early as 1977. Norton III was the last time he was anything like himself.

Spinks, Holmes and Berbick shouldn't be mentioned in any discussion involving Ali. Holmes would have been a tough fight for any version of The Greatest but Leon and Berbick would have been mince meat if they fights had been half a decade prior.

 

Doug Jones never gave Ali that much trouble. He was closer to getting stopped than to winning.

 

He was among the 5 opponents to give Ali of 1963-1975 the most trouble I'd say. The others would be Frazier, Norton, Chuvalo and Bonavena or Cooper, depending how you look upon it. The only one of them who made Ali look nearly as bad as Jones did was Bonavena.

 

I had Ali/Clay winning it widely. I only recall giving Jones two rounds or so. Towards the end of the fight Clay had thoroughly adjusted and actually gave him a horrifying pummeling, bouncing combinations off his head.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntD3j5j-vUs[/ame]

 

Not sure what the clip of Ali (Clay at that time) vs. Jones is supposed to show... but trust me when I tell you that they fought a close fight that many felt should have been won by Jones. In no way was Jones on the way out in round 9, 10, or any other round for that matter.

 

1. Joe Frazier
2. Ken Norton
3. Holmes
4. Foreman
5. Lyle

 

I remember when this bout happened. About a week or so after this bout they re-ran it on TV But without the sound. This was because every time Jones landed a punch, the crowd went wild.

They had a panel of judges on the show, who all scored it for Clay (Ali). Several years ago, I gave a tape of the hold bout to several top boxing judges and they came out with a decision for Clay (Ali) as well. Some scored it 8-2 and others 7-3, But none of them had it that close.

 

I agree that it wasn't as close points wise as many claim, but he did give Ali a tough fight, that's for sure. Frazier and Norton are the only ones I'd say that gave him clearly tougher fights before he had faded badly (post Manilla). Bonavena, Chuvalo and Cooper are also in the discussion, of course.