Prime Muhammad Ali was hittable

You didn't actually think he'd go through fights literally untouched did you?

 

Sure, he wasn't quite as unhittable as Jones and PBF at their peaks. Not quite, I think. Mildenberger also landed some good body shots. I do think Ali rolled well with Folley's rights, though, so not much damage was done. But it is surprising that Folley at that age was as tricky as he was. A greener Terrell than the one Ali totally dominated had beaten a fairly prime Folley, but still old Folley gave a better account of himself than what looked like absolute peak Terrell.

That's boxing, though. Stuff like that happens. Del Valle won some rounds against Jones and even floored him at a time when better fighters couldn't get a touch in. Floyd destroyed Corralles, but struggled with Castillo. Things aren't always logical.

 

Getting hit when backing up was certainly an issue against Jones, but against Folley he seemed to me to roll with them well enough to limit any real damage. They got a roar from the crowd every time, though, and cost him points, but not much more than that imo.

 

Given the frequency of quality competition (Liston x 2, Patterson, Moore, Chuvalo. Terrell, Williams...); pre-exile Ali is not hittable.

 

Sure Ali was hittable. Especially when he was clowning . (Just ask H.Cooper 1st fight)
But, when serious and in the prime of his career, he slipped and rode punches
better than any heavyweight in history.

 

Folley came away from that fight believing Ali could handily defeat Joe Louis.

 

Good point. He famously cleaned out the whole top 10 bar Machen, including two HWs most would have in their top 20, I think. Don't think anyone else can claim to be hit so little during such a run.

 

Moore was 50 years old

 

In "Ali: By the numbers" Compubox has Ali not being great statistically and has him getting hit alot more often then remembered. But didn’t Ali absorb most of the punches he took by leaning back? I think he rarely took punches while being flat-footed before his exile.

 

Yeah,he leaned with the punch's direction.

 

All of those guys were either shot, old, small not that good or a combination of multiple of those.

 

I remember someone quoting compubox saying that Marciano was harder to hit than even a prime Ali based on compubox sources.

This could reflect how overrated Ali’s defense is and how underrated Rocky’s is, but it could also reflect how unreliable compubox could be.