Would you say he destroyed Cooper in that fight Richard? Maybe my memory isn't what it was but I seem to recall a pretty competitive fight with Ali taking Henry much more seriously and being right on his game.
Well ITs hard to place Liston because its obvious he took a dive in the 2nd fight and either took a five or quit in the first fight. So let's take him out. Patterson did reasonable we'll vs Ali, even with back issues, so I'm listing him first. Patterson Terrell Chuvalo Folley Mildenberger Cooper Williams London Some of these guys did not deserve shots. It's on the light side to be honest. At least Ali was active.
Terrell was the best at the time. The Ingo timeline never worked (think they sparred and Ali whooped him so doubt he would have gotten a fight anyway). Leotis career was tragically ended early. I don’t see how he could be criticized for missing that. Spencer was mediocre and not really worth a mention of missing.
Terrell has one of the best records all time. Literally. You’d be hard pressed to tell me many who had better scalps then Folley Machen Doug Jones Williams Chuvalo Foster Garcia These were damn good fighters. And it’s absurd you would think of him as anything less then an A+ contender.
Sonny liston has to be number one. He decimated patterson. It just turned out ali had the perfect style for him. I still dont think liston took a dive as such as in it being a betting coup or whatever. You can almost physically see the point he knows he couldnt do anything with ali in that second fight. Ali was also a lot more confident and aggresive thst second fight add to that he had the perfect style to best liston. Liston was a beast of a man...would have beat everyone on that list. Its just that ali,s style and toolset was a nightmare for him and liston choked because of it. He could go toe to toe with anyone and few could get out of the way of his reach...but ali was a one off with his movement. For once liston couldnt get to an opponent to go toe to toe from there he didnt know what to do. Ended with him choking imo.
I believe that fight was on his schedule, in April 1967, he was supposed to have a rematch with Floyd Patterson. On May 27 1967, he was supposed to fight Oscar Bonavena in Tokyo, Japan. I would think that a fight against Thad Spencer would have been slated for July 1967, but Muhammad Ali was indicted for Draft Evasion on April 28 1967, sentenced to 5 years in prison, and a $10,000 fine on June 20 1967. His boxing license revoked and stripped of his title.
At the time of Ali's ban from boxing, Joe Frazier was no. 1 contender, but his management was very reluctant to put him in the ring with Ali. According to Yank Durham, Joe Is Too Green For Clay. But after the March 22 1967 title defense knockout victory over Zora Folley, Ali said that he wanted either Thad Spencer or Buster Mathis. Angelo Dundee mentioned Eduardo Corletti to fight announcer Don Dunphy.
Do you say the same of Rigo vs Loma as well? And Rigo wasn't even being beat up as badly as Patterson was, even though he quit earlier.
Is there any other fight in history - ANY other fight - where a guy gets beaten up and outclassed for the whole of the fight, as long as it lasted, but the result is still called somewhat in doubt because of a claimed injury? Even Cerdan was actually fairly competitice against LaMotta according to reports, even though it''s clear to see that he's one-armed from round one. So is there any other fight other than Ali-Floyd 1 where this is the case?
No sure what Rigo or Loma have to do with this thread. Rigo didn't win two rounds it was one sided. IMO for a while Patterson, past his best was doing well vs. the 1960's Ali and he lost in 12.
Oscar Bonavena was scheduled for May 27 1967 in Tokyo, Japan, and Floyd Patterson for April 1967, nut Ali was indicted for Draft Evasion on April 28 1967, convicted on June 20 1967, sentenced to five years in prison, and a $ 10,000 fine. Ali lost his boxing license and was stripped of his title.
"Doing well"? Have you watched the fight? It was a complete and utter domination. That Ali just danced around Floyd and threw no punches for the first round doesn't change that. He dominated him in more violent fashion and did more damage than Loma did to Rigo. So if the result of Ali-Floyd 1 is anything less but emphatic the same is more true of Loma-Rigo.