Just glancing through Boxrec and noticed that Ali only ever faced 1 fighter with a losing record :shock: In his 4th pro-fight against Jimmy Robinson, who was a late replacement for Willie Guelat who failed to appear! A superficial statistic, I guess, but impressive to me none the less.
I noticed that. Granted the early guys were probably not top notch, but they weren't the 12-17-2 or 8-23-1 guys that so many face when starting out.
This is impressive. Of course, you will find this sort of a statistic for a lot of guys who were star amateurs and Olympians, guys with extensive amateur backgrounds who hooked up with name trainers and management at an early age- they're already polished enough when they start out that they move up more quickly in the pro ranks. For example, Johansson never fought an opponent with a losing record and Holyfield fought only two.
Povetkin is the same, also faced only one fighter with a losing record. He faced incredibly good opposition for someone who could be safely guided.
