So I was bored watching an Ali fight...

You can disagree with greynotsoold's opinion, but calling him "beyond ill-informed" only demonstrates how ill-informed you are, IMO. He's one of the most knowledgeable posters on this forum, or on any boxing forum for that matter. Really, spend some time going back and reading his many posts over the past year or so.

 

But Journey, we all know what constituted Ali's prime "defence", his so called "defence" being more accurately described as the "things" Ali did that prevented him from being hit full stop or at least not cleanly. The "things" Ali was able to do were anchored in his prime speed, reflex, agility and mobility - Ali definitely did not avoid punishment via conventional defensive measures per se.

We also know that the experts uniformly agreed that the comeback version was that much more easy to hit due to having experienced some deterioration in the above, "natural gift" categories. Previously, many of Ali's evasions were literally inch perfect so you don't need to lose a lot for the previously dodged bullets to partially or even fully connect.

Vs Mac Foster, we had a post prime Ali, 226 lb out of shape and disinclined Ali. He didn't even try to avoid the punches we see, possibly to illustrate his disdain (see Leonard doing same vs Ayub Kalule which wasn't an ideal example of Ray's defensive skills otherwise).

At its most extreme, the description of Ali being unhittable in his prime is a bit exaggerated and perhaps acceptable and understood hyperbole but he was very, very difficult to nail all the same.

If there is any case against Ali's defence, it would be more apt to link an example in support same featuring the PRIME Ali - that's the Ali whose "defence" was most credited and highly praised, not the post exile version.

Here's some highlights of the prime Ali's defensive capabilities. This could be interpreted as cherry picked moments in favor of the prime Ali, however, you can easily see that the defensive abilities of the prime version were clearly superior to those displayed by the post exile, Mac Foster version.

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I'll also link a SI Vault article published just prior to the first Liston vs Ali fight. It contains an excellent analysis re the crux of Ali's defense - which, albeit effective back then based on his natural gifts, was by no means embraced by those who observed him. If Ali had developed a conventional defense with his natural advantages in perfect complement, that would've perhaps made for so much better protection in his later years when the speed, reflex etc. began to decline.

 

Sorry, missed your reply and your welcome back. Thanks. My in tray was overflowing - a bit above average you know, mainly abusive stuff - ah, the fans are so fickle. Ha, kidding.

Something, something, all good Journey my man.