Carlos Monzon, although Duran is a contender. Monzon ruled over a very underrated middleweight division. Emphasis must go on the fact that he RULED the division, in a way that neither Duran nor Ali did.
That's because it's unfair to have the fighter of the century also being the fighter of the decade. Other boxers have to win awards now and again, in spite of Wepner's obvious superiority.
Roberto Duran, followed by Carlos Monzon. Performance in the ring is WWAAAYYY more important, IMO, than how popular you are and what impact you have. While Ali had some great wins in the 1970s, he also had some awful performances and was basically a shot fighter by 1976 or 1977 or so.
Fight of the decade is Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier 3, followed by Matthew Franklin-Marvin Johnson 1. Knockout of the decade....Bob Foster-Mike Quarry comes to mind. Round of the decade: George Foreman-Ron Lyle Round 4
Fighter of the decade: Monzon. Duran comes a very close second and if Montreal had been six months sooner, probably first. Monzon deserves to be rated ahead of Duran based on the fact that he was undefeated in the decade, had more world title defences and fought away from home in most of them (only 3 in home country out of 14, by KO or UD).
Duran did not have too many defences in Panama either... 4 in 13 matches. Indeed looking at it many in the list did not mind fighting abroad, even Ali had to be the most travelled American (or is it Columbian) Heavyweight Champion of the World.
Some KO's of the decade: Bob Foster-Mike Quarry Yoshiaki Numata-Raul Rojas Jerry Quarry-Jack Bodell Earnie Shavers-Jimmy Ellis Some Injustices of the decade: Two judges that scored Ali wide winner over Jimmy Young (he didn't deserve to 'win' never mind by that margin). Watch Round 1 on youtube and when you realise these judges scored it even you might just puke. John Conteh-Saad Muhammad I. Although the fight was close (due to the late knockdowns after an almost-shot Conteh had outclassed Saad) the decision could've went either way. That's not the injustice however, which was the banned 'cement' used to stop Saad's cuts numerous times during the fight and, especially, the scene where the ring doctor examined Saad and said he might stop the fight next time- a few rounds later the ring doctor examined and let the fight go on...only this time it was a different doctor. :huh
Alfredo Escalera vs. Tyrone Everett I know others might disagree but I have no idea how you can score Muhammad Ali vs. Earnie Shavers in favor of Ali. Ali threw these quick b.s. flurries that mostly caught glove. I gave Shavers 9 rounds and I thought I was a tad generous to Ali. Shavers landed the harder, cleaner blows and did the better work.
You know, i love Ali but some of the treatement he got really tends to put me off him. Not his fault that he got those decisions of course. Cosell was one of the worst, by the way. Not only do i resent his grandpa style of speaking in formal writing language, i just rewatched the Young-Foreman fight, and after Foreman had done **** all during first six rounds, Cosell goes all "Well a Young fight is hard to score, but i might just give a slight edge to him right now".
Cosell was a dick. The fact that he thought Ali lost to Young (I think?) just shows what a bad decision it was. Youtube Round 9, possibly Young's best- two of the judges scored it 5-4 for Ali. ****in' disgraceful. Thinking of the thread 'who was hardest to outpoint' and there's your answer. :-(