Well I have partially defined it via the other fighters mentioned in the original post. Perhaps if you have to ask your answer is by default, "no". I don't think you'd ask that question if the thread was "Is Dempsey a Fighting Machine?" But as far as it goes, feel free to define it yourself - and why Ali does or doesn't fit your description.
I think he was in the sense that he loved fighting, it wasn't a profession like it was for Holmes, it was his true calling... Ali couldn't imagine doing anything else, and he couldn't stop fighting even when it was obvious to an outsider he should stop. In terms of being built to fight and machine-like in performance? Also a 'yes' for me, although I understand why others may say 'no.' Clearly I appreciate he was different in style and attitude to a Marciano, who broke his opponents down through attrition and pure toughness. Ali rarely tried to hurt his opponents, and there are a number of occasions where he deliberately went easy at the moment of truth...
Good post Nick. Ali wanted to outclass his opponents in the ring not to just destroy them like 99% of boxers aim to do. Ali would ease of and tell the ref to stop the fight. Tyson, Louis, Marciano, etc wouldn't do anything of the sort. They would continue to hit the guy as he's going down. Ali coulda done that against Foreman but decided not to. He kept his hands low and just moved his head outta the way. People thought he was crazy. That was entertainment for Ali. To see those people with mouths open and shocked to see such risky moves but they didn't always work but he thought it was worth the gamble and most of the time it worked. He loved to shock and entertain people. Ali was an entertaining fighting machine.
ferdie pacheco has always maintained that ali was the most physically perfect hw of all times....his shape, natural balance and grace were spot on for the division, his reflexes and speed were well above average and even his face lacked any 'sharp edges' to be cut....a perfect physical fighting machine.....the actual way ferdie describes it is that if scientists were to create the perfect hw...it would have looked like ali...
Agreed. He missed the bright lights alright! I remember seeing an interview with Ali, and they asked him that question, "what would you do if yo weren't a fighter?" and he really didn't have an answer. Just surprised silence. Possibly more than any other heavyweight, though he was not a machine for hitting like Louis or Marciano. I don't know about this. Although there are serious flashes against, say Frazier, do you really think it's anything other than attrition and pure toughness in The Rumble In The Jungle, or Manilla? I think to much is made of Ali's amazing plan in the Congo and not nearly enough of his guts and toughs. The man pissed blood for a week. There are also a number of occasions where he set out to make his man miserable - Patterson and Terrel spring to mind. Pretty hellish and more sinister than anything Rocky ever did. To answer my own question I think Ali was a fighting machine - and I think it was in the same way as the Rocky, Joe and Jack.
No! Ali is no where close to what H.G Wells described as a fighting machine in his 1898 classic sci fi novel The War of the Worlds. In the boxing realm...Imo a fighting machine is someone who shows no wear and tear and is continuously active keeping the same momentum all the way through his career win or lose.
To paraphrase the great Emmanuel Steward Ali was a pretty boy but he wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty when he had to.
Yes. Muhammad Ali is a "fighting machine". https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zxWFVtTp6ew And many who disagree with that would call Mike Tyson a "fighting machine".
