Was ALI the best boxer ever?

Nah, and I am his biggest fan.

 

Doesn’t matter, what’s left of today’s boxing is only because of Ali’s legacy

 

Yes

Who else could compare?

 

SRR among others were better than Ali.

 

Ali missed 3 1/2 years, just to bad .. I would say SRR, Greb, Langford ahead .. Ali top 5 for me. Those 3 1/2 years back probably 1

 

No. Top 10, tho.

 

Greatest heavyweight of all time, not the greatest boxer of all time

 

He was unique, but probably not the best boxer ever.

 

Not a perfect science this, who's the greatest or the best. I probably like Robinson or Armstrong as the greatest on strength of their amazing achievements. But Ali is second only to Louis in terms of wins in fights for the undisputed title, in any division, and he's also 5-1 against three fighters that most have in or around their top 10 at HW. Four of those six fights took place after Ali's prime.

No one I can come to think of can claim that particular combinations of great achievements. I think that makes for a decent argument for having him as the greatest p4p.

As for best...? Hard to say. We never got to see prime versions of Langford, Greb, Robinson, Charles etc in a good number of fights against top opposition, so while we know they were ridiculously good it's hard to know just how far of the pack they really were. Actually, you can say the same is true for Ali since the exile robbed him of his best years, but what we got to see of him from 22-25 were quite damn good, though.

There are probably only two that I've seen that were better at their very best: Whitaker and Jones. And of them Jones stands out in particular. He made even the best seem like they had wandered into the wrong profession by mistake. Not a fan of his style, but he was just something else.

 

What about Duran at 135?? I would put him ahead of whitaker and Jones...

 

Duran does deserve a mention.

 

In terms of just quality at their peaks, I put Jones and Whitaker ahed of Duran due to how vastly superior they were in match-ups against ATGs like Chavez and Toney. Duran doesn't have something like that. He would have had to a more superior win against Leonard, and no No Mas.

Leonard would be up there if not for his loss to Duran and the somewhat unsatisfactory rematch win.

 

Ya I was commenting on you saying at their best .. And referring to Duran's dominance at 135 .. As he wasn't as good going up 3,4,5 weight divisions .. but all good though

 

Well, WW was two divisions, and a division he grew naturally into at an age were many hit their peak. Jones's best performances/wins were over three divisions and Whitaker's over two, while skipping one altogether.

And even if we isolate it at 135 for Duran, he still doesn't have a dominant performance over anyone as good as Chavez or Toney. Buchanan was a good one, though.