Was Ali the greatest heavyweight of all time?

Tyson isn't top 3.
He's possibly top 10.

Great aggressive short fighter but he's not a great boxer in the category of an Ali or a Louis. He's not as great as Larry Holmes, let's be honest.

 

Louis and Ali are top 2 in whatever order you prefer.

Tyson might have been the third member of the club, if his head had been screwed on, but unfortunately it wasn't.

Tyson is somewhere in the top ten, and you can argue any place from 3-10.

 

Tyson was a spectacular performer when he was on top. He didn't show enough in those other situations to warrant being alongside Ali and Louis. It's one thing to look great when your fighting Willie Falldown..and Kenny Getup.

When the division started heating up in the early 90's Tyson was no longer interested in boxing.

 

Something along the lines of this.

 

Ali would have a better chance at beating Louis.
He had more tools.

If Tyson has problems imposing his narrow will on Louis, there is no plan B.
Tyson never beat a real legend except for Larry Holmes.
Ali beat Foreman, Liston, and Frazier.
Between those performances you can see the depth of Ali's range, and his ability to improvise and win.

Although a brilliant fighter with subperb IQ, he didn't have Alis intuition.

 

Tyson would almost certainly be a tougher opponent for Louis, stylistically

 

I doubt Tyson has much chance of beating Louis or Ali, but if he can catch Louis like Baer or Galento did, he may be able to finish him.
However with Ali, he pretty much has to knock him out early, and his chances of doing that to '67 Ali are about the same as him juggling three running chainsaws without loosing any blood.

 

Louis for me is #1 he lost only when young & then old. Louis fought everyone & was always improved in the rematch, fought all sizes,styles & shades & was the sole Champion. Ali fought everyone as well, the Frazier & Norton fights win lose hellish fights for him but both men lost to Foreman who Ali gameplaned and KO'd also there was Liston, which were excellent wins (how good was Liston?) (How beatable was Foreman) there were a few questionable wins on Ali's resume that may have changed the course of his career but they did not.

1 & 2 however you prefer (Head to Head) I think Louis had the tools but who knows

 

Ali is probably the consensus "when all things are considered" #1 heavyweight. That's not to say that he was unbeatable nor that a non-top-10 HW would not be able to beat him. But he was consistent for a very long time and beat some big, big names. You could make arguments for a few others, I guess.

PS - Tyson isn't top 10, imho. H2H, you could make that argument, but not on resume.

 

I´m absolutely not convinced Tyson could have reigned long. For me, he looked more like a product of concentrated intensity with expiry date.

 

I would have backed Tyson to beat both Ali and Louis in the ring. Lewis too would have won against them and maybe even the 2 Klitschko bros and Holmes but it’s permanently ingrained in heavyweight folklore that Ali and Louis must be ranked the 2 greatest heavyweights in whatever order,for all of eternity no matter what! No one will ever be ranked higher than them, now or in the future.

 

Not until someone comes along who deserves it. Those guys are at the very top for a reason. It' a hard club to get in. Look at their accomplishments.Lewis was a great fighter but not quite there. Head to head he is a nightmare for almost anybody.

 

You prefer to be the pitcher and the batter at the same time, don't you?