Was Ali's level of athleticism for a HW boxer unprecedented at the time?

If anything older boxers are arguably more suspicious in some ways. I mean look at how often some of them used to fight the top heavyweights currently fight tends to be 2 times a year most the time.

 

It still is. I have never seen someone move like he did n his prime slipping punches going BACKWARDS while countering while on the move.

 

almost except for Johnson. another plus was his height and size

 

Paycheck, Musto and Jack Roper were noticeably worse than all of Louis's other title opponents.

Paychecks 44-4 was mostly fluff but he knocked out Al Ettore and King Levinsky.

 

Ali’s speed and agility for his size were definitely unprecedented.

No argument against Ali’s popularly perceived status but I would say that some of his moves were more about aesthetics (balletic) than practical application or moves that couldn’t be somewhat negated by opposing technical proficiencies.

I think the no nonsense executions of the more copy book aligned Folley (past prime as he was) gave a hint as to how a fighter might best approach Ali without being mesmerised by his moves or needlessly following him around otherwise.

As Ali admitted himself, he didn’t move in on Zora until Folley began to show clear signs of gassing.

It seems Folley could be erratic at times but he was an excellent fighter overall, nonetheless.

 

It was a pretty common theme early in his career; he was the 'master of wasted motion.'

 

I basically agree with this, especially during the Chuvalo fight when was going out of his way to prove that Chuvalo couldn't hurt him, but I don't think he chose to get hit in the Cooper and Sonny Banks fights.

 

I don't know if he 'felt like' getting hit. I think sometimes that he was so sure of himself that he forgot that the other guy had skills and was trying to win as well.

 

Corrie Sanders had faster feet (100m sprinter), more power, was bigger, and had very fast hands. He was multidisciplinary athlete too.

 

Hey, guys, it's "Paychek" not "Paycheck"

 

I agree, but it's funny how these fights always are brought up even in specific reference to prime Ali.

Cooper 2 is prime Ali and the difference to the first fight is clear to see, and also expressed by Cooper. Not to mention the Banks fight.

 

Like you intimate, a person lives and learns!

 

Yes, he was human and once in while he slipped up. In his youth he was able to hide his lack of infighting skills by dancing around, but these deficiencies showed up later on and probably led to his evenual physical decline.

 

Most of his motion in the first 2 mins of the first round was to get his bearings, warm up, feel the canvas under his feet and start downloading data about his opponent's movement, guard and reaction to Ali's head, feet and hand feints, in addition to starting the battle of psyche on his opponent by showing him how fast and fluidly he could move.

In the first Liston fight, look at how Ali holds ring centre and boxes Liston off the jab and pivot when he comes down off his toes. Him dancing on his toes for the full fight is mostly hyperbole - he danced but he often came off his toes and stuck to more conventional boxing.