I found an old diary of mine that had my scores for certain fights the other day. My tally for Muhammad's go against Oscar was 8-5-1 in rounds to The Greatest. How about yours ?
Bonavena was a very rugged opponent for Muhammad's second fight after a three and a half year lay off. He was obviously ring rusty but did very well considering that factor. Both Ali and Joe Frazier,prior to their first monentous clash, named Oscar as their toughest opponent up to that point.
When Muhammad Ali fought Oscar Ringo Bonavena on Dec 7 1970, it was his second fight since coming back from his 43 month banishment, he did not look like the fighter who stopped Zora Folley on March 22 1967 in 7 rounds. He was slow and lacked footwork and timing. Howard Cosell commented that this fight reminded him of Sept 10 1966 in Frankfurt West Germany, when Ali had trouble with southpaw Karl Mildenberger, who Ali stopped in the 12 th round. I had Ali winning by 1 round, close fight going into round 15 against Ringo.
Hey....you did indeed have it close ! I found some rounds very tough to score as they were so close in my opinion. I still stand by my tally,though - 8 - 5 - 1 to Muhammad.