Where do you rank Muhammad Ali’s 60s reign compared to other heavyweight champions?

At HW? Only Louis's beats it.

 

It's as near as flawless reign as can be.

He beats a champion who's about as feared at that point as any champion has ever been and rematches him. That both fights had unsatisfactory endings is hardly Ali's fault and you can't say he should have given Liston a rubber match either. The rematch also unfortunately takes a long time to happen due to Ali's hernia, but no one to blame there.

After Liston is through he goes straight to his nr 1 challenger, Patterson. Yes, always a shame when an injury happens in a fight, but Ali was so dominant throughout that an immediate rematch wasn't really something anybody called for (except for Patterson, who definitely had the guts to have another go as soon as his back was alright again).

Then he signs with his next nr 1, and WBA belt holder, but the venue is cancelled due to Ali's Vietnam comments and Terrell refuses a deal to make it in Toronto so Ali faces Chuvalo there instead.

Next he goes on a tour to Europe to face Cooper, London and Mildenberger. Yes, there were better American challengers but he's practically frozen out of the US at the time. You could argue Bonavena instead of London here, but that's about it.

After that it's Williams. Not the best challenger, but Houston - where Williams had a strong home support - might well have been the only available option for him in the US at the time. So again, Bonavena is probably the only other good option.

Next up is finally Terrell and shortly after Folley (who was ranked either 1 or 2, since most of the rest had already been taken care of).


So he beats a great champion, keeps busy and faces everyone, except arguably Bonavena, and no controversial decisions. You can't ask for any more really.

EDIT: Forgot to add that he never lost his crown in the ring, if you don't think his reign ended with FOTC. But I don't think I've ever heard anyone claim that.

 

Ali left no stone unturned, engaging his most eligible comp. and was a very busy Champ until forced into exile. Hard to beat. I agree with @Bokaj in so far Louis’ reign being the only one that was superior

 

Well he whipped Liston twice then easily beat all before him, one of the best reigns. Especially how easy mostly he made it look.

 

GREAT analysis--100% spot on!!

 

Thanks!

 

That he did a better job of cleaning out. Faced and beat all the best. I can also add that I only count the lineal part of a reign.

Holmes also had some close ones, that could have gone the other way. Ali didn't in his first reign.

 

Me, personally? As Boke just explained it.

 

Definitely compared to their own era, and that's the measurement I use.

Hypothetically the claim can of course always be made that x wouldn't be competitive in era y, but from what we know - namely how they did in their own time - no doubt.

 

#1 Louis
#2 Ali
#3 Holmes
#4) johnson
#5) Dempsey

 

As I said, I have it right after Louis's. So the rest.