Which fight was Muhammad Ali at his best?

From a purely mental, tactical and technical standpoint I'd say Manilla, though.

 

Cooper Hoooooooookkkkk........!

 

The first George Chuvalo fight is one of the ones missing when this question comes up. Ali combined his natural gifts such as speed with ring generalship and psychology. The way he'd sometimes stand and let Chuvalo pound his body,as if to say "No matter what you do George,you can't do a thing..."

 

I think Ali took Chuvalo a bit too lightly though. He wasn't in his best ever condition, although still in good enough condition to go a hard fought 15 rounds. I do think that one could point out to almost any fight Ali had from 1964 to 1967 as his best performance. He still had great performances left in him in the early 70s as well.

 

That was the one in which Ali himself said that he had to reach down and find that something extra.

 

Dead right about the early 70's. Quarry 2,Norton 2,Frazier 2,Foreman and,of course,Frazier 3.

 

He sealed his greatness with the win against Foreman for me.Not at his peak physically but a great tactical fight .Foreman was the favourite and many people (myself included) feared for Ali's health that night
Proved everybody wrong and effectively retired another great champion.

 

Muhammad's greatest victory.

 

I would say Ali was Peak from '65 Patterson to '67 Folley.

If i had to pick one performance, i'd say Terrell, because he was a high quality "Grade B+" boxer at his Peak, & Ali utterly dominated him over 15 rounds.

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williams/terrell - dont matter if it was williams - if it was bonavena, lyle, young, spinks or a shavers v that ali - they would be clearly outclassed.

 

Despite the slow start, Ali was on spectacular form against Folley.

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I'm going in a different direction, and thinking maybe versus Brian London.

He was ubelievably quick, and accurate, plus he was really laying into his punches.

I would never say Liston I, because in training Sonny was getting out-boxed by
his sparring partners, and in Cassius' camp, he was getting rocked by Cody Jones.

Too many variables in Liston I,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Sonny took the Money.