I get where your coming from but Ali and ray had a friendship as well so Robinson probably really did influence him .And Robinson was such a unique fighter ,flamboyant and flash ,that would have appealed to Muhammad s personality' .
Nice sarcasm - but look at Ali's fighting style and tell me with a straight face that he was not influenced by Ray Robinson.
I think Robinson influenced him, but a lot that was mental imo. He made Ali aspire to reach the level that SRR had already achieved. The greatness is what influenced him to be great, but they fought nothing alike really. I see it as two different types of influence. Mental and physical. Mentally I think SRR had the most impact, probably followed by Johnson and Moore. I think physically, as someone mentioned before, he had a sparring partner that really influenced his movement in the ring. The dancing and circling. I think Ali mentions JJW being an influence in how he moved as well.
Ali’s idols are Sugar Ray Robinson and Joe Louis. He told it on TV show. First, if i remember correctly just after the olympics in Rome he asked SRR to be his trainer but he refused. Ali and SRR became close friend after and they talked often about what they could have done together. He asked Joe Louis to be his trainer but he refused too. Ali told that Louis « didn’t like guys who talk too much ». Like with SRR they became close friend too. If you look Ali’s interviews he talk a lot about Louis and SRR. Both are his main inspiration imo. On the fighting style Ali often compared him to SRR. There is no question about it Ali wanted to be just like SRR in the ring « dancing, moving, sticking, jabbing » ... A young Ali was named « the next Joe Louis » by his dad himself. It’s easy to imagine Ali idolize Louis who was considered by many and still nowadays as the greatest HW of all time. I think Ali saw Louis as a True Champ and he wanted to be loved like him. Personnaly i feel like Ali admired Jack Johnson When he talked about him but i don’t think he influenced him like SRR and Louis.
a lot of SRR & JJW but Ali was lacking their one punch power but had the pinpoint punching ability & more speed. Tunney was a classic boxer & one of the best from the 20's, a lot of fighters took from him but Ali looks more like Walcott & SRR
There is nothing new under the sun I think Ali took style from movers like Robinson and others but his personality and brashness he really seemed to think alot of Jack Johnson's brashness and courage in the face of society....but IMO to pinpoint Ali's style to any particular fighters influence is tough because he was so unique as I understand it he was impressed with Max Baer's sense of showmanship and joking and no doubt saw Conn's movement vs Louis just so many possible images that he may have seen and was able to succeed at.
He also was influenced by the wrestler Georgeous George but in marketing himself not in any pugilistic way.