Who gave Ali a tougher time? Frazier or Norton?

I disagree. Nobody can know for sure,but I'm of the school of thought that if Muhammad had quit boxing for good after the third Frazier fight,he'd be a lot healthier nowadays. It's the accumulated punishment he took post-Manilla that damaged the great man,imo.

 

I too reckon that my man Muhammad was lucky getting the nod in his third fight with Ken.

 

Frazier.

 

I think Joe likely took some good years off of Ali's life.

 

By the same token, I bet Ali's outings with Joe effected his speech and brain.

 

Eddie Futch.

 

Joe Frazier beat Ali all the way to deaths door, and vice versa. Norton just had Ali's card stylistically.

 

I'll echo the common sentiment in the thread: Norton stylistically was more of a problem for Ali, but Frazier was the tougher opponent because of how relentless he was in those fights.

 

I think Ali took a lot of punishment throughout his entire post-exile return, mainly in sparring sessions. Had Ali quit for good in 1967 after being stripped, I'm certain he'd be a lively, energetic, healthy 70-year-old man today!

 

I still think that Ali would have been in pretty good shape if he'd quit after Manilla.

 

With all respect Stevie, I don't think so. Manila, imo, did enormous physical damage to Ali. Sure, he had punishing fights after this, but Manila was BRUTAL.

 

I can definitely see your point,FastHands,but I feel that Manilla was a 'cusp' for Ali. His body was telling him that he could go one way or another.

It would have been great to have seen Joe hang them up after that one as well.

 

If the first Norton Ali fight was 15 rounds, something dramatic could have happened as Ali was in a hurt and tired, while Norton had plenty left. I will define dramatic as a knock down, corner stoppage, or TKO/KO for Norton.

It is interesting to note that Ali at times could hurt Frazier, but he could not do the same to Norton. Anyone who knows how to score a fight knows Norton should at least be 2-1 vs. Ali.

 

Muhammad admitted that he never quite knew what to expect from Ken. He knew all too well what he was going to get with Joe. Still did n't make it any the less hard though.

 

Just on a side note since the Norton-Ali third go has come up alot here, thats one bout that will never be agreed on and some didn't see it as even close. Still bearing some insite is the panel on WWS a week after the bout, with Kenny present, that viewed the 15 rounds and scored it a draw. It really was that close.