Who picked who to win! Ali vs Frazier, March 8, 1971!

This is silly. Leonard wasn't the same. And Tyson wasn't an addict.

They just lost what top professionals lose when they're away that long from their sport. Just what D'Amato and others said before Ali's comeback and what people said before Leonard's and Tyson's. There's no hindsight about this, whatsoever. The revisionist stance is to say that they were still prime after their lay-offs.

 

Yeah Tyson was fine!


http://deadspin.com/dont-turn-your-back-on-a-jealous-cokehead-a-mike-tyso-1458780510

 

Ali's three year layoff is deceptive because unlike most fighters who retire and make a comeback etc. Ali was still in the gym (particularly in the year before his fight with Quarry) facing some of the top heavyweights. He often acted as a sparring partner for Angelo Dundee's fighters and that was something wasnt kept secret. Thats why the layoff wasnt played up in the press as an excuse or crutch leading up to the fight because it was common knowledge that Ali was still working with the many of the top guys and keeping in good form and timing. There were also a couple of instances where he went back into hard training for fights that didnt come off and for exhibition bouts (like one with Merritt before the Quarry fight) that got cancelled for one reason or another. With that in mind, and the fact that he came out of his "layoff" and beat the #1 and #2 contenders faster than anyone else ever had makes any idea that he was rusty ring a bit hollow.

 

A layoff is a layoff.
Sparring doesn't really count. Ring rust is often more of a mental thing. Mistakes and lapses in sparring are easily forgiven, and even the harshest penalty for a mistake in the gym doesn't actual count.
Fighting on the big stage against opponents whose careers are riding on the fight too, that's something that cannot be replicated.

But I don't think Ali was rusty for the Frazier fight.
His 15 rounds with Bonavena was a demanding test and it is hard to argue he still possessed "ring rust" after that.