Who ranks higher? Ali or Duran?

Well, if you look at the list Ali beat two top ten atg heavyweights whereas Duran didnt face any atg lightsweights. He did a lot at higher weights aswell, but you can clearly not rate him higher than Ali based on his dominace of the lightweight division.

That said, they were both great. You can make a good case for either one. Nice list by the way.

 

imo ali was greater at his best weight than duran was at his imo, thats why i choose ali, i dont count durans multiple title wins into the equation because of the simple reason that ali couldnt jump weights

 

Ali was the first 3 time HW champ, cleaned out the division twice, the latter after a 4 yr lay off. He has bonafide wins over ATG's in Liston, Fraizer, Foreman and the Rumble in the Jungle is probably the greatest win in sporting history. Ali never quit, fought the best, was argubaly the most famous athlete to walk the planet. Its a no brainer.

 

Not true especially post '70.

 

Very close call. One things for certain though,there was never any quit in Ali.

 

Super overrated. Ali is less about what he did in the ring and more about his social status. He started getting all sorts of gift decisions in his later fights because people were incapable of judging Ali logically. His name became bigger than his accomplishments. He was a GREAT heavy weight, but he doesn't deserve the reverence people give him.

 

good question.

I'm a big duran fan and obviously most boxing fans like myself love ali too. I'd give to ali based on the fact he had basically two careers- and came out on top of both, cleaning out the division twice in exciting (and competitive) fashion. the thing that separates them for me really is that the fighters duran lost too were just simply not as good as those that defeated ali. for example, de jesus was the equivalent to frazier- both men beat ali and duran at or near their respective peaks. However frazier for me ranks miles ahead of de jesus in the atg rankings.

Of course taking into account that duran was the smaller man by far from around 1980 onwards its a close call, but the quality of ali's resume in relation to wins/losses scrapes it for me not to mention his overall impact on the sport

 

Ali, not even close.

 

Ali never quit....even with a broken jaw.

 

Ali and here's why.

Prime Ali is the greatest fighting machine that ever lived.

Ali's skills would've took Durans skills to school at any weight. #Alitoofast

 

I agree. Ali was obviously great at heavyweight but there have been far superior technicians in the lighter divisions. If Ken Norton can give Ali hell what would a heavyweight version of Duran do?

You are right about the "social status" thing, too. He is held up like a Martin Luther King figure who is beyond critique.

 

You can bring up Alis social issues all you want, but he could fight, and he was a true champion. He never quit and he was never knocked out.

 

Helluva thread, this.

Good read.

Well done.

 

You can hold Duran up to Christopher Columbus's status if you want, but he wasn't Ali.

 

Ali fought the best comp and he went to their backyard to fight them too.