Who was the best fighter a "prime" Ali fought?

I'm an optometrist.

 

You had the word blind in quotations, and played the notion it was a pretty even fight until Liston threw his shoulder.

I disagree.

Liston was slowing down, and there were legitimate reasons why. He was an older heavyweight chasing the best legs in the history of the division all the while getting peppered from the outside and midrange. To my eye, it would have taken a herculean effort for Liston to see the final bell.

Finally -- wether on purpose or not, some biting substance was transferred from Listons glove into Clays eye. In a heavyweight title match, such an disadvantage should be final. It wasn't.

I used the word outclassed. I think that's fair.

 

That's a very fair summary,Shake. Clay was on his way to victory that night. He was one step ahead of Liston throughout.

 

Ali's real decline began post Zaire. More signifigantly after Manilla.

 

A thread was done on this earlier and here's the result: http://www.boxingforum24.com/showthread.php?t=334753

I agree with most of those posters and the judges.

With Ali, there's such a high amount of revisionism that you have to wade through what's true and false.

Ali-Liston 1: Close fight, Liston quit when the shoulder started really acting up and it looked like his chance to win was fading.

Revisionist version: Ali was dominating. Liston maliciously blinded Ali with a foreign substance, barely allowing Ali to make it out of the round. Ali nearly quit the fight after that round in order to reveal Liston as a cheater in front of the whole world. By some miracle, his vision suddenly cleared up and he went on to batter Liston. Liston quit because he was a bully and a coward.

Ali Foreman: Foreman fought crudely and exerted too much energy. Ali landed the cleaner shots throughout the fight, starting in the opening round, and got a stoppage once Foreman gassed completely.

Revisionist version: Foreman savagely brought the fight to Ali, mercilessly pounding him, round after round in a dominant performance. Ali, knowing he was outgunned, cleverly devised the only possible method for victory, by laying on the ropes and hoping, slim as the odds may have been, that Foreman would tire out. Sensing Foreman's fatigue after several rounds of absorbing one of the worst beatings in boxing history, Ali sprang to life, powered by the chants of "Ali Bomaye," and battered Foreman into submission, like David did Goliath.

etc. It gets old.