Why did Ali claim he won the FOTC ?

A lot of great fighters have claimed they should have won a fight, that they clearly lost. It's a boxers competitive spirit that doesn't like to admit it.
Nothing pathetic about it really imo.

 

In more recent times,Muhammad admitted that Joe beat him fair and square in their first fight. Ali's claims that he won it were based on,initially,a refusal to believe that he'd lost and to get the publicity drums rolling for a rematch.

 

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Idk, sometimes in a sparring session I could’ve sworn I got the better of my opponent but everyone else says otherwise. Different when your in the ring because obviously your mainly focusing on what your landing

 

It's just an arrogance thing. Ali had a massive ego, so swallowing his first loss was gonna be hard. That said, afterward, he did treat it as a loss and learned from it. He also could've been saying it to antagonize Frazier.

Lots of fighters say they deserved to win, when they probably - or in this case, definitely - didn't. Charles did the same thing vs Marciano.

 

To be fair to Ali, I scored this fight on a RBR basis a couple years back, and actually had Ali winning 8-7 (though Frazier still won on points), before anyone accuses me of being biased, Frazier is my all time favorite fighter. UPI also had it a 7-7-1 Draw, so it's not inconceivable that the one round that was even could be tipped in Ali's favor giving him an 8-7 (unofficial) decision.

 

Whooh calm down. Did I actually say I thought he'd won the fight??

 

I've got a ton of respect for Joe. I've seen the fight a few times and Frazier won it, hands down.
As for not admitting to losing, we could probably find hundreds of cases where a fighter won't do it or pick a reason /excuse why they lose.
Just the nature of the beast, the more competitive a guy is the less likely he is to admit he lost.
Look at for example Jack Johnson. Kd by Willard, then years later claims he threw the fight lol.
Happens all the time.

 

Pride. Denial. Disdain for the man who beat his ass etc;

 

Great fighter still thinks he won shocker.

 

What's your agenda friend? Most great fighters refuses to admit
a defeat if they were not knocked completely out or totally dominated. Ali is
no exception to that fact.