Why didn't more fighters make Ali fight on the front foot?

That is the sort of thing I had in mind.

 

Ali generally had a size and speed advantage over all of his opposition. If you combine that with his jab and patience, the end result is a fighter that didn't look as good on the front foot, but still presented enough tools to beat you. It'd take someone with real awkwardness, counterpunching, a size/reach advantage and/or outboxing skills to implement that strategy well enough to not just make Ali look bad, but genuinely win.

If a fighter was concerned about lasting the distance with Ali with no regard to winning enough rounds to take the fight, it could be implemented to survive with less of the required attributes. To win with it still takes a rare blend.

 

I think Muhammad was just being kind because he liked Zora. It was pretty much a one sided bout.

 

Because when 1 is assured 2 have the judges and the referee on his side, that 1 can avoid fighting as much as he likes. Winning was his unless starkly proven otherwise. There was no such thing as "Ali robbed", only his opponents had to fear this kind of fate.
Similarly there was no such a thing as "Ali got cheated", only his opponents could be.
The same regarding taking dives, etc.

And in addition to the above Ali was almost always the bigger man in his fights, and even when he was not, he was merely slightly smaller.