ali was 31-0 25 ko's before his boxing exile [Archive]

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larry x

10-21-2009, 11:59 AM

so why did some people consider him a light puncher?

poet682006

10-21-2009, 12:58 PM

so why did some people consider him a light puncher?

Because there's an unfortunate trend among many boxing fans to think in terms of "all or nothing". Either a fighter has one punch power or he can't hit at all: There's nothing in between in their eyes.

Poet

sonnyboyx2

10-21-2009, 01:20 PM

Princemanspopa

10-21-2009, 01:28 PM

Your Big 5 list sucks,Sonny Liston was a much greater puncher than Joe Frazier ever was and to argue other wise is simply stupid and wrong.

mrboxer

10-21-2009, 01:34 PM

so why did some people consider him a light puncher?

Muhammad Ali was robbed of 3yrs 8 months of his career and they was without a doubt his best years..

it has always amazed me how Ali could be called a `Light-Puncher`IMO he hit as hard as anyone with the exception of the Big 5 ... Foreman, Shavers, Tyson, Frazier & Louis

He certainly punched as hard if not harder than Vitali Klitschko, Holmes, Lewis, Holyfield, Norton, Bowe, Moorer & Valuev the champions since Ali`s reign.. Could any of these have KOd Foreman, Bonavena, Frazier or Folley i very much doubt it... Muhammad Ali was a good punchermost of the fighters he faced were not of a good caliber,and ali should of went in the army,he would of been able to train and still fight,look at elvis presley the biggest star in the history of all entertainment[past,present,future],he went in and lost 2 years of his career and did not complain or even think about asking for special treatment:boxing:

them_apples

10-21-2009, 01:38 PM

so why did some people consider him a light puncher?

yea in his hey day he was so fast and speed kills is what they say.

I never considered him a light puncher, in his comeback he never had the same pop though.

Really when Ali came back he was heavier and didn't have the same legs. He still had tremendous heart however.

mrboxer

10-21-2009, 01:45 PM

ali had a great chin,i think the best ever,even though he hit the canvas a few times his chin was granite:boxing:

GJC

10-21-2009, 02:14 PM

most of the fighters he faced were not of a good caliber,and ali should of went in the army,he would of been able to train and still fight,look at elvis presley the biggest star in the history of all entertainment[past,present,future],he went in and lost 2 years of his career and did not complain or even think about asking for special treatment:boxing:
Presley/Ali is not a good example being is that entertainers have a far longer shelf life than a sportsman.

TheGreatA

10-21-2009, 02:19 PM

Ali wasn't a huge puncher but he was a sharp hitter. He could cut opponents up and catch them with punches they didn't see coming.

I'd say he was actually throwing punches with the most authority when he fought Frazier the first time. Against Cleveland Williams he was devastating but then again it was an old, literally shot Cleveland Williams. A lot of people began to question his punching power after his performances against Chuvalo, Terrell, Patterson and Mildenberger, sarcastically asking him how he was ever able to "KO" Liston when he had trouble getting rid of these opponents.

Ali was no better a puncher than for example Floyd Patterson though. Ali never quite was able to hurt Henry Cooper, only cut him, while Patterson flattened Cooper in four rounds.

T3dBundy

10-21-2009, 02:26 PM

Ali never quite was able to hurt Henry Cooper, only cut him, while Patterson flattened Cooper in four rounds.

wrong.
watch the first fight again how scared cooper was in round 5

The Bay Bomber

10-21-2009, 02:33 PM

He didn't have destructive power but that didn't mean he couldnt stop people

TheGreatA

10-21-2009, 02:34 PM

wrong.
watch the first fight again how scared cooper was in round 5

Watch the Patterson fight and see how flat Cooper was.

Cooper didn't seem scared, he just suffered a terrible, terrible cut, one of the worst ever. He wanted to fight on despite it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40174000/jpg/_40174250_acooper.300.jpg

http://www.boxing-memorabilia.com/images/Cooper-Ali-2.jpg

http://www.markevansmusic.co.uk/images/alicooper-01.jpg

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GJC

10-21-2009, 02:40 PM

A lot of people began to question his punching power after his performances against Chuvalo, Terrell, Patterson and Mildenberger, sarcastically asking him how he was ever able to "KO" Liston when he had trouble getting rid of these opponents.

To be fair no one can knock out Chuvalo, he was inhuman. Ali seemed quite content to torture Patterson and Terrell for 15 rounds and had little interest in knocking them out.

sonnyboyx2

10-21-2009, 02:45 PM

To be fair no one can knock out Chuvalo, he was inhuman. Ali seemed quite content to torture Patterson and Terrell for 15 rounds and had little interest in knocking them out.

yes you are quite correct

TheGreatA

10-21-2009, 02:57 PM

To be fair no one can knock out Chuvalo, he was inhuman. Ali seemed quite content to torture Patterson and Terrell for 15 rounds and had little interest in knocking them out.

I don't really agree with Ali only "torturing" them to be honest. He hit both of them with some of his best punches but couldn't put them away. Now Chuvalo was granite-jawed indeed but he basically walked right through the hundreds of punches Ali threw and laughed them off. It shows that Ali was certainly not on the level of Foreman, Frazier or Bonavena as a puncher.

This is the supposedly glass-jawed Floyd Patterson taking everything Ali has got:

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Boxing_12

10-21-2009, 02:59 PM

To be fair no one can knock out Chuvalo, he was inhuman. Ali seemed quite content to torture Patterson and Terrell for 15 rounds and had little interest in knocking them out.

agree there, how can you question someone's punching power just because they didn't knock out Chuvalo. That is just damn silly.

Princemanspopa

10-22-2009, 12:16 AM

TheGreatA

10-22-2009, 04:24 AM

Ali carrying Terrell and Patterson is somewhat overblown,he punished them but who's to say he wasn't trying to finish them? He certainly threw punches with intention against both men but both men showed tremendous heart and would not be finished.Ali,I don't believe ever said anything about wanting to carry and punish them,just a myth really

Since when was Floyd Patterson a powderpuff puncher? Floyd had power and was definitately a better puncher than Ali

First time I've ever heard any refer to Oscar Bonavena as a puncher? heavy handed sure,but big puncher?

You are taking those quotes slightly out of context.

I didn't claim that Patterson was a powderpuff puncher, I was comparing his punching prowess to that of Ali's. As an example Patterson KO'd Cooper in devastating fashion while Ali could only stop him on cuts. Patterson in my view is a better puncher than Ali.

Neither did I claim that Bonavena was a big, Foreman type of a puncher. What I was saying is that while Bonavena, Frazier and Foreman were all able to hurt Chuvalo, Ali couldn't even move him in two of their fights and he landed his best stuff.

Bonavena arguably had Chuvalo down and certainly hurt in two of the rounds.

Charley Goldman did claim that Bonavena hit harder than the other heavyweight he trained, Rocky Marciano.

The point I'm trying to make is that there were a lot of people who punched harder than Ali, even in his own time. He was an effective puncher though who could cut people and catch them with punches they didn't see coming.

Infern0

10-22-2009, 04:29 AM

TheGreatA

10-22-2009, 04:34 AM

bojangles1987

10-22-2009, 08:15 AM

Because most people have no idea what they are talking about. He wasn't Archie Moore or anything, but speed generates power and Ali definitely had speed. Combine that with the way he overwhelmed you with punches and he could knock people out.

boxingbuff

10-27-2009, 04:31 PM

so why did some people consider him a light puncher?

Actually he was 29-0 with 23 KO's before his exile.

After his first 2 fights after his exile(Quarry and Bonevena)he was 31-0 with 25 KO's.

Then after that his KO % kept dropping.In his last 20 fights from 1973 to 1981 he had only 5 KO's in 20 fights.