Muhammad Ali: Great or The Greatest

[tadpole25]

Ali, in the end, said the whole talk about him being "the greatest" was all hype, but if you look at all of his assets, perhaps he was.

- Longevity. He essentially had two primes.
- He was easily the fastest moving heavyweight
- He competed in the most competitive era in history.
- He never cherrypicked. He faced all of the toughest fighters.

It's hard to objectify this, because there are differences in eras (the nutritional and training standards) as well as weight classes.

But Ali is a very good candidate for the #1 spot.

[Ray Corso]

Second best all time Heavyweight Champion (Joe Louis is #1 for me) and Ali IS the greatest boxing self-promotor of all time, easily!! Ray.

[Sugarj]

I'd have him as the greatest heavyweight so far. Though many will think Joe Louis takes this spot too.

Pound for pound he is up there too, but not top spot.....

[SBleeder]

I believe he's the greatest heavyweight of all time, although Louis is a close second.

Pound for pound, I have five fighters ahead of him: Robinson, Armstrong, Gans, Greb, and Charles.

During his best years (65-67) I wouldn't give anyone but a prime Louis any real chance of beating him.

[rightsideup]

Alot of people have joe louis and ali as 1a and 1b thats how close they view them. In a fantasy fight people's mouth water at who would win. It is said that joe could cut off the ring better than liston and had better hand speed and a hard jab. Ali was the ultimate mover with the rapier jab and hand speed and took one heck of a punch. To call ali the greatest is no shame because he dominated his era. He got people interested in boxing and refused to go into a war that was confusing to the american public.

[Panamaniac]

My Two Cents:

Muhammad often claimed (hype or not) to be the greatest of all time, which implied P4P. There was a time he seemed (to me at least) to be the greatest of all time in his weight class. In hindsight, I've gained enough perspective to give him this: Ali was the greatest of his time (or era) among heavyweights.

In summation and in my book, Sugar Ray Robinson holds the title of Greatest of All Time, P4P. Joe Louis was the greatest heavyweight ever, with Muhammad Ali a close 2nd.

[miamike]

Greatest ever or greatest heavyweight ever?

[tenPt]

One of the two greatest at heavyweight. Between him and Louis.

[mnikolovm]

HE IS THE GREATEST! So fast at HW division. + Unquie style for that time. No one plays like him, no one dance like him at that time and now too. He was the greatest at that time and he still have that title.

[Xyei]

IMO he's the greatest heavy weight of all time and one of the greatest to ever lace them up.