Sugar Ray Robinson. He admitted this on interviews during training, I'm gonna try and find the videos of him saying "This is how Sugar Ray does it" and he starts punching faster, and harder. Ali was inspired by Sugar Ray Robinson, his handlers ven admitted this.
Sad how Robinson gets no credit after the so called "Greatest" was actually trying to be him.
Here's an article:http://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/19/sports/sports-of-the-times-ali-s-boxing-curse.html
Damn right Huey. I saw that documentary. No one holds a candle to SRR. If I was challenging Floyd that would my first line at the press conference. "You ain't the greatest fighter of all time. The best in this generation maybe, won't know until you fight Pacquiao. But until then,this man went undefeated 85-0 69 KO's in the amateurs. Then went 40-0 in the pros. Did you go undefeated in the amateurs?" "HMMMMMMMMMM,"silence.