Ali Was A Great Fighter, But Way Overrated In Terms Of Boxing Ability'' Larry Holmes

[boxing boy]

Going by the book Muhammad Ali did everything wrong.Holding your hands or guard down is a big no no.Pulling your head back from punches is another big no no,and considered suicide.But Muhammad Ali's lightning fast reflexes not only allowed him to get away with this,but he was almost impossible to hit with a clean punch in his prime.His unreal footspeed in his prime also helped him to stay out of range from his opponents punches.So his speed and quick reflexes made up for everything he was doing wrong.

You can say"He did it his way"

[Obama]

Man never threw a body punch in his life. Quite frankly the **** is just sad. Guy won his hardest fights on sheer conditioning and durability. A guy with fast hands or good timing or high workrate and great conditioning never really had problems hitting him.

[StarshipTrooper]

A guy with fast hands or good timing or high workrate and great conditioning never really had problems hitting him.

In the mid to late 1960s when he was prime?!?! In the 1970s sure: His reflexes had slipped after his three year layoff. In none of his prime fights from the 1960s have I ever seen him get tagged consistantly.

Poet

[TheMagicMan]

Huh? They were slow then? Really? News to me. I seem to remember Floyd Patterson, arguably the fastest HW after Ali etc was before Ali's time. Nor would I call Holmes, Norton, Quarry, Moore, Charles, ..... slow.

If I look in comparison to todays HW's, they seem ridiculously fast in fact.

Blocked punches with their faces? Geez, if guys back then blocked punches with their face, what do the champs of today do?

Ahh forget it....trolling. What's the point?

Uhh Floyd PAtterson weighed 188 pounds...good job Ali, beating a Light HW. Of course a 188 pound guy was faster than someone like 250 lbs Vitali Klitshko.

[StarshipTrooper]

Uhh Floyd PAtterson weighed 188 pounds...good job Ali, beating a Light HW. Of course a 188 pound guy was faster than someone like 250 lbs Vitali Klitshko.

The Light-Heavyweight limit is 175. If you're going to troll a thread at least get your facts right ****** :bull****9:

Poet

[Obama]

In the mid to late 1960s when he was prime?!?! In the 1970s sure: His reflexes had slipped after his three year layoff. In none of his prime fights from the 1960s have I ever seen him get tagged consistantly.

Poet

In his youth his opposition was pretty sub-par to be honest. But Doug Jones battered him around the ring. He happened to be one of Ali's faster an more energetic opponents.

[Stone Roses!]

In his youth his opposition was pretty sub-par to be honest. But Doug Jones battered him around the ring. He happened to be one of Ali's faster an more energetic opponents.

Jones didn't batter anyone around the ring. Ofcourse you are entitled to your opinion so I will give mine too.

It was a close fight, but I believe Ali outpointed Jones.

[them_apples]

When Ali was young his chin wasn't as good. He was only 200-210 lbs and physically looked lighter. This gave him great mobility but he didn't have quite the same strength or durability as in his comeback.

His prime was either when he fought Liston or when he fought Frazier the first time. I'm curious how the lighter Ali would have done against Frazier in the first fight. Frazier was a monster that night and had great speed as well.

[bojangles1987]

When Ali was young his chin wasn't as good. He was only 200-210 lbs and physically looked lighter. This gave him great mobility but he didn't have quite the same strength or durability as in his comeback.

His prime was either when he fought Liston or when he fought Frazier the first time. I'm curious how the lighter Ali would have done against Frazier in the first fight. Frazier was a monster that night and had great speed as well.

I doubt it would have looked that different, just based on styles. Most likely if you took Frazier from that night and Ali from '64 or '65 it's a fight that is too close for anyone to claim they won convincingly.

Ali might not get up from that left hook with his '64 chin though.

[boxing boy]

In his youth his opposition was pretty sub-par to be honest. But Doug Jones battered him around the ring. He happened to be one of Ali's faster an more energetic opponents.

Doug Jones fought a young Cassuis Clay in 1963 with only 17 professional fights.

I just watched the fight again,and had Cassius Clay winning 6-4 in rounds.

The fight was fought in Doug Jones back yard,and every punch he threw got alot of noise,whether they landed or not.Jones landed a couple good "clean" punches in the entire fight.And this was not a Prime Muhammad Ali.

Remember this was in 1963,3 or 4 years "before" Muhammad Ali's prime of 1966/67.Yes,Ali beat Sonny Liston 3 years BEFORE his prime.That's how good he was.

In his Prime Muhammad Ali was almost impossible to hit with a clean punch.He never even had a scatch on his face after 9 title defenses!!

Ali's jab was timed faster than the great SRR's jab.Faster than the fastest Middleweights!!