Ali overated??? i dont think so...

[BodysnatcherFan]

Umm Frazier kicked his ass that first fight, and in that fight both fighters were closest to their primes (and there's a good argument that Ali deserved no more then a draw in their rematch).

I believe Ali is a surefire top 5 HW of all time, probably top 3, but he's not the greatest. During his first reign his quality of opposition was not very good (an injured Patterson, very dodgy fights with Liston, a shot (literally) Cleveland Williams). However, he demonstrated dominance and great athleticism and beautiful ring generalship in all these fights. In the 70s he further proved his greatness by beating a slew of dangerous guys (Quarry, Bonavena, Foreman, Shavers) but got gifts against Young, Norton, and arguably Frazier. Great fighter but the myth has overrode fact in many instances . . .

You are crazy. Ali was close to his prime? Nowhere near. The layoff did terrible for Ali. In his prime he would have cut Joe to ribbons.

[BodysnatcherFan]

Anything after the ban on him fighting is irrelevent its just like a line anything afterwards is irrelevent.

[gogan]

HA HA HA HA HA you have no clue what your talking about. Ali destroyed the fast, the small, the big and the tall. you go agaist someone like george foreman and not worry at all, jump in the ring and come out a winner. then tell me your not the greatest thing that ever happenend to boxing. if he`s not standing alone in 1st place he`s at least tied for 1st with someone else.

[dino]

Looking through these forums i have noticed various posts stating that Muhammad Ali is overrated and would be beaten by the likes of Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, and Mike Tyson.

I thought i would give my opinion on the matter

Ali was not overrated. In His prime Ali was extremely quick and had excellent footwork, however in my opinion these were not his greatest assets, I think his greatest assets were his ability to absorb punishment.... he had a good chin, good stamina and could take a lot of punishment as shown Against George Foreman(one of the most powerful Punchers in boxing history). His other great asset was his brain... Ali was an extremley smart boxer, he had the ability to adapt to any style, find the weakness of his opponents and systematically break them down as shown against Foreman. After Ali's 3 year absence from the boxing world he had lost alot of the speed in his punching and footwork and could no longer dance around the ring as effectivley as prior to his boxing ban. He was able to soley rely on his ability to absorb punishment and his brain to defeat such formidable opponents as George Foreman and Joe Frazier. He was not technically the best boxer.... far from it, BUT he was able to overcome this with the speed he posessed in his prime, his ability to absorb punishment and his ringsmarts

I believe Ali in his Prime would beat the 3 boxers mentioned previously, not easily however.

His Fight record to me is more impressive then these other 3. He defeated 3 of the all time greats Liston, Foreman, Frazier.

frazier style was perfeclty for ali or anybody whos tall and can jab to beat..if ali fought foreman 5 times he would only win once..and liston wasnt that good

[K-Yo]

ali was simply too smart in his prime to get beat by these guys. im not saying it wouldnt happen, but the fights would certainly be intrestig. you have to remember that no one in the heavyweight ever had movement like tyson in his prime, so that would be an amazing fight, and lewis has one of the best jabs in boxing history so that would also be a great fight.

the only way you can check the outcome is to watch a cpu vs cpu fight on fight night

[Boxer2005]

I think Ali is overrated. I saw some of his fights and was not impresses at all.

[cple]

frazier style was perfeclty for ali or anybody whos tall and can jab to beat..if ali fought foreman 5 times he would only win once..and liston wasnt that good

I think Ali beats Foreman every time they fight. A prime Foreman didn't know how to conserve his energy. He blows his load after 4 or 5 rounds. Ali would use this to advantage. Also, after his loss to Foreman, his mind was pretty much messed up. I can't begin to imagine the mental beating Foreman would recieve.

And Liston wasn't that good? Is that why nearly everyone at the time thought he was unbeatable in his prime? He was simply destroying everyone in his path. Though i don't rank Liston too highly in the all-time heavyweight rankings, i do rate him highly in a who-beats-who list. Liston would've beaten a lot of the heavyweights of the past and everyone today.

[hambone]

I just recently watched a frazier vs. ali fight again. I was amazed at what those boxers gave for 15 rounds. Ali was great. can any boxer today meet that standard as far as boxings skills go ? Could any of the boxers today beat him ? Who knows. Maybe some the bigger boxers.

[Xecutioner]

i dont think ali/marciano would look like ali/frazier . besides the fact that both men came forward frazier was much more difficult to hit, more skilled, bigger, faster and more suited to fight ali imo. joe had just as much stamina as marciano. who had the better chin wouldnt even matter, neither guys would get koed by ali. if i were to build a fighter to beat any version of ali it would be a prime joe frazier. id take prime frazier over prime ali (exTREMELY close), but i wouldnt take prime marciano over prime ali.

no other heavyweights resume can even come close to touching alis. he fought all fighters and all styles, ducked no one. beat not one but two so called "invincible" men (liston, foreman). got the best of a guy built to destory his style (frazier) . thats the peak of his accomplishments, between them tons of tough competition. put any other heavyweight through this murderous row of competition and lets see how many W's and L's they come out with . every knows in boxing match ups are everything, and even when ali fought against someone who had a bad style for him he was still very competitive.

[Ivansmamma]

Ali beat Liston, Frazier, Foreman and Patterson. Ali had great speed, footwork, reflexes, chin and heart. Ali made a comeback and became champion again after being banned from fighting for three years in what would have been his prime. Ali beat fighters long after his prime and became a three time world champion. Ali is not overrated, he's the greatest heavyweight of all time.