Muhammad Ali, exciting?

[Barn]

He was exciting in the sense that you don't see fighters like that at heavyweight, but to be honest I think Ali is overrated as a fighter in general. You see these lists of ATG P4P boxers and Sugar Ray Robinson is number 1, with Ali number 2. To me, that's ridiculous!

People rate him higher as a fighter because of the influence he had outside of the ring; because he was an entertainer, and his style was part of that. But I think that people get carried away with the entertainment side of it and rate him higher as a fighter.

Having said that, he was still a great fighter, but if he wasn't such a character he probably wouldn't be in a lot of peoples top 10 all time P4P lists.

He probably would. People still rate Joe Louis in the Top 10 and he wasn't the character Ali was. I believe Ali was the best Heavyweight of all time close and clearly so if they're rating Joe Louis in the Top 10 Ali's got to be in there as well!

Ali also holds the record for highest percentage of Top 10 opposition faced.

[JAB5239]

He probably would. People still rate Joe Louis in the Top 10 and he wasn't the character Ali was. I believe Ali was the best Heavyweight of all time close and clearly so if they're rating Joe Louis in the Top 10 Ali's got to be in there as well!

Ali also holds the record for highest percentage of Top 10 opposition faced.

Neither Louis nor Ali belong in the all time p4p top 10 on my opinion. They're easily the two best heavyweights ever, but p4p has guys who fought and beat much better comp than these 2 great heavyweights.

[Barn]

Neither Louis nor Ali belong in the all time p4p top 10 on my opinion. They're easily the two best heavyweights ever, but p4p has guys who fought and beat much better comp than these 2 great heavyweights.

I think Ali has a fair shout but, Louis doesn't.

I mean the sheer dominance of his contender stat.

Beating HOF: Liston, Patterson, Foster, Moore, Norton, Frazier, Foreman.

As well as beating a host of amazing contenders in the best Heavyweight era of all time and to add to his attributes of dominance he defended the lineal Championship a total of 19 times and won it 3 times. Count that with his amazing past prime victories and producing arguably the greatest win in boxing history against Foreman.

[hayZ]

He was an exciting fighter because at his peak he was very active, very quick and threw excellent combos. Phenomenal fighter, maybe not as exciting as say Mike Tyson but defo up there.

[bojangles1987]

I love it. The speed is incredible, just awe inspiring to me.

[StarshipTrooper]

I think of Ali as more 'entertaining' than 'exciting'. Big punchers tend to be more exciting because of their ability to end a fight at any given point. Ali of course wasn't a particularly big puncher.

His entertainment came from his talking in the ring, his shuffle, his feigning hurt, his waving people on, his talking in the ring etc. But I was genuinely entertained by his ability to land rapid, fast, accurate punches whilst shuffling and dancing.......and avoiding return punches with reflex alone. No fight embodied this better than the Cleveland Williams fight, his rhythm, reflexes, combinations, grace and accuracy were very impressive.

I suppose we all enjoy seeing different things in our favorite fighters. Some are excited by seeing the art of boxing, hitting and not getting hit in return (P. Whitaker / H. Graham / N. Locche / M. Ali). Some folks hate that style and find aggressive, knockout artists like G. Foreman, M. Tyson or G. McClellan exciting.

I find both entertaining and exciting......but not in the same way.

I think both are aspects of the fight game. A true boxing fan finds things to appreciate about both kinds of fights. If someone is just tuning in to see someone KTFO they really need to switch to MMA since they're just violence freaks and not really boxing fans.

Poet

[elfag]

Neither Louis nor Ali belong in the all time p4p top 10 on my opinion. They're easily the two best heavyweights ever, but p4p has guys who fought and beat much better comp than these 2 great heavyweights.

Theres 10+ guys who have beat "much better" competition than Ali's resume? really?

[StarshipTrooper]

Theres 10+ guys who have beat "much better" competition than Ali's resume? really?

Check out the resumes of some of the Lightweights and Welterweights from the 20s and 30s. Their resumes make even Ali's pale by comparison. Ali has the best hit list among Heavyweights, the problem is that the resume bar for Heavies is about as low as it gets for the original eight weight classes.

Poet

[AntonTheMeh]

for me? yeah. seeing a big guy like him move the way he did was extraordinary.