Muhammad Ali's 10 Greatest Fights

[Panamaniac]

His greatest victories in reverse order...

#10 vs Jerry Quarry I
[vbtube]ZHVxa4pmuRc[/vbtube]

#9 vs Floyd Patterson II
[vbtube]2DeShng4gN8[/vbtube]

#8 vs Oscar Bonavena
[vbtube]wCHHev-5K3Q[/vbtube]

#7 vs Ken Norton III
[vbtube]XVnmC61JWws[/vbtube]

#6 vs Joe Frazier II
[vbtube]K0qsQmZ2TLg[/vbtube]

#5 vs Zora Folley
[vbtube]VFFDe9FQL3s[/vbtube]

#4 vs Cleveland Williams
[vbtube]7zRPLJbqRM8[/vbtube]

#3 vs Joe Frazier III
[vbtube]8Zqak6d6s0M[/vbtube]

#2 vs Sonny Liston I
[vbtube]58AzC4wAhgI[/vbtube]

#1 vs George Foreman
[vbtube]bVseoF1-p3M[/vbtube]

[rightsideup]

Most people feel that the Williams fight was at the height of his physical gifts.
I though Norton outworked Ali but he closed rounds strongly to impress the judges. Great stuff as usual.

[Panamaniac]

Most people feel that the Williams fight was at the height of his physical gifts.
I though Norton outworked Ali but he closed rounds strongly to impress the judges. Great stuff as usual.

Angelo Dundee and myself are among that majority who agree Ali was at the peak of his game when he dispatched Williams. One would have to refer to a fictional opponent - "Mountain Rivera" - to find more rapid-fire of punches. The only reason that fight isn't ranked higher is because the top three opponents were more formidable.

The argument can and has been made that the degree of difficulty of the Norton trilogy was greater than that of the Frazier trilogy for Ali. Norton was awkward to handle and more difficult to hit. Good topic for a poll thread, although popular opinion would probably favor Frazier.

[Sugarj]

I'd have classed the Lyle and Shavers wins as bigger than Bonavena or Patterson 2 (Patterson boxed well that night though!). An ugly fight but a great win on paper is Jimmy Young considering his wins over Foreman, Shavers & Lyle.

I'd might have thrown in the Doug Jones victory too instead of Zora Folley. Granted, Ali looked great against Folley, but he was a bit shop worn.....the Doug Jones who Ali decisioned four years earlier had of course stopped a more prime Folley and gave young Clay a very tough close fight.

On paper; a one round win over Liston is pretty startling..........considering nobody else came close to this. Liston was very old when he met Leotis Martin years later and was stopped with a huge right hand.

To be fair though, its difficult not to start rating great technical performances over tough wins over greater foes.

Greatest achievement: Foreman

Greatest technical performance: Williams

Greatest result on paper: Liston 2 (what would the odds have been on a 1st round KO? 20-1 perhaps!!

Greatest fight to watch: Frazier 3

Most under rated win: Norton 2; a super close fight with possibly the best version of Norton ever. That one really came down to the last round!!

[Scott9945]

I'd have classed the Lyle and Shavers wins as bigger than Bonavena or Patterson 2 (Patterson boxed well that night though!). An ugly fight but a great win on paper is Jimmy Young considering his wins over Foreman, Shavers & Lyle.

I'd might have thrown in the Doug Jones victory too instead of Zora Folley. Granted, Ali looked great against Folley, but he was a bit shop worn.....the Doug Jones who Ali decisioned four years earlier had of course stopped a more prime Folley and gave young Clay a very tough close fight.

On paper; a one round win over Liston is pretty startling..........considering nobody else came close to this. Liston was very old when he met Leotis Martin years later and was stopped with a huge right hand.

To be fair though, its difficult not to start rating great technical performances over tough wins over greater foes.

Greatest achievement: Foreman

Greatest technical performance: Williams

Greatest result on paper: Liston 2 (what would the odds have been on a 1st round KO? 20-1 perhaps!!

Greatest fight to watch: Frazier 3

Most under rated win: Norton 2; a super close fight with possibly the best version of Norton ever. That one really came down to the last round!!

I have to strongly disagree about the Young fight. Ali was in poor condition and that was easily his worst performance in a title fight (except against Holmes of course)

[Panamaniac]

After posting my top 10 Ali fights, something jumped-off my PC screen at me - he fought 6 of those opponents at least twice. So I dug a little deeper and retrieved this nugget: Despite having fought 61 times, He only faced 50 different opponents. Virtually a third (20 of 61) of his fights were vs the same 9 guys, while only fighting 41 (different) others.

1. Joe Bugner 2
2. George Chuvalo 2
3. Henry Cooper 2
4. Joe Frazier 3
5. Sonny Liston 2
6. Ken Norton 3
7. Floyd Patterson 2
8. Jerry Quarry 2
9. Leon Spinks 2

• Total fights: 20

If there's a fighter in boxing history who fought more opponents at least twice, I'd like to know whom.

I know Sugar Ray Robinson had 5 with LaMotta and a plurality with Turpin and Basilio, maybe others, but I doubt he tops Ali in either variety or total.

[Sugarj]

I have to strongly disagree about the Young fight. Ali was in poor condition and that was easily his worst performance in a title fight (except against Holmes of course)

Yes it was a dreadful performance by Ali. Dundee lamented Ali for it.

But you seem to have missed the point of my previous post. There are great performances and great on paper results. Young was a great on paper result.

The videos provided by Panamaniac in several cases showed up other sub par Ali performances that may be classed as great on paper results; as shown below:

Quarry 1: Great result on paper; 3 years out and Ali gets a stoppage win over the number two ranked heavyweight. But lets be honest, there were moments when Ali's timing was a little off. Ali himself said in his biography that he was tired after those three rounds.....he was grateful for the cut. Its the reason he didn't dance too much against Bonavena.

Bonavena was not a good performance by Ali, though round 15 was terrific! But on paper it was a good result because of the difficulty Bonavena gave Frazier.

Patterson 2 was not a great performance by Ali (though it was a good performance by Patterson prior to the stoppage). But on paper, it was a good result because Floyd had done so well against Ellis and Quarry.

Norton 3 was hardly vintage Ali. But a good on paper result over a superb version of Norton. I'd substitute Norton 2 for this fight as a superior performance.

[MrRolltide91]

Great thread

[SBleeder]

If there's a fighter in boxing history who fought more opponents at least twice, I'd like to know whom.

Many. Sam Langford probably tops the list.

[rightsideup]

After posting my top 10 Ali fights, something jumped-off my PC screen at me - he fought 6 of those opponents at least twice. So I dug a little deeper and retrieved this nugget: Despite having fought 61 times, He only faced 50 different opponents. Virtually a third (20 of 61) of his fights were vs the same 9 guys, while only fighting 41 (different) others.

1. Joe Bugner 2
2. George Chuvalo 2
3. Henry Cooper 2
4. Joe Frazier 3
5. Sonny Liston 2
6. Ken Norton 3
7. Floyd Patterson 2
8. Jerry Quarry 2
9. Leon Spinks 2

• Total fights: 20

If there's a fighter in boxing history who fought more opponents at least twice, I'd like to know whom.

I know Sugar Ray Robinson had 5 with LaMotta and a plurality with Turpin and Basilio, maybe others, but I doubt he tops Ali in either variety or total.

Great observation Ray did fight lomatta, turpin , basilio, fulmer, pender, olsen, angott and a few others multiple times but he also had way more fights,