Originally posted by QueensburyRules
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It's hard to find comparisons because most comebacks are due to injuries. That has its own challenges but its own motivations to return. Ali simply had his livelihood taken away with no guarantee of getting it back for over 3 years. Mentally that may be much more difficult than returning from injury. It's one thing for a tennis player like Agassi to come back from drugs or LeMond to return to cycling after being shot. They had a goal and an endgame they could partially control. It's quite another to not even have any control on when/if you could return like Ali - and in a combat sport to boot.
Here's what I do know. The guy who returned wasn't the same guy who was forced out. He didn't really move the same anymore. He didn't float like a butterfly any more. Probably stronger though and seemed to take a punch better. Of course, it could have helped create his legend too. 3 1/2 years of no damage may have been just the edge he needed to beat Foreman. Maybe his increased thickness helped withstand the punishment from Frazier. Or perhaps those guys are thoroughly embarrassed by a faster, quicker, sleeker Ali. I don't know what 3 1/2 years did to him but it did something. He wasn't washed up at 28 but no doubt that he changed significantly during that time off.
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