Who was the best: Ali or Louis?

[Dynamite Kid]

Again, it's not based on what you think of Louis against modern days HW's in a head to head matchup. I think Rid**** Bowe or Wlad would beat Marciano, but there is no way they accomplished nearly as much in their careers, therefore are not greater fighters. It's about what you do in your time, which is all you can do.

no i know what your saying but what im saying is that if take Ali & Louis & u compare there chances of beating some of the modern greats then for me Ali has a great chance at being the more successfull when it comes to head to heads against Modern greats

so in my estimation a fighter who could have been competitive in any era like Ali is greater than a fighter whom i believe couldnt have hung with cetain modern greats in the same era , it is just a yard stick of the difference in quality between Ali & Louis & for me Ali wins everytime

[mrpain81]

Watched the Doug Jones fight (as I'm sure you did). People put too much into the fact that he was doing way better than they expected. He didn't win that fight.

The Cooper fight showed Ali's recuperative skills. He was up at 3. He didn't get KO'd like Louis did against Schmelling in the same sort of situation.

There's alot to consider, Ali lost 3 years because of his license being suspended....Alot of people will rank Louis number 1 based on the 25 defenses and his win over Schmeling, he always did great in rematches...lets not forget Ali lost to Frazier and Norton, plus alot of people think norton was robbed out of the 3rd bout.

I still have Ali #1

[RightHandLead]

The famous old "torn glove" incident. Ali really had his bell rung by Cooper in that first fight. Had it been early in the round, he would have been knocked out. Dundee gave him some extra time to recuperate, along with some smelling salts, by tearing the glove wide open so that they would have to go back to the dressing room to get a replacement glove.

Got up at the 3 count. That's not that profound of a knockdown, IMO. He wasn't even wobbly. The punch was great though. I bet people would have said the same thing if Frazier had knocked Ali down in the last seconds of the 15th round in their 1st fight.

[Dynamite Kid]

anybody who thinks Joe Louis was a better fighter than Ali needs their head testing

Ali more durable ,quicker ,better footwork, he is just an allround better fighter period

[TheGreatA]

anybody who thinks Joe Louis was a better fighter than Ali needs their head testing

Ali more durable ,quicker ,better footwork, he is just an allround better fighter period

Ali wasn't good at finishing or pressuring people as Louis was and he also made mistakes (he could get away with them) while Louis made none (because he couldn't afford to).

But I can't see Louis beating Ali, not with his style.

[Dirt E Gomez]

WHen ever talking about the greatest of all time there's always debate because it's different strokes for different folks.

Unless everybody decides how they're going to rank "best", then they'll always be debatable. My 3 choices are Ali, Foreman, and Louis. All 3 can be ranked differently depending upon how I'm basing my list.

[Sweet Pete]

The famous old "torn glove" incident. Ali really had his bell rung by Cooper in that first fight. Had it been early in the round, he would have been knocked out. Dundee gave him some extra time to recuperate, along with some smelling salts, by tearing the glove wide open so that they would have to go back to the dressing room to get a replacement glove.

They did not go back to the dressing room, that is the biggest pile of bull**** ever. Many cases state it as around 12 extra seconds, while the very longest is stated as around 40 more seconds. Dressing room my ass.

Ali also got up in 4 seconds, and went back to his corner on non-wobbly legs. Watch the footage. The footage I have seen doesn't look like it has any cuts in it at all, and Ali has maybe a few more seconds than usual. The whole story on Ali/Cooper is so immensely exagerrated it is laughable. He stopped Cooper the very next round anyway.

[BKM-]

Ali without a doubt. He has everything.

[Sweet Pete]

[Guest]

Ali also got up in 4 seconds, and went back to his corner on non-wobbly legs. Watch the footage. The footage I have seen doesn't look like it has any cuts in it at all, and Ali has maybe a few more seconds than usual. The whole story on Ali/Cooper is so immensely exagerrated it is laughable. He stopped Cooper the very next round anyway.



I watched this footage and you're right. Here's my question about all that.
In the corner after the round, Ali was obviously dazed.

Now back then were smelling salts illegal or legal to use in between rounds?
I know they are now. I don't know if they were back then because Dundee is doing something in the corner.

All the same Ali beat him again. I just always wondered that part of it.

JReckoning