Who is a better HW than Muhammad Ali?

[Jim Jeffries]

I believe that Ali's prime was the period he was forced into being inactive. Normally 29 would have been his prime, but he was still trying to shake off the rust from an almost four year layoff. So IMO, the closest thing to his true prime was in 1967.

That one fight with Cleveland Williams, he did seem untouchable and unbeatable that night. Poetry in motion.

[Kastrioti]

I would pick Lewis over Ali...

[froggy]

For his time ali was great, no doubt. Boxing is notoriously hard to compare through the generations but if u look at performances of 100m, weightlifting etc from ali's erea and now there is a BIG difference. Will be interesting to see a guy like haye aganst klitchko if it happens, not saying haye is as good as ali but there both about 6'3, fast and talk even faster

for all the stick vitali is getting would like to see ali try his rope a dope style against vitali.....

[AKATheMack]

Vitali would get picked apart by Ali, Wlad I think stands a chance. I dont think anyones career was greater than Alis but lots of fighters had the capabilities to beat him.

[Mr. Ryan]

My assessment is not based on old grainy videos.

Why do you think Ali is better than Joe Frazier, who defeated him in his prime (age 29)?

Ali had 2 warmup fights just before, so ring rust is not a good excuse.

Joe was shot after the Foreman fight, so the later fights with Ali should carry little weight.

So your assessment is only of Muhammad Ali as an inferior fighter, while not taking into account that you haven't really seen Jeffries fight sufficient enough to accurately gauge his abilities. Ahh, touch.'

[TheGreatA]

Joe was shot after the Foreman fight, so the later fights with Ali should carry little weight.

Frazier was definitely not shot after the Foreman fight, past his best perhaps but not shot. He demolished Jerry Quarry in 1974 like no one else ever did and beat Joe Bugner.

No one can say that Frazier's performance in the third Ali fight was the performance of a shot fighter.
Frazier was shot as a fighter after the Ali trilogy and Ali greatly diminished as a fighter as well.


About Jim Jeffries, he is often underrated because of the Jack Johnson fight which is unfortunately the only Jeffries fight we have clear footage of.

It is true that most of the people in his time rated Jeffries as the best HW of all but it is also true that Jeffries himself admitted Jack Johnson to be the better man, also Nat Fleischer who saw them both rated Jack Johnson as better.

It should also be acknowledged that many of Jeffries' opponents were outweighed by up to 20-40 lbs by the 220 lb Jeffries.
People give Ali a lot of flack for getting dropped by the 185 lb Henry Cooper but Jim Jeffries in his younger days went to a draw with the 165 lb Joe Choynski...

[jberg]

ali in his prime is the best representation of what a heavyweight should be. in his prime, he was the best

[Boogie Nights]

Frazier was definitely not shot after the Foreman fight, past his best perhaps but not shot. He demolished Jerry Quarry in 1974 like no one else ever did and beat Joe Bugner.

No one can say that Frazier's performance in the third Ali fight was the performance of a shot fighter.
Frazier was shot as a fighter after the Ali trilogy and Ali greatly diminished as a fighter as well.


About Jim Jeffries, he is often underrated because of the Jack Johnson fight which is unfortunately the only Jeffries fight we have clear footage of.

It is true that most of the people in his time rated Jeffries as the best HW of all but it is also true that Jeffries himself admitted Jack Johnson to be the better man, also Nat Fleischer who saw them both rated Jack Johnson as better.

It should also be acknowledged that many of Jeffries' opponents were outweighed by up to 20-40 lbs by the 220 lb Jeffries.
People give Ali a lot of flack for getting dropped by the 185 lb Henry Cooper but Jim Jeffries in his younger days went to a draw with the 165 lb Joe Choynski...

Excellent point!
also other fighters like Joe Louis struggled with small fighters like Billy Conn, but there's nothing wrong with that, because fighters of that calibre are not your average small fighters.
About that Ali-Cooper fight. Yes Ali was dropped and people are quick to jump in and criticise. but so what it's not like Cooper is a small guy, there was a 20 pound advantage for Ali. But cooper had one of the best left hooks in the business. since that fight Ali matured more and fought far better monstrous punchers in shavers and foreman without getting dropped.