Muhammed Ali Over-rated?

[Boxingwizard]

In his prime Ali he had no looping holes. A lot of heavyweights today don't have real solid boxing skills, such as David Haye and Chris Arreola. Eddie Chambers, Wladimir Klitschko, Alexander Dimitrenko, and Denis Boytsov are the only heavyweights I've seen that have skills that are A level, and I would favor Ali over anyone of those four.

[joseph5620]

Bert Sugar's top 10 ATGs from his 1984 list:


1 Sugar Ray Robinson

2 Henry Armstrong

3 Harry Greb

4 Jack Dempsey

5 Benny Leonard

6 Joe Louis

7 Mickey Walker

8 Sam Langford

9 Tony Canzoneri

10 Muhammad Ali


Both top 100 lists are here.

Jack Dempsey shouldn't be on that list. If you want to talk overrated, Dempsey is the man. He lost to the only great fighter he ever faced(Gene Tunney) and had a minimal number of title fights and a long inactive period while he was champion. He was very popular and the media loved him. But that shouldn't make a case for what he actually accomplished.Winning the the title from a big stiff(Jess Williard) doesnt make a case for him either. I also see Sugar left Willie Pepp and Eder Jofre off of the top 10. Putting Dempsey over those two makes his list garbage with the exception of the fighters who deserve to be on the list.

[$tate of Mind]

Nope I don't think so victories over Foreman, Liston, Frazier, Norton, Shavers, etc. are very impressive. Name a heavyweight with a better resume?

[$tate of Mind]

The most overrated fighter in the history of boxing.

Don't get me wrong, he was a great heavyweight, but the media made him out to be more than he was.

He was in a lot of close fights, and received at least three gift decisions in his pro career.

He was knocked down by the smaller Englishman Cooper in 1963.

He was knocked down and defeated by Joe Frazier at age 29.

He went life and death for 15 rounds and was knocked down by a limited journeyman called Chuck Wepner.

He fought a lot of opponents like Blin and Bonaventa with whom he had about a 12" reach advantage.

I'm not surprised since it's coming from you, if you put both Klitschko brother's resumes together they couldn't touch Ali's jock strap.

[Redd Foxx]

Likeable guys are always going to be overrated. Judgment is swayed by emotion.

[damuttz112]

Any athlete who transcends their respective sport are prone to being overrated. Ali beat the highest class of Heavyweight competition, he deserves all the accolades he gets. He literally gave his life for his Legacy.

[Ggurts si kab]

Who bumped this? this was 3 years ago.

[Cardinal Buck]

Yes, he's overrated. I won't argue with his resume being the best. He also looked great in his first reign against less than great fighters. Where he really gets overrated is his performances in the 70s. He came out on top, but I think there are more than a few fighters who could've done a better job than he did. And Foreman had glaring weaknesses back then that people choose to overlook.

[Mr. Fantastic]

I think overhyped as far as his fights being exciting. After seeing a ton of his fights, he had a lot of boring ones zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Some of the exciting ones were thanks to the other guys he was facing as well.

[Ggurts si kab]

I hate the fact Ali painted Joe as an uncle tom and made excuse after excuse when frazier beat him at madison square garden. But Alis greatness can not be denied.

For those who are calling Ali overrated, tell me a fighter who isnt overrated by his fanboys?