Muhammed Ali Over-rated?

[StarshipTrooper]

It's good to see some putting Louis at least near Ali. I put Joe's picture up after I got into a bit of a fight with some people saying he was an overrated fighter and only fought Bums, hence the "Bum of the Month Club." But I like what Tyson said about it:

People that have seen my posts know that Louis is my favorite fighter and I make that clear, but I also acknowledge he could lose to Ali, and I would probably favor Ali...and some others may beat him...but to call him an overrated fighter who only fought bums...come on?

That person wouldn't be the infamous Boogie Knights would it as I had that same argument with him? I owned him of course but nothing would get through his already made up cranium. I rank Louis a close second btw.

Poet

[StarshipTrooper]

casual fans, who generally confuse entertainment with quality.

This is what I've been saying for ages.

PS. I also rank Johnson at #3 and Dempsey at #4.

Poet

[Kid McCoy]

It's good to see some putting Louis at least near Ali. I put Joe's picture up after I got into a bit of a fight with some people saying he was an overrated fighter and only fought Bums, hence the "Bum of the Month Club." But I like what Tyson said about it:

People that have seen my posts know that Louis is my favorite fighter and I make that clear, but I also acknowledge he could lose to Ali, and I would probably favor Ali...and some others may beat him...but to call him an overrated fighter who only fought bums...come on?

Hey I agree with you. Personally I'd also put Louis as #1 at heavy, but I don't have a problem with anyone who has Ali ahead of him since both have a strong case.

As for Louis, sure he fought a few "bums" but so did virtually every other great fighter. Louis fought some excellent fighters too, he just made them look like bums.

[Benny Leonard]

That person wouldn't be the infamous Boogie Knights would it as I had that same argument with him? I owned him of course but nothing would get through his already made up cranium. I rank Louis a close second btw.

Poet

I don't even remember. It was like 2 or 3 on this forum and a few on youtube which wasn't that big of deal because it was youtube after all.

[Benny Leonard]

Good article, and I like the reasons he gives, it's a very balanced assessment:

Joe Louis is the best technician amongst all heavyweight punchers, the most complete fighter amongst all the heavyweight champions, the best in a combination of boxing skill and punching power. His punching accuracy is the best ever seen by a heavyweight on film. He has speed, power, and explosiveness, some of the best combination punching ever in any weight class of any time. Louis was the complete package. He holds the record for longest consecutive title reign at nearly 12 years and the most title defenses with 25, 21 of those are knockouts, 17 are ten counts, and 5 in the first round.

Muhammad Ali beat the highest class of competition in heavyweight history. He had incredible physical gifts, which were his phenomenal speed, a great chin and razor sharp reflexes. Fundamentally he was flawed having never learned the rudiments of boxing. Based on his athletic ability and quality of opposition I have no problem with Ali being # 1, although I prefer Louis for his superior technical skills and punching power.

I also agree with his #3 ranking of Jack Johnson, who I think is the most under-rated heavyweight of all time by most casual fans, who generally confuse entertainment with quality.

Agree. It's always good to see someone back up "why" they chose a certain fighter.

Usually, people are a bit lazy to watch a lot of fights so the best way to get them interested is through HL videos. After they see them, they may take interest and start to watch each of the fights, round by round.

Favorite HL video(s) of Joe

Part 1



Part 2




For me, I try to pay close attention to see if there is a fighter that is mentioned that I may have never seen and will look them up to see what info I can find as well as any footage....Old or New

[street bully]

Wait till he says someyhing about Frankestain and Herman Mosnter being better than ali!!!!!!!!!

LMAO! so true. Green k.

[KingTito]

This thread is bull****.

[ianblake]

[IMG]http://www.thestellarvortex.co.uk/emotes/1%20Cool/******_InternetPolice.png[/IMG]

[Kevin Jesus]

ALi Would of been undefeted in this era, easy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lol he def would, with all these slowpoke HW.

to the TS
Ali is far from overrated, He's the greatest of All-time.

[joseph5620]

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.

Put your white supremacy on hold for a minute to tell the truth. Ali did not go "life and death" with Wepner. He kicked the **** out of Wepner for 14 rounds, stopped him in the 15th.Wepner stepped on his foot which caused the "knockdown". Why don't you actually watch the fight and stop telling lies based on skin color. Joe Frazier is one of the best heavyweight as ever and was Ali's third fight after an almost 4 year lay off. The Cooper fight happened when Ali was only 21 years old. He also got up at three and stopped Cooper in the next round unlike your hero Wlad K (23 at the time) who found the canvas more to his liking aginst Ross Purity and stayed there. Not to mention he got KTFO by Corrie Sanders who was no where near as good as Frazier and you have the nerve to critisize Ali getting knocked down at 29 by Frazier? Sure beats getting stopped by Lamon Brewster. When Ali got his jaw broken in the second round against Norton he fought on. Vitali K found 2 rounds a against a light punching heavyweight too uncomfortable and quit. That's what seperates great fighters from overrated ones. Remember that, **** boy.