Heavyweight Champs: Rate 'em Backwards

[The Old LefHook]

Sometimes a greater fighter has an opponent he struggles with mightily that some other fighters might handle relatively easily. He is still the greater fighter because of the overall breadth and depth of his resume, however. Ali was a much greater fighter than Norton, with whom he struggled mightily. Cooney and Shavers and Foreman didn't struggle with Kenny, they just knocked him cold in a hurry and went home early. Instead, Foreman and Shavers could not handle Ali, and of course Cooney would have been even less able to than they were. A one handed fighter against Ali was a masochist, even a good lef hooker. Cooney was even more lefhook dependent than Frazier, and he didn't have the other tools like incredible stamina. Cooney lacked high durability and would have been a fairly easy piece of meat for Ali.

So a champ cannot always handle everyone on the list before him. There are anomalies.

[Dempsey-Louis]

Hearns - Barkley

wonder if there is any truth to the rumor that Ali promised Foreman a title shot if he would take Norton off his plate for him