Ali's Power Is Underrated

[rocco1252]

Ali was devestating, I mean just look at the punch he hit Liston with in! He was just so fast that when he hit you by the time you say the guys head move it was back to the same spot when he hit you again.
His speed is why people say that he didnt have alot of power but this guy hurt people and hit you many more times, all he had to do was plant his foot when he wanted to throw big.

[Skydog]

I wouldn't give Ali so much credit for the second Liston match. I mean the punch is amazing, but Liston pretty much layed down.

I'm not saying Ali had a massive punch like Louis or Foreman, but it's harder than most people tend to think it is. Like his knock-out punch against Wepner. What a right that was! And the right he nailed Foreman with.

[Kid Achilles]

No one with any historical boxing knowledge thinks Ali was a weak hitter; it's just that he wasn't an extremely powerful puncher. He hit about as hard as Braddock, except he was much, much quicker. Both were above average hitters who displayed very good power ocassionally throughout their careers.

I think he is rated where he should be, as a pretty decent puncher.

[Derranged_]

IMO, I think that Ali could've been a more powerful puncher had he wanted to. If you look at some of his fights he concentrates mostly on accuracy, speed, and repitition and not on winding up(like Foreman) and delivering a hard blow. He certainly had the strength and body type to punch harder but it wasn't his style.

[BadMagick]

you are right Ali had haters even before he was born, he proved his greatness over and over again but white America still wont accept him, they start makin stupid comments like saying he had an average punch. The truth is he had a massive punch, you can see that in his earlier fights, the way he knocked out liston in the second fight was no joke. His power and speed did deterioate after his exile, but it was still enuff to shake up the world.

Don't be such a dumbass. Ali didn't have much of a punch, and Liston took a dive.

A fly could have KOed Foreman that night, he was so exhausted. You guys who really don't have a clue as to what you're talking about should really stop talking.

Ali had a decent punch, but it was nothing to marvel at, and it was far from devastating. Tyson, Foreman, Norton, Shavers, Marciano, etc, had hard, devastating punches, Ali did not. Maybe he COULD have had them, had he planted his feet for the shots, but he didn't.

[Skydog]

Like Sonny Liston quoted after his fight with him: "That wasn't the Cassius Clay I was supposed to be fighting; the one I fought could hit!"

[Kid Achilles]

I think the myth of Ali being feather fisted dated back to the 60's with all the crusty old caucasian fight fans and writers who held so much contempt for the man who broke the mold for heavyweight champions, personality wise. He acted like a skinny teenage punk so they tended to believe he couldn't punch, couldn't take a punch, had no heart etc.

Ali proved them all wrong during the 70's. These days most sane people recognize that Ali could hit a bit. I don't think he is underrated as a puncher for that reason. However, he couldn't hit as hard as Joe Frazier, Oscar Bonavena, Ken Norton, Jerry Quarry or many of his other contemporaries, and in a historical sense his power was near the bottom of the list of HW champions. This is ONLY because most of those champions (even the less respected ones like Jess Willard and Jack Sharkey) hit very, very hard.

[Ali_is_the_greatest17]

He wasnt even really known for his power...he was known mostly for his footwork and blinding handspeed.

[grant555]

When I think of Ali, I don't think of jaw busting power, but of speed and crisp punching. Angelo Dundee once commented that Ali was a snapping punching which I think commented on his speed and athleticism. Other things that served Ali well once his athletic gifts began to fade were his chin and heart. Some of the punches he took for fights that went the distance were amazing. It is going to be a long time before anyone touches his greatest in the heavyweight division.

[Ali_is_the_greatest17]

I think Ali's punch was actually very, very powerful..it just looked like a light punch.