I mean, sure, he never went to the body at all, and y'know I love a good body puncher, but so what?
He didn't NEED to go to the body.



...and maybe he had no power, and no aggressiveness, ALWAYS looking to have people chase him around the ring.
WHY?
Why should a 6'3" 216 lb man give up ground and allow himself to be chased by a 5'11" 205 lb man with only 1 punch in his arsenal: the left hook.
It's not like he was scared of little Smokin' Joe, was he, that's not why the big fast man was always giving up ground and running away from the little slow guy who only had a left hook, was he?
That short stubby heavyweight always came to fight, not run away from his opponents.
This is a fight, so stand and fight, for $#!t's sake !

...and so what if he never learned how to block a left jab properly, like what Ken Norton and Jimmy Young gave him trouble with, and big deal if he never was much of a combination puncher.

I have to admit though:
just what in the blue hell was up with all that nonsensical bouncing-around, poor excuse for footwork, hopping around the ring all the time, feet never planted properly to punch?



He didn't defend his body at all.
Hell, Ali GAVE his oppenent his body.
Like Antonio Margarito out-toughing guys, low on science but long on God-given toughness, that was Ali with his body: No defense at all.
He could just take more body-punishment than any other fighter without showing immediate effects.
It landed him in the hospital with bleeding kidneys after fights though, and led to his later renal problems.

Effin' PULLING BACK from punches ?! And right-hand-leads ?!! Hands way down at his hips?!!
Woo-hoo, Novices-R-Us !!!

Ali's clutch-and-grab was a clear pre-cursor to John Ruiz' action-packed style, John probably studied Ali to learn how to do it, especially Ali/Frazier II.
Ali sure was in his share of crap-fights. He just had much more personality and charisma than John Ruiz, so Ali gets away with the crap-fights, and The Quiet Man doesn't because his mouth wasn't loud enough to compensate.



Given all this great credit for inventing the rope-a-dope?!
Yeah, great idea, I'll just lay up against these ropes here and let this big guy beat the ever-lovin' $#!t out of me for the next 20 minutes or so until he gets tired; then I'll get him !
Sure, real scientific there, pal.
That's the best answer the great "master-boxer" could come up with? What astounding ring-science!


People say he was this great scientific boxer, not a slugger, but a great boxer.
Actually he was a truly terrible boxer regarding technique and science. Did untold damage to thousands upon thousands of impressionable young boxers who tried to copy his absolutely horrendous technique which only worked for him because of God-given speed, athleticism, and toughness.

So terrible was his technique in fact, that it makes me wonder just how in the blue hell did this guy ever get anywhere in Boxing at all !!