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It is generally accepted that Ali was at the peak of his powers in 1966/7 & I have always maintained that he would a gotten even better & would have been in his prime in 1968/9, but alas, we will never know. :(
We all know that the great man returned in 1970 & managed to compete very well in the toughest era of HW boxing.
Where would you rate the 70 - 75 Ali in your all time HW list? :band:
Competition wise he beat frazier (twice), norton, and foreman so he's up there pretty high. The fact that he did it with slightly diminished skills makes it that much more impressive. He would've been much better in 1970 had the suspension not happened but i still believe if he hung around til the 1980's to fight berbick and holmes after that he still would've lost. Maybe with the three more years of activity he retires earlier, doesn't develope parkinson's, and has a better record. But as you said, we wil never know.
I would put Ali 72-75 was better than any other HW apart from himself in the 60s.But I think Louis would have given the 70s Ali a tough fight.Quote:
Originally Posted by Syntax Error
and larry holmes and hell even prime riddick and lewis i think anywayQuote:
Originally Posted by porkypara
That's the era in which I find it best to watch Ali because he was fighting in almost nothing but superfights, and winning almost all of them. Superfights define greatness imo. The ability to perform on that whole other level is what makes good fighters great and there was no other time where any fighter, not just heavyweight, had a 5 year stretch with so many superfights. In retrospect maybe not all are looked upon as some of the big fights of the era but look at the record. Frazier 3 times, Norton 3 times, Foreman, Chuvalo, Wepner, Lyle and a mixed bag of others. And this is just 5 years of a 15 year run at the top and the argument could be made that 70-75 was the prime cut of that run even though it might not have been Ali's physical prime.