Ali couldn't fight, are you effin' kiddin' me ?!!

[brocktonblockbust]

i say the Marciano who smoked Rex Layne outhustles Ali because that Marciano could fight 30 rounds at that pace and never tire.

[SugarBoxing]

Ali was God gifted, he had flaws, but you cannot simply break down a talent into a bunch of do's and dont's. Boxing is 90% mental after all. Ali was FAR ahead in mental toughness then most of his opponents.

[Beanflicker]

Who the hell is taking shots at Ali?

Like him or hate him, he fought in what is widely considered to be the greatest era for HW boxing, and he was on the top of the food chain.

Who cares if he got knocked down? He always got back up.

Who cares if he struggled with some opponents? What great fighter hasn't?

Who cares if he didn't throw many body punches? Obviously he didn't need to.

By the way, I love when armchair fighters/trainers sit back and like to tell legendary fighters what they SHOULD have done.

"Oh, he should have thrown more body punches/jabs/combinations/counter punches/uppercuts/ect."

"Oh, he would have won if he just threw more punches/ect."

These guys lived and breathed boxing 24/7, and were trained by guys who lived and breathed boxing 24/7. They fought every day in the gym, honing their craft. I think, in most cases, they have a much better idea what their bodies are capable of and what works best for their styles than Joe Schmo who has never trained and posts on a boxing forum.

I doubt very much Ali never threw a lot of body punches because he didn't know how to. I'm sure he had a great reason for not doing so.

[IamInuit]

I almost responded to this. Kept seeing it after it was first posted. Read the first post, chuckled throughout and went about my work day. Like a wood tick burrowed into the skin close to the bone I kept feeling a nibble. After all it is so fundamentally and pugilistically wrong that its almost begging for a response. I mean this guy cant believe what he's scribbling can he? Later last night I had to get rid of the nasty itch so I brought out the tweezers and hot needle went about to respond line by line and paragraph by paragraph. I responded inside his post in the quote format. I then went to bed.

Upon waking this fine -22 morning and over a nice cup of Nabob and a brief grappling match with my dogs I read over my response and was about to hit send. Then, the purpose or intent of the initial post of this thread dawned on me. It was like an epiphany of sorts.

I then got up from my computer, let the dogs out, put my coffee down and proceeded to kick my own ass through a series of heel kicks to each cheek for even considering responding in such a manner.

[TitoFan]

I almost responded to this. Kept seeing it after it was first posted. Read the first post, chuckled throughout and went about my work day. Like a wood tick burrowed into the skin close to the bone I kept feeling a nibble. After all it is so fundamentally and pugilistically wrong that its almost begging for a response. I mean this guy cant believe what he's scribbling can he? Later last night I had to get rid of the nasty itch so I brought out the tweezers and hot needle went about to respond line by line and paragraph by paragraph. I responded inside his post in the quote format. I then went to bed.

Upon waking this fine -22 morning and over a nice cup of Nabob and a brief grappling match with my dogs I read over my response and was about to hit send. Then, the purpose or intent of the initial post of this thread dawned on me. It was like an epiphany of sorts.

I then got up from my computer, let the dogs out, put my coffee down and proceeded to kick my own ass through a series of heel kicks to each cheek for even considering responding in such a manner.

That sounded like a novel, bro.
In the end, you probably reached the right conclusion.

[bradlee180]

...the first post, chuckled throughout and went about my work day. Like a wood tick burrowed into the skin close to the bone I kept feeling a nibble. After all it is so fundamentally and pugilistically wrong that its almost begging for a response. I mean this guy cant believe what he's scribbling can he? Later last night I had to get rid of the nasty itch so I ....Then, the purpose or intent of the initial post of this thread dawned on me. It was like an epiphany of sorts...and proceeded to kick my own ass through a series of heel kicks to each cheek for even considering responding in such a manner.

Well, that's the name of the game, Inuit, refer to my avatar.

I almost had yoooouuuuu...

[bradlee180]

Like him or hate him, he fought in what is widely considered to be the greatest era for HW boxing, and he was on the top of the food chain.

The guy fought everybody in arguably the best heavyweight era of all time.

In 1970, the USSRs population was about 240 million people, and they weren't allowed to compete in professional boxing because Communism didn't allow it.

When the doors were finally opened, Russians and other eastern bloc athletes began to dominate Heavyweight Boxing in pretty damn short order! And they continue to do so TO THIS VERY DAY! (Not so much the lighter weights because Russians are on average much physically larger people than Mexicans and Filipinos.)

In any case, if the Russians had been allowed to compete in the 60s and 70s, maybe you never would've even heard of Liston, Frazier, Ali, Foreman, Norton, Holmes, Quarry, Cooper, Chuvalo, Cooney, didja ever think about that, HUH, HUH?!!!

[THE THIRD MAN]

Like him or hate him, he fought in what is widely considered to be the greatest era for HW boxing, and he was on the top of the food chain.

The guy fought everybody in arguably the best heavyweight era of all time.

In 1970, the USSRs population was about 240 million people, and they weren't allowed to compete in professional boxing because Communism didn't allow it.

When the doors were finally opened, Russians and other eastern bloc athletes began to dominate Heavyweight Boxing in pretty damn short order! And they continue to do so TO THIS VERY DAY! (Not so much the lighter weights because Russians are on average much physically larger people than Mexicans and Filipinos.)

In any case, if the Russians had been allowed to compete in the 60s and 70s, maybe you never would've even heard of Liston, Frazier, Ali, Foreman, Norton, Holmes, Quarry, Cooper, Chuvalo, Cooney, didja ever think about that, HUH, HUH?!!!

They were certainly allowed to compete at the Olympics and Ali, Frazier and Foreman all won Gold medals in their respective divisions competing against....RUSSIANS, did you ever think about that? I don't see any evidence of any Russian dominance throughout the amateur ranks in the 60's and 70's that would've challenged successfully in the Heavyweight division. The Soviets had some success in the Middleweight division winning Gold in 56, 64 and 72, they also won Gold at LH in 68 and that is all they got!

[TysonBomb]

yeah that homo jab jab grab nonsense would've been boring us at an earlier era

you're clearly a K2 fan trying to downplay and undermine what great heavyweights of the past did

[Master]

You do make one interesting point, if there was no colour bar after Johnson, they would have been no legacy left by Dempsey or Tunney.

[johnsebastianmiran]

Right off the bat we know boxing as the manly art of self defense and let's forget about other sports that say they are so tough. Two arms, two legs and the ability to strike, parry and get the hell out of the way. Seriously, how can anyone say that someone holding the title champion can't fight. Ali thought like all athletes that he could go on forever but for all athletes there are flaws they have to compensate for but Ali fought. His natural speed in his youth compensated for any mistakes but all in all he did a good job to stay on top when he wasn't that quick any more he became a fighter because he couldn't bounce around like he did at 22 but he made all the right adjustments and he proved he was tough but I'm sure that speed was something he wish stayed with him a a lot longer.

[bradlee180]

You do make one interesting point, if there was no colour bar after Johnson, they would have been no legacy left by Dempsey or Tunney.

Excellent point, first black Heavyweight Champion Jack Johnson did in fact draw the color line and wouldn't fight other black fighters after winning the title...

[brocktonblockbust]

Rocky marciano ladies and gentleman, let's have a round of applause for rocky Marciano.