A lot of guys gave ali their best. Meanwhile, it's round 8, ali's opponent is almost winded and he hasn't even broke a sweat yet. Just because the guy didn't dominate every single round doesn't mean he struggled against them. How can you even tell when somebody with their hands dropped the whole fight every fight has had a bad night? Everytime he actually got hit it would almost always be flush. That being said, getting hit flush here and there doesn't mean they gave him trouble. The only reason cooper was even in that fight was because ali was carrying him so his prediction for what round he would ko him in would turn out to be true. And it did .

In classic prime ali fashion, he would mess with holmes until he found out that holmes was legit. Then he would put on a clinic and close the show. Ali was faster and wasn't even remotely gun shy in his prime. Say what you want about holmes jab, ali's flurries would be too much. Ali was faster than holmes, had better reflexes and more power. Holmes would come to fight but he's not gonna be leaving the winner.