Quote Originally Posted by greynotsoold
I don't think Ali was the greatest nor was the era of heavyweights dring which he fought. It was not long after the last of the truest pros had retired (Moore, Charles, etc...) and the skill level plunged. Ali was not a good defensive boxer because he was too often (1)too far away to counter (2)didn't have his feet right to counter and(3) he was clueless when it came to blockingpunches, for example the Frazier hook. Knew it was comingbecause Frazier only used one punch, kept eating it , never learned to block it.(all his kds came from hooks)
Ali was just a true a pro as Moore and Charles etc...

Yes the era of top pros having 150+ fights was comming to an end in the early 60s, but that does not make Ali any less a pro.

Ali helped evolve the modern style, a style that relied on having an excellent offence as well as defence.

To pick on the two fighters you named (Moore and Charles), both were without doubt cute and excellent defensive fighters, but for two different reasons neither were quite offensively good as they could of been.

Charles had demons to deal with after a ring death, so his offence was never quite the same again, which is very understandable. Moore on the other hand, had to rely on his defensive qualites, as chin was only good (not great), and from after WWII he was meeting his fair share of heavies, despite only just moving up from 160lbs.

Do not get me wrong, I have Moore and Charles in my top 25 all time greatest fighters, but they are from a very different era (in their primes), than Ali. But Ali's era was no lesser than Charles' or Moore's; indeed perhaps boxing reached a pinnacle in the 70s (of great fighters), that bettered any other era, and that includes the 40s and 50s of the primes of Moore and Charles...