Was Muhammad Ali really the best

[ICB]

Record wise yes if we ignoring his gift decisions but IMO he is still overrated, he drew against Doug Jones IMO, he got lucky against Cooper having smelling salts which were illegal in UK at that time, he lost to Young, he lost to Shavers, he lost to Norton x2, And someone mentioned that Louis would get slaughtered by Ali because Louis was flat footed, but then i ask that person how did flat footed fighters like Jones and Cooper give Ali so much trouble ??

The fight with Shavers was close, could have gone either way lots of close rounds but that was an older Ali and he had already delivered his last great hurrah. Same with Jones and Cooper.

And fighters legacies aren't defined by fights fought before they won the title. Roland Lastarza by many accounts beat Marciano when they fought before Marciano won the title but it does nothing to Rocky's legacy nor should it.

Shavers was working for entire 3 minutes of the round where as Ali was fighting in spurts, i thought Shavers clearly won there fight by about 2 points. Well its not like Ali was that green when he fought Cooper, Jones, because shortly after these fights he did go on to beat Liston in one of his finest performances.