Muhammad Ali

[The Outlaw]

I always hear about how he is the best ever and all that, being he was before my time, but from the fight that's on ESPN classic, he looks like a pussy. Grabbing the back of Foreman's head and not letting go, choking him, putting him in a headlock (A headlock?!) always tying up, etc.

Sure, he packs a powerful punch, but from what I always hear he was this big bad mother, but he looks like a straight up pussy on this fight. :-\

Thoughts from people who saw him fight?

[Buzzkill]

Yeah he doesn't seem that great really

[The Outlaw]

Dunno if that was sarcastic or not but whatever.

Pretty good fight though. Ali's got some mad combinations, Foreman has the knockout punch though. I didn't mean he wasn't great, which anyone could see, but the way I've always heard him described is this overpowering puncher who just went right after guys. Not a guy who tied up, choked, grabbed the back of their head and not letting go, etc. Pretty simple concept to grasp I thought.

Wished there were fights like this one presently. :(

[BCWWF]

Yeah I was watching a fight with Muhammad and Sonny Liston. I thought it was going to be the one where he knocked him out right away or whatever but it wasn't, so I turned it off eventually.

I don't know enough about boxing to analyze him or anything, but it seems like back in the day the heavyweights were more agile and moved around a lot more. Maybe not though.

But the one thing I can say that kind of goes with Outlaws post is that he is always made out to be like this hero, lighting the flame at Atlanta 96 and showing up at the MLB all star game last year, but really in his day he didn't seem like some great leader or great person. He was a loud mouth boxer really. I know he lead a big civil rights type thing with him turning to Islam, but he just didn't seem like this great guy from clips and stuff I've seen.

[PapaGeorgio]

The rumble in a the jungle with Ali vs. Foreman is a great fight. To call Ali a pussy from that fight is idiotic. Ali outsmarted Foreman in many ways. Many people thought Foreman would win the fight. Ali simply took all of foremans punches until he couldn't punch any more. Then Ali took care of business. Also Ali did some very intelligent boxing in that fight. He was doing moves on Ali that are near idiotic. I forget the technical name of what he did but basically he would leave himself wide open but no one ever tries to throw the punch because of that. If that didn't work he may have lost the fight. It was an excellent fight though. Boxing isn't just go in there and punch the other guy. There is strategy that comes into play with boxing.

[The Outlaw]

LOL way to take it way out of context there chief.

I thought I already explained this. I have heard that Ali is this big bad mother fucker. A big bad mother fucker does not tie up/grab a guy's head and hold it every 5 seconds.

Yeah, it was a good fight though. They cut it off right before the knockout. :(

[Rob]

Personally, I only rank fighters who I have actually seen box. I never talk about Marciano or Joe Louis because I only know them by repuations and records. I saw Ali fight many times and I personally rank him as #2 heavyweight all time.

[The Outlaw]

Did you see that fight though? Am I completed off base with what I'm saying?

[LK]

The rumble in a the jungle with Ali vs. Foreman is a great fight. To call Ali a pussy from that fight is idiotic. Ali outsmarted Foreman in many ways. Many people thought Foreman would win the fight. Ali simply took all of foremans punches until he couldn't punch any more. Then Ali took care of business. Also Ali did some very intelligent boxing in that fight. He was doing moves on Ali that are near idiotic. I forget the technical name of what he did but basically he would leave himself wide open but no one ever tries to throw the punch because of that. If that didn't work he may have lost the fight. It was an excellent fight though. Boxing isn't just go in there and punch the other guy. There is strategy that comes into play with boxing.
What he said. While it's good to see two guys who just go right at each other like the Corrales/Castillo fight, Ali knew was a genius in the ring. He knew he could take punches and due to his speed he could take out anyone. Having seen some fights, I rank Ali as the greatest boxer that I have ever seen

[YOUR Hero]

Ali was many a times considered the underdog in his fights. His later fights. After spending years in jail for not going to Vietnam. (It wasn't turning to Islam that was his big morality fight)

If you never seen him fight as Cassius Clay or the earlier years as Ali, then go watch it.

[The Gooch]

I guess it all depends on what you are looking for in a fighter. I definitely feel in Ali's era that Foreman and Liston were the power punchers. Ali in my mind was the Roy Jones Jr. of the division where it was his speed, intelligence and technical skills which made him great.

For my money a motivated Roy Jones (circa early to mid 1990's) was the best boxer I ever saw. Early Mike Tyson under Cus D'Amato was a sight to behold as well. Tyson was a very good technical and defensive fighter prior to Don King taking over his career.

[The Outlaw]

Good to hear some people who saw him fight and their opinions on him. Keep em coming. Like I said, this is the only match of his I have seen, so I don't have much to judge. Planning on seeing if I can find some of his earlier fights like Hero said though. :y:

[The Gooch]

Good to hear some people who saw him fight and their opinions on him. Keep em coming. Like I said, this is the only match of his I have seen, so I don't have much to judge. Planning on seeing if I can find some of his earlier fights like Hero said though. :y:

Try and find his fight with Sonny Liston and the "Phantom Punch". I'd like an opinion from those who saw the fight. I am positive that Liston was connected to the mob as I don't believe he was even hit with that punch, but went down for the loss when he was favoured to win. Him being murdered execution style adds a little credibility to the notion as well. Sorry for taking the subject off topic, but for some strange reason I think Golata has mob ties as well. I had those feelings since his disqualifications in the Bowe fights.

[Rob]

Sonny Liston just chicked out because Ali was too good for him. After he came back from the "poison punch", he freaked out because he was out of ideas.

Golota is just shit. Lamon Brewster just put in one of the most impressive heavyweight performances since Lennox Lewis fucked Golota up.

[The Gooch]

Golota is just shit. Lamon Brewster just put in one of the most impressive heavyweight performances since Lennox Lewis fucked Golota up.

I will not take anything away from Brewster he took it to Golota which seemed to be the smart strategy. My problems with Golota stemmed from the Bowe fights, where he was clearly dominating and winning the first fight and then decides to start nailing Bowe in the nuts and gets disqualified. It made no sense. The second fight, the same shit happens.

[YOUR Hero]

It's also hard to appreciate the hype the aura, the presence that followed Ali. The story lines going into the fights he had, the expectations, etc.