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Stoneage
I agree, stanlove. The rope-a-dope period was, in hindsight, terrible. And I couldn't understand how he won some of them. I got the feeling some of those matches were fixed.
I think Ali suffered from early signs of Parkinson's already in the mid-seventies (and even before).

There's a long tradition in boxing that says that the reigning champion sort of gets the benefit of the doubt, meaning that if you're the challenger, you've got to win decisively in order to be awarded the decision. In Ali's case, the judges would have been under the additional pressure of knowing that an Ali victory was always going to be "good for the sport" (and for everyone associated with it) because it would lead to other lucrative paydays for all concerned further on down the line. It was very, very difficult to beat Ali on points, and it was almost impossible to beat him by knockout, because he was never in his life down for a 10 count.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2016-06-07 02:19 by tatters.

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stanlove

I thought that past 1971 Ali was a very boring fighters except for the Foreman fight. His fights were so full of non fighting and game playing. I didn't enjoy his fights at all when he got older.

Not sure how you can exclude his Frazier fights (II and Thrilla in Manila). If you include them and the Foreman fight (as you do), you could say he was the Greatest from somewhere around 1963 to 1975, not unlike a band I can think of.

Beating Spinks to regain the title for the 3rd time in September 1978, might have been his Some Girls.


On the internet nobody knows
you're Mick Jagger

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camper88

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stanlove

I thought that past 1971 Ali was a very boring fighters except for the Foreman fight. His fights were so full of non fighting and game playing. I didn't enjoy his fights at all when he got older.

Not sure how you can exclude his Frazier fights (II and Thrilla in Manila). If you include them and the Foreman fight (as you do), you could say he was the Greatest from somewhere around 1963 to 1975, not unlike a band I can think of.

Beating Spinks to regain the title for the 3rd time in September 1978, might have been his Some Girls.

Coincidentally, I remember reading a review of Love You Live when it first came out in 1977 that compared a Stones concert to an Ali title defense; calling them the reigning heavyweight champions of rock and roll, clearly well past their prime, but still able to do just enough in the late rounds to get the decision and send the fans home happy and feeling like they got their money's worth.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-06-07 02:17 by tatters.

Another great game ..............pity Ali starts to fight in the last two rounds..................Chuck Wepner should have dance the last two rounds.....

By the way, what is this song about .......forgot his name......... Dancing Fool..;o)

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-06-07 02:36 by NICOS.

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Tatters
it was almost impossible to beat him by knockout, because he was never in his life down for a 10 count

That's true. But he saw the floor against Sir Henry Cooper. Hit by "Enry's 'Ammer" (cockney...). Came up on three.

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camper88

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stanlove

I thought that past 1971 Ali was a very boring fighters except for the Foreman fight. His fights were so full of non fighting and game playing. I didn't enjoy his fights at all when he got older.

Not sure how you can exclude his Frazier fights (II and Thrilla in Manila). If you include them and the Foreman fight (as you do), you could say he was the Greatest from somewhere around 1963 to 1975, not unlike a band I can think of.

Beating Spinks to regain the title for the 3rd time in September 1978, might have been his Some Girls.

The reason I consider Frazier 1 and 2 boring are because they are so lacking compared to the first fight. 3 was just two over the hill past their best fighters.

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stanlove

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camper88

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stanlove

I thought that past 1971 Ali was a very boring fighters except for the Foreman fight. His fights were so full of non fighting and game playing. I didn't enjoy his fights at all when he got older.

Not sure how you can exclude his Frazier fights (II and Thrilla in Manila). If you include them and the Foreman fight (as you do), you could say he was the Greatest from somewhere around 1963 to 1975, not unlike a band I can think of.

Beating Spinks to regain the title for the 3rd time in September 1978, might have been his Some Girls.

The reason I consider Frazier 1 and 2 boring are because they are so lacking compared to the first fight. 3 was just two over the hill past their best fighters.

Last statement doesn't make sense. Frazier 1 & 2 were boring because they are so lacking compared to the first fight?? So what was the first fight? Surely this was Frazier 1. How can it be boring because it doesn't match up to the self-same fight.

Most credible boxing experts regard Ali v Frazier 3 (aka The Thrilla in Manilla) as one of the greatest and most brutal fights of all time. Your comments re this fight are baffling to say the least.

Muhammad Ali was larger than universe! God bless him

Man is not fit to receive hard blows to the head, unfortunately all boxing lovers. I was a lover of boxing when Ali was the greatest. Now I'm no longer when I saw how it went for him, and many other famous Swedish Boxers like Ingemar Johansson and Bosse Högberg. Same symptoms as Ali.

R.I.P. Ali

2 1 2 0

He will always be the greatest in my book.

Thanks for the memories.

God bless you.

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HonkyTonkJan

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stanlove

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camper88

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stanlove

I thought that past 1971 Ali was a very boring fighters except for the Foreman fight. His fights were so full of non fighting and game playing. I didn't enjoy his fights at all when he got older.

Not sure how you can exclude his Frazier fights (II and Thrilla in Manila). If you include them and the Foreman fight (as you do), you could say he was the Greatest from somewhere around 1963 to 1975, not unlike a band I can think of.

Beating Spinks to regain the title for the 3rd time in September 1978, might have been his Some Girls.

The reason I consider Frazier 1 and 2 boring are because they are so lacking compared to the first fight. 3 was just two over the hill past their best fighters.

Last statement doesn't make sense. Frazier 1 & 2 were boring because they are so lacking compared to the first fight?? So what was the first fight? Surely this was Frazier 1. How can it be boring because it doesn't match up to the self-same fight.

Most credible boxing experts regard Ali v Frazier 3 (aka The Thrilla in Manilla) as one of the greatest and most brutal fights of all time. Your comments re this fight are baffling to say the least.

I meant fights 2 and 3 were boring compared to fight 1. I don't know how anyone can look at the 3rd fight and think its in the same league as fight 1 in terms of a great fight. The first fight was Frazier at his best and Ali was very good and both were in great shape and it was non stop action.

The 3rd fight it looked like 2 fat guys way past their best and neither could slip a punch to save their lives,Just two guys who lost their skills. And the fight was not nearly as a close as some try to say.

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stanlove

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HonkyTonkJan

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stanlove

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camper88

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stanlove

I thought that past 1971 Ali was a very boring fighters except for the Foreman fight. His fights were so full of non fighting and game playing. I didn't enjoy his fights at all when he got older.

Not sure how you can exclude his Frazier fights (II and Thrilla in Manila). If you include them and the Foreman fight (as you do), you could say he was the Greatest from somewhere around 1963 to 1975, not unlike a band I can think of.

Beating Spinks to regain the title for the 3rd time in September 1978, might have been his Some Girls.

The reason I consider Frazier 1 and 2 boring are because they are so lacking compared to the first fight. 3 was just two over the hill past their best fighters.

Last statement doesn't make sense. Frazier 1 & 2 were boring because they are so lacking compared to the first fight?? So what was the first fight? Surely this was Frazier 1. How can it be boring because it doesn't match up to the self-same fight.

Most credible boxing experts regard Ali v Frazier 3 (aka The Thrilla in Manilla) as one of the greatest and most brutal fights of all time. Your comments re this fight are baffling to say the least.

I meant fights 2 and 3 were boring compared to fight 1. I don't know how anyone can look at the 3rd fight and think its in the same league as fight 1 in terms of a great fight. The first fight was Frazier at his best and Ali was very good and both were in great shape and it was non stop action.

The 3rd fight it looked like 2 fat guys way past their best and neither could slip a punch to save their lives,Just two guys who lost their skills. And the fight was not nearly as a close as some try to say.

first fight was the best..............

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STANLOVE, that's fine if you don't love ALI like MOST of here did ( still do!) but do not question his courage! He was not afraid of the VietCong, he sympathized with them, thus refused to KILL THEM. I doubt he was thinking he would be killed. Most of us have followed his career closely and know his story, his battles, in the ring and out. It just sounds like you were a casual observer, at best. That's great but do not pretend to know what you're talking about when you don't.

I won't make a separate thread for it and I doubt if anyone posted it, Victor Korchnoi, Russian Chess Grand Master also passed away, a sort of champion too even if he didn't win the world championship. I read he defected to Netherlands in 1976. I'm a bit interested in chess but not that good at it.

I have just returned from holiday (Lanzarote) and whilst there heard of the Great Man's passing.
Ironically, my holiday reading was David Remnick's "King of the World". An excellent read. I've read many Ali books, this us one of the best.

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mickschix
STANLOVE, that's fine if you don't love ALI like MOST of here did ( still do!) but do not question his courage! He was not afraid of the VietCong, he sympathized with them, thus refused to KILL THEM. I doubt he was thinking he would be killed. Most of us have followed his career closely and know his story, his battles, in the ring and out. It just sounds like you were a casual observer, at best. That's great but do not pretend to know what you're talking about when you don't.

If he really thought he was going to fight in Vietnam before he did what he did, why would you make a big deal out of his courage when anyone who went was risking alot more then he was.

Did anyone see Billy Crystal's eulogy at the funeral...excellent stuff.

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float like a butterfly, sting like a bee

yehman
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never seen Bob with a beaming open grin like that, just laughing; Ali was so amazing; he changed the temperature wherever he went.
He visited my college once; I didn't get to interact with him but was super close. He really had this love thing goin' on. Beautiful cat.