because of his larger than life persona and being the voice of a generation during a critical time in America, add to the fact that he was an excellent boxer made the people view him as the best ever. even you think he was "magical".
pound for pound, i place many boxers ahead of him on the GOAT list. but speaking of just heavyweights, Evander Holyfield, Joe Louis, & Rocky Marciano were better.
In his true prime from about 1964-67 Muhammad Ali had the greatest footwork, the greatest hand speed, reflexes of any heavyweight in the history of boxing. He moved gracefully around the ring, avoided punches as if he had radar, and would fire out lightning fast jabs at his opponents. At his true best, he would have been a very hard man to defeat because of all of these skills. I do not believe that Tyson or Lewis would have been able to defeat a prime Ali. Of course when you consider all of the weight classes there are others that deserve recognition as far as their boxing ability goes such as Willie Pep and Sugar Ray Robinson but as far as heavyweights go, Ali was certainly the best boxer I've ever watched in the ring.
We'll never know because we'll never see him fight people like Joe Louis. But Ali had the ring craft to make Tyson look silly.
Cooper is only famous because he knocked Ali down. He wouldn't have lasted 3 rounds with the big heavyweights, he was only 14 stone 6. He was British champion for a long time when there was no one else good around.
i think he was the greatest heavyweight ever, not the greatest boxer, but certainly one of the greats. We never saw Ali in his prime, if we did who knows.. but i agree he was the greatest athlete ever, he was unnatural, that speed and movement and stamina, those reflexes for a man that big was simply special but as far as boxing, Ali was great yes, but based on boxing talent etc, he is slightly over rated, yes over rated, he was pretty basic in his arsenal in terms of his punches which were typically Jabs and Right hands and the occasional uppercut but what set him apart was his big heart, and courage and chin and tactical mind etc, actually it probably raises his legend that for a man who was exiled in his prime, not that special as far a technical skills that he was able to achieve what he did makes him more god like but as far as technical skills ive seen better like a ray leonard or robinson or a mayweather (yes mayweather, based on his skills) . i think the fact that Ali was so loved in his second spell makes people more inclined to praise him but yes the man was great and in my opinion the greatest heavyweight ever.
To me Willie Pep was grater pound for pound
floyd mayweather is a great boxer too way better than ali
Badr Hari is the man in my country. I like Prince Naseem from the UK too.
Henry Cooper was the best
Muhammad Ali in my opinion is THE greatest athlete ever as well as the greatest boxer ever.
This is so obvious, he is a mile ahead of anyone else.
Doesn't it annoy you when people who impress to show they are knowledgeable on boxing name others as the best of all time - especially Lennox Lewis or Tyson - how crass.
What do you think ?
