I think what made Ali great is that he did what nobody thought he could do. Not once but twice. Against Liston he was seen as an young loud mouth who had gone life and death with Doug Jones, there's no way he could have beaten the ferocious Liston, was there? Well Clay had other ideas and fans who were hoping to see Liston finally shut this guy up and destroy him were shell shocked by the outcome.

Against Foreman he was again a big underdog. 32 years old and recently lost to Frazier and Norton. Both of whom were destroyed by the young George Foreman who had 37 ko's in 40 fights. General consensus was that Ali was no longer the fighter he was 10 years ago and some fans before the fight were worried for Ali's health. Pretty much a role reversal from his fight with Liston 10 years ago because he was now the older experienced veteran fighting effectively a young Liston. Anyway Ali shocked the world once again by beating Geirge Foreman.

To your question if he boxed Fraziers head off then yeah I guess it would affect his legacy because he would have never had the famous trilogy which is probably the most popular in boxing history let alone just Ali's career. Fact of the matter is he didn't box Fraziers head off because Frazier was a man on a mission and a great fighter.

"Would we hail him the greatest?"

He IS the greatest. Rocky Marciano is not the greatest just for being unbeaten.

Btw, who CARES, really? He did lose and all of those other things happened to.

If Dan Marino had won 5 super bowls, how would we view him?

People thought more of Ali and loved him more after Frazier beat him. He fought them all. True champion and a king amongst men.

I am thinking Ali should have Duck frazier so that he has 0 lose.. --

Ali will not that great.. if Ali ducks great fighters

Lets imagine Ali never lost to Fraser or anyone else. How would we view him?

He is hailed as the best in a strong era, but is the era regarded as strong simply because it was closely matched?

Had Ali just boxed Fraser's head off and won a wide UD, would we have regarded Fraser as a paper champion who just had the title from default?

Then would we have been impressed by Foreman beating Fraser? Or would we have regarded Foreman as a poor boxer who hadn't beaten any greats and been poor enough to fall for the rope-a-dope?

These guys wouldn't have been champions. Just forgotten challengers.

Fans tend to respect fighters who have lost fights as it makes who they beat seem better.

What if Ali was so good He just dominated and won every fight for a 15 years as champ?

Would we hail him the greatest?

Or would we say he dominated a weak era like Marciano. Or never fought greats like some say on Mayweather?

Is it counter productive as a boxer to be so good you always win?