Watching a programme on Sky Documentries called What's My Name, Muhammad Ali. I'm only 20 minutes in but it is good viewing so far. Just showed that left from Henry Cooper back in 1963 which was probably the hardest he had been punched up to then but he came back and won (Cooper looked like half his face was missing when they stopped it)
He called himself The Greatest, so did alot of others and I can recall watching quite a few fights back in day and certainly can't remember any boring bouts so what do the chaps who really know their boxing think, was he The Greatest?
The greatest of all time debate is an interesting one and always think it’s hard to pin down an all time great. Boxing of recent times suffers the issue that sometimes the truly greatest of the current era may be overlooked due to their promoter or their inability to sell fights doesn’t sell their ability. Take Lomachenko for instance, 2 time Olympic gold medalist, has an amateur career of 396 wins with 1 loss (he avenged it twice) turns pro and wins a world title in his 3rd fight, becomes a 2 weight world champion in his 7th fight and a 3 weight world champion in his 12th fight. He was the no.1 P4P fighter in the world for years. Yet you ask the average boxing fan who he is and not many would know. Had he gone on to beat Teofimo Lopez and become undisputed he would have been up there for greatest of all time. He will still remembered as one of the greatest for his achievements.
But there lies the issue with modern day boxing, the Mayweather effect. It’s all about the 0 and when you lose that 0 your career is over you need to retire you’re not good enough. The current P4P no.1 has a loss on his record to funnily enough Floyd Mayweather. But it seems that fighters now will attempt to rack up as many wins against nobodies to pad out their record and make them look better. The best should fight the best and it doesn’t seem to happen in modern day boxing. It’s all about tune ups, mandatories and a fighter not being ready for the step up. The fight at the weekend was an example of that, before the fight everyone saying Josh Kelly was the nuts and was the bookies favourite, after the fight it was too early and too big of a step up. It’s about promoters protecting their assets and not risking them that is ruining legacies.
Look back at the 4 kings round Robin of fights that Sugar Ray Robinson, Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler they were the best four and they all fought each other a number of times and it cemented their legacies, it just doesn’t happen these days. We have the opportunity for modern day Four Kings in Teofimo Lopez, Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia and Geovonta Davis. They all want to fight each other but promoters and governing bodies are putting roadblocks in the way of them getting those legacy defining fights!
And that is what ruins the legacy of those modern day boxers attempts at becoming the greatest of all time!
I’ve gone off on a tangent but my point is boxing was a simpler game back when Ali fought there was politics and crooked promoters no doubt! But it was nothing on what today’s boxers have.
Is Ali the greatest of all time? In my opinion, No. Did he have a huge impact on the sport and bring a lot of attention to the sport absolutely. Is he one of the greatest of all time, yes but not for his ability.
Ali fought Sonny Liston twice, now Sonny Liston was an absolute killer and on paper should’ve made easy work of Ali. But here’s the thing with Sonny Liston, he was owned and run by the mafia. Phantom punch anyone? Money talks and I can imagine they made a lot of money out of both those fights. Ali had some absolutely outstanding performances against some great opponents, he was exciting and had great ability. The thing that helps push his greatness was his actions outside of the ring, his refusal to join the war in Vietnam. He was at the peak of his boxing career and lost 3 years of that whilst serving in prison. He didn’t believe in the war stood his ground and served the time for it. A lot of his legacy is built on that and his actions after that. Oh and it helps that he could talk the talk and could sell himself and fights.
You look back in history at fighters like Sugar Ray Robinson who had over 200 fights and Jake LaMotta who had well over 100 fights. They would often fight 15-20 fights a year!! The likes of Joshua and Fury now, you’ll be lucky if you get 2 fights a year out of them. Robinson would fight twice in the space of two weeks!!
Julio Cesar Chavez Snr had over 100 fights and went 89 fights unbeaten!
As Stewart says Manny Pacquiao is an 8 weight world champion! He won his latest world championship belt at the age of 40!
Looking back through history its all about personal preference. Ali had a great career and fought some of the best in one weight division. He was a great talker and could sell ice to an Eskimo. But you look at ability and you have to say that boxing wise Manny Pacquiao, Lomachenko, Robinson, LaMotta, Chavez Snr could all be considered as better but not all of them could sell themselves as well as Ali.
A lot of the so called experts in boxing will always have Ali as the greatest. He was the self proclaimed greatest. As a whole package he probably is the greatest. But in the ring I think there have been far better boxers throughout history but I do still think he is up there as a package.
And to end this boring read for you, my all time greatest is a controversial one in Mike Tyson. But that’s down to personal preference and he was the fighter that made me fall in love with the sport. And that will always be the case as we get older and generations disappear legacies will fade. Ask a boxing fan who Sugar Ray Robinson and Jake LaMotta are? Unless they’ve watched raging bull they probably haven’t heard of them. Will my children when they have children talk about Ali? No they will talk about Mike Tyson and Tyson Fury.
