What makes ALI the greatest?

H

HawkEyes Mihawk

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I mean, the obvious reason is that he avenged all his losses and reigned supreme over the most stacked HW division of alltime.

What are other reasons? There has to be more than that. And if you dont think ALI is the greatest, who is and why?
 
He talked trash better than anybody... not that that really matters, but still
 
...that he always proclaimed himself to be 'The Greatest' at every opportunity during a time when that was not commonplace/accepted. Because he was also a great fighter and shifted from taboo to pop culture with the racial revolution of the 60's, people came to accept him along with his moniker. Sugar Ray Robinson, whose style Ali immitated, is easily a greater BOXER.
 
He was the most charismatic fighter to step into the ring.

He's always been kind of an idol to me...being confident in yourself,staying true to your beliefes,being strong.
 
Longevity, quality of opposition, and being a heavyweight that fought like he was a middleweight.
 
He shook up the world! He MUST be the greatest :)
 
King Kabuki said:
Try Luis Rodriguez, not Robinson. Robinson and Ali were vastly different. Rodriguez was the guy Ali watched in Dundee's Gym.

http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=008046&cat=boxer
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info dude. I do specifically remember Ali talking about his emulation of SRR in an interview but in boxing, as in life, what people say and do are two different things. Plus I'm sure he emulated techniques from a bunch of people we don't even know of since he was a newbie at one point himself. got any more info on Rodriguez?
 
Rodriguez was part of the earlier Cuban contention that happens every couple of years. Like we're seeing now with guys like Gamboa and Izquierdo (even though he lost to Peterson) and Lara, couple of others.

He was around the times of Benny Paret, Jose Napoles, and Emile Griffith, fighting in the Welterweight division, and is easily one of the best Welterweights of all time. He was also trained by Dundee and in his younger days his style was the early version of Ali, or rather Ali was the later Heavyweight version of him.

Here is is against Benvenuti, past his Prime but you should still be able to see the style similarities:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQh5q-rbjtI
 
Ali would win.....When the whole world expected him to lose.....Liston I, Frazier II.......and of course Foreman in 1974.

Ali pulled rabbits out of the hat when most of the fight watching public was expecting his demise.

Thats greatness.......
 
Ali was not the greatest.
 
SRR was the greatest.. Ali was the greatest heavyweight imo.
 
Was it only years later that everyone realized he was the greatest? During that time, did people really appreciate what he was done or was it taken for granted?
 
Ali practically invented the jab in the heavyweight division. Most boxing historians will point to the fact that as boxing evolved over the years new forms and techniques were added as others were discarded. The jab was a way to break defenses, expose the chin, and set up a power punch. Heavy weights often lack defenses and speed. Ali had both. He also had a lightning jab that would control and frustrate the other heavy weights. Til Ali the Heavy Weight Div lacked jab skills. He reinvented a division at a time when it was packed with great boxers and brawlers.

Hence Greatest.
 
I still think Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest fighter of all time. And Ali was a close second to Joe Louis as the greatest heavy.
 
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