:bow::bow::bow:
I wasn`t going to get involved in this , but Ali beat some of the best and hardest hitters ever . When I look at some of the huge , lumbering , immobile heavyweights around lately , it looks like a different sport . I remember Tyson when he was coming up , and yes , he was fearsome and scared most opponents into defeat even before the fights started . Credit to him , under Cus Demato , he was well-managed and taught from a young age to be a proper student of boxing history . He was hard .
But I think he might have been matched for " hardness " by lots of Ali`s opponents . As for Ali himself : before the B*astards took away his license for refusing to join the Army , he would simply have given Tyson a boxing lesson and a very sound hiding : he was far too fast for any heavyweight to deal with . His hand-speed , super-fast reactions and pure lightness on his feet made him very difficult to catch . And he had a boxing intelligence that cannot be taught . All this , with his use of movement around the ring and the ability to vary his style at will , in a single round if he felt like it , made him the best I`ve ever seen . And he was fearless , no matter the reputation of his opponent . Sonny liston was a man with a fearsome reputation : He intimidated the Heavyweight Champion of the World , Floyd Patterson , so much ,he knocked him out in the first round to take the title . He did the same thing in the return match . Ali , at the age of 22 , showed Liston up so badly , he quit on his stool before the 7th round . In the return bout , Ali won by a 1st round KO .
After a politically-motivated three-and-a-half year ban , and the inevitable loss of that freakish speed , he came back and won the Title twice more , adapting his tactics for different opponents , including the savagely hard-hitting George Foreman who had taken the tough Joe Frazier`s ( similar to Tyson , but busier ) title by knocking him down six times in two rounds , literally lifting him off his feet with his final uppercut .
When the Ali-Foreman fight was arranged , many fans , journalists and even his own camp actually feared for Ali`s life : Foreman was a monster with massively damaging punching power . The only confident person in the Ali camp was Ali himself . In the centre of the ring with the ref , before the fight , he said " George , you`ve always admired me , now you`re meeting your master " Having gone toe-to-toe with Big George in the first round , he let Foreman punch himself out , all the time talking in his ear :" Is that all you got , George ? " and similarly demotivating stuff . lol
Ali knocked foreman out in the 8th round , to be brief . :smash:
Sadly , he went on too long , but truly The Greatest :bow::bow::bow:
Happy Birthday :duffer::duffer::D