I agree that Marciano would have lost to Ali in his prime. Sorry, Rock fans, but you cannot hit what you cannot catch. Ali in his prime would have cut him apart beause of styles.
As far as Ali being the greatest ever, I defer to Burt Sugar, who ranks Joe Louis ahead of him. Perhaps he would have been the greatest of all had he not lost three years but perhaps Ted Williams would have hit 715 HRs and Bobby Feller would have won 375 games too. We will never know and we cannot base opinions on unknowable facts. Perhaps Louis would have been considered even greater had he fought a normal schedule instead of being in the Army in WW II. Frazier himself makes a very good point about Ali: "I don't mind people want to think Muhammad is the greatest fighter around,'' Frazier said. "Everybody wants to make him great because of his mouth, that he was the best. He was good, but that doesn't make him great. I proved that.'' Frazier went on to say that someone who lost to him and to Norton in his prime may not have even been the greatest of that time let alone all time.
BTW, Write Hooks, glad to see the props for Lennox Lewis on your list. I also rate him a lot higher than many others.
|