I am saying EVERY fighter has fought someone with some variable against them, or EVERY fight has fought and had something going against them that's more than meets the eye. Take Marciano, for instance. People point out that most his high profile opponents were older, but when you factor in the numbers Ali actually fought much older men than Marciano did. Then again, in Marciano's time men were burnt out by their mid 30's because they fought more often.Giancarlo wrote:So, Rufus, you agree with his contention that Ali was a fraud and we are all eejits who can't see the truth?HomicideHenry wrote:The man isnt that far off the mark in a way, there is always legit 'hang ups' in every match in every fighters career, whether that be a cold, broken toe, old age, etc. these things are all apart of the human element in determining someone's all around worth, the question is just how major is all the variables in considering how much it disabled an opponent.
Or maybe you are just waffling shite yet again?
Here's a good modern example, Gerrie Coetzee. How often did Coetzee fight with an injured hand? He wasnt called the Bionic Hand for nothing, he had pins all over his right hand. That's just one variable that worked against him. Or how about his opponents? Leon Spinks was an admitted druggy, and Coetzee blew him away in one round. Just how much did the coke take away from Spinks. There really is more than what meets the eye in fights; kinda like Bob Foster as a heavyweight, in the gym he was kayoing the big men, but outside the gym he lost to Ali, Frazier, etc.
There's many questions that remain unanswered as to how much certain things effect someone's performance. And a bigger question of how much does something effect the man they are fighting. Take John L. Sullivan for example, had he not drank himself almost to death and almost died several months earlier prior to his fight with Jake Kilrain, just how quickly would he of dispatched of Kilrain had he been in tip top shape to begin with? Or what if Sugar Ray Robinson of fought Maxim in a cooler environment and not of gotten dehydrated? There's so many questions that remain unsettled.
Now, all you saw was me giving Ali some criticism, when that wasn't my point. The point is there is much to consider in determining just how monumental was someone's victories when there is evidence that someone was either old, sick, injured, etc.
