"The Greatest": Which Was the Worst Performance of His Prime?

[elmersalsa]

The great Muhammad Ali, The Greatest, had an incredible amount of great fights and performances. Of his 61 fights, which was his worst performance in his prime?

[Woldemar]

The great Muhammad Ali, The Greatest, had an incredible amount of great fights and performances. Of his 61 fights, which was his worst performance in his prime?

I don't like his fight against Shavers.Ali eaten many big shots.

[evrenb]

The great Muhammad Ali, The Greatest, had an incredible amount of great fights and performances. Of his 61 fights, which was his worst performance in his prime?

Well obviously all 61 fights were not in his prime ..if we said his prime was 1964 to 1967 then it's probably mildenberger. Though it wasn't a bad performance by any stretch...
In his second reign I'd say evangelista was the worst. At least shavers was a decent and dangerous opponent...same applies to Norton and young and lyle ...

[oogiebe]

Not "worst." "least greatest"

[Tony1244]

Didn't he look pretty bad against people like Rudi Lubbers? I'd have to watch again. In between Frazier 1 and 2, he seemed to be sleep walking against Blue Lewis, Mac and Bob Foster, etc.

[Ambling Alp II]

He was just to content to easily outbox some of these guys. He hurt Foster several times.
The Lyle fight always stood out to me. He was lethargic for most of the fight before coming on.

Of course, he was not in his prime for these fights. He looked great in all of his fights from 1964-1967 when he was in his prime. At times, he was off the charts.

[hhaehre]

He was just to content to easily outbox some of these guys. He hurt Foster several times.
The Lyle fight always stood out to me. He was lethargic for most of the fight before coming on.

Of course, he was not in his prime for these fights. He looked great in all of his fights from 1964-1967 when he was in his prime. At times, he was off the charts.

I know he was totally shot by '71

[elmersalsa]

He was just to content to easily outbox some of these guys. He hurt Foster several times.
The Lyle fight always stood out to me. He was lethargic for most of the fight before coming on.

Of course, he was not in his prime for these fights. He looked great in all of his fights from 1964-1967 when he was in his prime. At times, he was off the charts.

I know he was totally shot by '71

I don't think that he was totally shot by '71. Some people believe that he was still prime then. I think that he was totally shot after The Thrilla in Manila.

I agree that Ali's peak was 1964-67 time period. That was at him at his absolute best.

[tennessee]

Doug Jones fight in 63. Not yet in his prime, but this fight may have elevated him toward it. Alot of people at the time thought Jones should have won.

[paddy chavez]

The Norton fights weren't great

[Ambling Alp II]

Doug Jones fight in 63. Not yet in his prime, but this fight may have elevated him toward it. Alot of people at the time thought Jones should have won.

This one of those legends that we heard for years before the film of the fight was available. Then we were able to finally see and saw that Clay won fair and square. There was a lot action in the fight. It was the Fight of the Year.

[Woller]

Bang on.

[Caractacus]

Ali didn't look to good against Doug Jones or Oscar Bonavena.

[Ambling Alp II]

He was not in his prime for either of these fights. For a guy with 17 pro fights and less than 3 years of pro experience, he looked great against Jones.

[oogiebe]

He was not in his prime for either of these fights. For a guy with 17 pro fights and less than 3 years of pro experience, he looked great against Jones.

No he didn't and if I'm not mistaken, Jones was also considered a prospect at the time of the fight. Many thought Ali lost that fight. Anyone who watched it knew it was a close one.

[Ambling Alp II]

It was the Fight of the Year and Clay won it. That's not too bad. You would be hard pressed to find many other times where the winner of the Fight of the Years gets criticized for his performance.
The fight was in Jones' hometown. Naturally they would think he won if the fight was not one-sided. The crowd of course influences neutral people as well.
There was a lot of action and Jones fought a good fight. However, Clay clearly won 6 of the 10 rounds. You can't legitimately come up with enough rounds to give Jones the decision. You would have to bend over backward. And the judges correctly didn't.

[hhaehre]

He was not in his prime for either of these fights. For a guy with 17 pro fights and less than 3 years of pro experience, he looked great against Jones.

I wouldn't say great, but he fought a good fight against a strong opponent and the scoring was fair imo. The only questionable decision in Ali's career was Norton III and I also found it very frustrating that he was allowed to hold Frazier like he did in their second fight, but that's on the referee.