BoxRec

Monday, The Greatest, Muhammad Ali, would have been 80 years old if he was still living.

Is he still the greatest heavyweight of all-time?
Where would you rank him all-time pound per pound?

Was he overrated in some way?

If not because his refusal to go to the US armed forces, would he still be recognized as the most famous man in the world?

Your thoughts.

Yes he is obviously still the greatest heavyweight of all time.
Pound for pound is tricky. Some people don't like to rate heavyweights very highly in those lists. Certainly deserves to be in the top 10. Have to have Sam Langford, Harry Greb, Ray Leonard, Henry Armstrong, Ezzard Charles, and Ray Robinson have to be in there as well. Ali has a better case than anyone else.

Famous is hard to say. Probably not quite as famous as he became. Still, simply being the heavyweight champion made you very famous back then. Being that great, that personality, and being the champion for a long time would have made him one of the most people on the planet anyway. Maybe not the most famous person in the world that he became.

I'd say, Lewis and Holyfield deserved enough to rank higher. Ali at the 3rd place is fine for me.

Overrated? Surely he is, like a lot of popular boxers. His fans, especially new-born ones, treat him like an untouchable superhuman and think, that he would retire undefeated in 1997 after outclassing Holmes, Tyson and Holyfield, if he didn't have time-off in the late 60s. It's like Tyson fans, who watched his highlight reels and treat him like a murderous monster, who KOed absolutely everyone in the 1st round.

The most famous man in the world? Probably not. I don't think, any athlete is. Some historical / political figures like Julius Caesar or Adolf Hitler remain more known.

However, he is probably the most popular boxer ever. And maybe an athlete too. His impact on boxing was super-huge, that's why sometimes he gets overrated even more.

A lot about Ali why he was so revered back in the Vietnam war era fiasco was about his refusal to go to war. If you defy the US government, outside of that country, you are an automatic hero.

To me, he was the best ever at heavyweight. He brought a lot of color and excitement when he was around.

Pound per pound all-time? I rate him at #5.

Best Heavyweight of all time for me, pound for pound I’d say top 20, refusing the draft certainly didn’t harm his fame but would probably have gained the same level of fame anyway.

elmersalsa wrote: ↑20 Jan 2022, 00:01 Monday, The Greatest, Muhammad Ali, would have been 80 years old if he was still living.

Is he still the greatest heavyweight of all-time?
Where would you rank him all-time pound per pound?

Was he overrated in some way?

If not because his refusal to go to the US armed forces, would he still be recognized as the most famous man in the world?

Your thoughts.

No 1 HW of all time, which IMO by default makes the #1 boxer of all time.
p4p is hard to say, definitely top 10.

Overrated is hard to say. He beat many of the greatest HWs of all time while not in his prime, and IMO suffering the beginning affects of Parkisons. I am in the minority here I am sure but I believe it was the syndrome that took away his legs rather than the layoff. We only ever saw Ali tested when he was either quite young or after his exile.

Without his refusal to enter the army he would not have been the most famous man in the world. He still would have IMO been very famous, he was good looking, quotable, great at what he did and had a will to win that you can't help but admire.

p4p1 wrote: ↑21 Jan 2022, 23:00

elmersalsa wrote: ↑20 Jan 2022, 00:01 Monday, The Greatest, Muhammad Ali, would have been 80 years old if he was still living.

Is he still the greatest heavyweight of all-time?
Where would you rank him all-time pound per pound?

Was he overrated in some way?

If not because his refusal to go to the US armed forces, would he still be recognized as the most famous man in the world?

Your thoughts.

No 1 HW of all time, which IMO by default makes the #1 boxer of all time.
p4p is hard to say, definitely top 10.

Overrated is hard to say. He beat many of the greatest HWs of all time while not in his prime, and IMO suffering the beginning affects of Parkisons. I am in the minority here I am sure but I believe it was the syndrome that took away his legs rather than the layoff. We only ever saw Ali tested when he was either quite young or after his exile.

Without his refusal to enter the army he would not have been the most famous man in the world. He still would have IMO been very famous, he was good looking, quotable, great at what he did and had a will to win that you can't help but admire.

Indeed, a refusal to enter the army with the cirumstances around it seemed to contribute the most to his fame. Yet he would have never been drafted, if some features of his personality didn't pop up. He was a cockly racist, while his status of a HW champion was giving some power to his statements. In those times being a HW champion of the World was way more special than today, it represented a lot, while in the 60s the throne was conquered by those, whom the authorities weren't eager to give a privilege of representing anything. First it was the criminal Sonny Liston, then the NOI fanatic Cassius Clay, a.k.a. Muhammad Ali. The first was quickley erased by the second, while the second seemed to stay for a while, after what the draft affair took place. It's quite a story isn't it. Coming back to the HW throne after such an exile was truly epic.

I doubt if Ali would have been sent to the Front Lines"
like the German Army did to Max Schmeling.

I don't either. He refused to go because he didn't think it was the right thing to do.
As far as how it affected how famous he would become, hard to say. Just being the heavyweight champion made him famous. Being as great as he was moved it up more. Having a personality like he had was another factor. Maybe he still would have been the most famous person on the planet without the refusal to go to Vietnam anyway; obviously we will never know.

Some people may not realize just how he was. He frequently was on major talk shows. He had his own cartoon. Played himself in the the movie "The Greatest". He was on the cover of "Sports Illustrated" dozens of times. If you asked 10 strangers who he was, most likely all 10 would know.

He is still probably the most famous, most iconic sports person in history.

He wasn't the greatest HW of all-time, but could have been.

If he hadn't lost 3 years of his prime career to his "Vietnam ban" then it's possible that he beats Frazier in their first fight, and maybe even matches Marciano's unbeaten record.

Or if he had retired in 1977 (or earlier) with only 2 defeats on his record, and both those defeats avenged, then he'd be right up there. However, you have to judge a man partly by his record, and those defeats towards the end of his career, tarnished his legacy as a boxer, though not as an icon.

Still the greatest. His record is astonishing.

It is. Even with losing more than three years of his prime, his victim's list still dwarfs any other heavyweight. He went out of his way to face the best, and beat them.