How to BEAT Muhammad Ali

Many regard Muhammad Ali as the GOAT, including myself. I have him #1 on all my of p4p, atg, h2h, best, greatest, etc lists. In his prime he was unstoppable, no one ever beat him and rarely gave him any trouble. (Karl Mildenberger did, but this was because he was a southpaw. If he was orthodox, Ali would have no trouble. Just took Ali a few rounds to figure out the southpaw.)

Outside of his prime, he lost 5 times to the following:

• Joe Frazier
• Ken Norton
• Leon Spinks
• Larry Holmes
• Trevor Berbick

The last two took place during his 80's comeback, when he was clearly suffering from parkinson's and was a shell of his former self. I do not count these two fights credible for judging how to beat him, since he wasn't himself at that time.
You could argue the same thing for the Leon Spinks fight, but since I count his win over Spinks in the rematch as credible, it would be unfair to count the loss as credible.

This leaves us with 3 credible losses to Frazier, Norton, and Spinks (kind of).

I believe Joe Frazier to be the exception to the rule when fighting Ali. The rule being: Don't chase him. Frazier chased him all night long in that first fight, and whooped him. I find it ironic that Ali was wearing red trunks that night, because Frazier was totally bull-like, charging in and fighting like a beast. Smokin' Joe was definitely firing on all four cylinders. Even in Ali's defeat, he still won rounds and exchanges (obviously). It happened multiple times throughout the fight, Ali would throw a one-two, step back in anticipation for Frazier's hook, come back with more combinations after Frazier threw his hook, and then he would cover up on the ropes. If Ali had kept fighting that fight of counterpunching the entire time, he would've won. (Sounds kind of dumb, "just counter every shot and you'll win", but what I mean is if he kept sharp and tried to keep the fight at distance rather than covering up as much as he did and staying put on the ropes.)
In the rematch with Frazier, he did exactly what he needed to do to beat Frazier. Box at range, and clinch when Frazier did get inside. In fact, Ali clinched a total of 133 times that fight. The thrilla in Manila was at a later point in both of their careers, but Ali had put so much punishment on Frazier in that fight, Frazier could barely see at all.

Doing this (chasing Ali) is very risky, Frazier is the only man to have beaten Ali rightfully and 100% honestly by chasing him. And that's saying something, from all the people that have tried. Liston, Foreman, Shavers, the list goes on. You just can't beat a natural counterpuncher by doing what he wants you to do. As a boxer who uses the style of Ali, and likes counterpunching, that is the first thing I want you to do. Launch an offensive and chase after me.

Leon did chase Ali in their first bout and won, but I personally believe this to be the result of Ali's lack of preparation for the bout. He was not sharp at all. Even then, Spinks only got a Split Decision. In the rematch Ali was much sharper and way more prepared, countering effectively and winning a Unanimous Decision. So, for lack of a better word, Spinks' first win was a "fluke".

That leaves Kenny Norton as the only man to have beaten Ali by not chasing him. And one of the only fighters he fought that didn't chase him, or just follow him. There were points in the fight where Ali would be dancing, and Norton would be following him, and Ali definitely was winning and outboxing Norton in those moments (see round 3). Any time Norton would stand in the center of the ring, inviting Ali to come in and throw first, Norton won these exchanges. In their next two fights, Norton came in much more, giving Ali more opportunities to fight the way he wanted to and to do what he was best at. Counterpunching, usually while backing up. Sometimes Ali would meet you halfway to the punch, giving the illusion of him coming in, even though he really wasn't. If he ever came in and looked effective, it was usually after his opponent was hurt and he was following up after his counter. With a few exceptions. Ali just wasn't as gifted in coming in and throwing punches.

So, when fighting Muhammad Ali, the way you beat him is simple: Don't Chase him. It's what he wants you to do, it's what his entire style is built to fight against.

TL;DR: If you chase after Ali you will lose, unless your name is Joe Frazier.

 

If it was unclear, the reason I'm saying you can't chase after Ali and win even though Frazier did it is because everyone he beat chased after him and couldn't beat him. Frazier is the only man to do so.

This is also the reason I believe Tyson Fury could beat Muhammad Ali, since Fury is so big and he has an outside fighting style, he 100% could make a fight where Ali has to chase him to land.

 

yeah

 

Interesting take. I think Louis would have been too slow for a prime Ali, and I think that 70s Ali would still beat him (although a prime Louis would give him a great fight)

 

Ali had this talk with Cus D'Amato during his exile.

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Louis was fast in his prime, I wouldn't say "tremendously fast", he probably wasn't faster than Floyd Patterson. Certainly not Ali. Louis's style would be too basic for Ali, especially a prime Ali. Likely ends in a KO victory for Ali. Almost every one of Louis's opponents would stand in front of him, prime Ali wouldn't do that. It'd be like when he fought Cleveland Williams.