His psychological strength would play an even greater part in this second half of his career. In the 1970′s Ali’s greatness came from his heart, chin, strategy and in-ring adaptability and intelligence. The best examples of Muhammad Ali’s greatness in the first part of his career came against Cleveland Williams where Ali was perfect, against Sonny Liston where Ali was fighting a champion so dangerous and menacing, he had to be at the top of his game mentally aswell as physically and versus Floyd Patterson, who Ali dominated so emphatically to make look almost second-rate, despite Patterson having a 43-4 record and it being his 12th World Heavyweight title fight. He also had unmatched psychological strength, which he showed in the first part of his career with a level of self-belief that led him to beat Sonny Liston after six rounds and declare himself to the world as the Greatest who ever lived, aged just 22 years old. His unorthodox, original fighting style was so reflective of the man in his individualism and rejection of norms. His ability to dance and fight up on his toes for entire fights whilst weighing over 200 pounds was something the world had never before witnessed. In these departments Ali was at a level which had never been seen before at Heavyweight, he was a Heavyweight who could move like a Lightweight. In the 1960′s Muhammad Ali’s in-ring greatness was down to his speed, agility, footwork and athleticism. He is the only 3-time Lineal Heavyweight Champion in history and he won 5 out of 6 fights against Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier and George Foreman, who most would consider to be 3 of the top dozen fighters to ever fight in the Heavyweight division, the most historically stacked division of all. Muhammad Ali and Joe Louis are the only fighters in history to win The Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year on more than three occasions, Louis picking up the historic award four times, Ali on a surely never to be matched- six occasions. 27 of Muhammad’s fights were scheduled for the 15 round Championship distance, so in this blog, I will cover the 15 defining rounds of The Greatest’s career. Muhammad Ali fought 548 Professional Rounds against 50 different men across a span of 61 fights, 13 countries, four continents and 21 years.
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September 2023
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