Muhammad Ali the greatest of all? ..... far, far, far from it!
By Howie Katz
Ali takes full advantage of Liston's heroin high
Boxing
writers and his fans have credited Muhammad Ali as the greatest fighter
of all time. Let's give Ali the credit he is due. Ali was truly a
great fighter, but the greatest of all? Far, far, far from it! Under-reported
or just plain ignored by the boxing writers was the fact that heroin
robbed Sonny Liston of his heavyweight boxing title. Early on, Ali
sustained such a beating from Liston that at the end of a round he
begged his handler Angelo Dundee to stop the fight. Dundee refused to
stop the fight and heroin took control of Liston, depriving him of his
championship. Ali miht well have gone on to win the World Heavyweight Championship, but not against a drug-free Liston who is suspected of dying from a heroin overdose in 1970. Ali was a really great rhymer. His best known rhyme: "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." But
there were a number of other heavyweights that would have made the
rhyme sound more like: "Float like a rock, sting like a butterfly." Beside
a sober Liston, there was undefeated Rocky Marciano, the great Joe
Louis, a Jersey Joe Walcott in his prime, Jack Dempsey and now marijuana manufacturer
Mike Tyson, all of whom could have sent Ali packing off to a life of
poetry. Comparing
fighters is a relative thing because it does not take into
consideration differences in weight. For instance, had the great Sugar
Ray Robinson been a heavyweight, he would hae given Ali the boxing
lesson of his life before knocking him outt cold. Then there was Featherweight Champion Sandy Saddler . Saddler (left) vs. Willie Pepe in one of their epic four bouts Saddler
pound for pound was probably the hardest puncher in boxing history.
Saddler was also a polished boxer. Had he been a heavyweight, Saddler
would have made Ali listen to the birds tweet. Among others was Stanly Ketchel, the Michigan Assassin. The great middleweight Stanley Ketchel David vs. Goliath: Outweighed 49 pounds, Stanley Ketchel floors Jack Johnson in the 12th round Stanley
Ketchel was a fearsome and fearless middleweight who would take on all
comers no matter how much they outweighed him. He even fought the great
heavyweight champion Jack Johnson. Although outweighed 49 pounds , the Michigan Assassin managed to knock the Galveston Giant off his feet in the
12th round before Johnson got up off the floor to flatten the challenger. Can
you imagine what would have happened to Ali had he fought a heavyweight
Ketchel? The Michigan Assassin would have sent Ali rushing to the dustbin of
boxing history. But
that was then and this is now. Boxing is no longer politically
correct! We are now in the Obama era of peacemaking where we appease
our enemies to avoid a fight at any cost.
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