Who gav ali the biggest challenge in his boxing career?

Question

Who gav ali the biggest challenge in his boxing career?

Answer 1

Norton

Answer 2

That's a very good question.  Ali fought the toughest fighters in the history of the heavyweight division.  For that reason, there is no ONE way to give a definite answer because there is always another way to view the topic.  Ali's "Rogues Gallery" consists of 4 Top 12 Greats, Forman, Frazier, Holmes, Liston.  

Most people would say Frazier was Ali's toughest challenge.  While I agree to a point,  here are SOME reasons why that might not be true.  There is a strong argument for each of the other three challenges.

LARRY HOLMES:  Sometimes the measure of a challenge lies, not in the toughness of the opponent but in the condition of the subject combatant, in this case, Ali.  Ali was NO WHERE NEAR prepared to face Larry Holmes.  He was ALL KINDSA SICK by fight time.  I think most real boxing fans know that and what Thyular did to Ali.  FACT: IF YOU DONT SWEAT IN A BOXING RING, SOMETHING IS WRONG!!!  (You listening Don King?..............No?  ...........I didnt think so).

Holmes, on the other hand, was at his ABSOLUTE BEST.  Many say Larry's best was against Cooney in 82.  That was Larry's BIGGEST fight but he was NEVER better than in 80 against Ali.  Ali was a bigger mountain to climb and Holmes never knew what to expect.  

Here you have the BEST HOLMES vs the WORST ALI.  Ali never won a round.  In this respect, Larry Holmes was his biggest challenge.  My mouth waters at the thought of what the fight might have been like had both been at their best.  Even if Ali had more time to train he would have gone the distance and lost a decision in this case.  

GEORGE FORMAN:    Everyone agrees that Forman OWNS Frazier in the ring.  Some point to that as proof that BIG GEORGE, not Frazier, is Ali's toughest challenge.   While I dont agree, it is a valid point.

SONNY LISTON: See Forman:   I have always maintained that Liston would handle Frazier in the ring rather easily.   Add to the FACT that Yank Durham (Frazier's mgr.) avoided Liston up til his death in Dec. 1970.  But the truth is that Liston was a tough challenger,  not necessarily a tough Challenge.   Ali made the fight easy.  Even when he cheated, Liston couldn't beat Ali.

Given all of that,  I still have to say the strongest argument is for Frazier.   Tho the other three would beat Frazier (no doubt in my mind)  Joe provided the toughest challenge for Ali in the ring if you exclude the Holmes fight.  A strong argument is for Holmes as well but Ali wasn't near his game.

Answer 3

The list of the guys who actually beat Ali is a lot longer than the official record. That said, Ken Norton really had his number. Of their three fights, Norton won two going away, and the third by a comfortable margin. Of course he only managed one decision out of Don King's crooked hand-picked refs.

Answer 4

I have to go with Ken Norton.  Most people including myself believe that Norton beat Ali AT LEAST 2 out of the 3 times they fought.  With his Joe Frazier trilogy, Ali won 2 out of 3 without controversy.  The second Norton fight is really the only one that could have gone either way, the first and the third were clear victories for Norton, but in the third fight, they robbed him and gave a split decision to Ali.  Norton used the crab style defense which gave Ali a lot of trouble- he was not the better fighter than Ali, but he had the perfect style to beat him.  Anyone who has seen the fight will tell you that Norton won the fight and if you look at each fighter after the last round, Ali has the look of a beaten man, while Norton was celebrating because he knew that he had just become th only one to beat Ali twice.  BUT, the judges gave it to Ali because of how popular he was.  The same exact thing happened with Jimmy Young- if you watch that fight, you will see that Young clearly beat Ali by outboxing him, but the judges gave it to Ali because of his huge stature.

Answer 5

Joe Frazier of course.

Ali was a pure boxer that needed distance to work, and Frazier never gave him that distance, and crowded, hitting him in body, and taking his legs away.

Ali found a loop-hole around this in the rematch, where everytime Frazier moved in, Ali excessivly clinched, and got away with it.

Answer 6

After his first (1979) retirement Ali answered this:

He said Karl Mildenburger, believe it or not.

I would say Larry Holmes, because Ali didn't win a single round against him in (1974) sparring or their one fight (1980).

Answer 7

Ali faced a lot of challenges.  Liston, Frazier and Foreman all had their place in history, and Ali was central to each drama in the ring.  Outside the ring the U.S. government could be considered Ali's biggest challenge, the suspension denied Ali and the public some of his best years.  Ali's civil rights activity and his stance against racism also might be considered, the whole Black Muslim movement was a part of U.S. history that Ali was central to, controversy and all he shouldered many challenges, in and out of the ring.

I think his biggest individual challenge was Joe Frazier, their three fights defined what a "trilogy" is in boxing, and although both Liston and Foreman were huge, the three with Frazier were epic.

Answer 8

karl mildenberger gave ali his toughest fight when ali was in his prime in 1966, but his biggest challenge would have to be overcoming the frazier onslaught in the thrilla in manila in 1975, ali and frazier took huge amounts of punishment, and ali was never the same, medical records say it took his brain 20 hours to recover and start functioning normal again after the fight was over

Answer 9

old smokin joe!