5 best Muhammad Ali fights of all-time
By David Rouben
A look back at the five greatest fights of Muhammad Ali’s career.
The sporting world lost an icon in Muhammad Ali. Many view him as the greatest boxer of all-time, but his impact extends far beyond that of boxing. What he stood for helped influence the Civil Rights Movement and the fight for racial equality, while there’s practically no athlete in any sport today that didn’t look up to Muhammad Ali.
There were many great boxers before Ali’s time – such as Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, and Rocky Marciano – that all achieved great things, as well as people who ruled their own eras much like Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Mike Tyson, and Floyd Mayweather, but none of them have become as synonymous with boxing as Muhammad Ali.
He has given the sport some of its most iconic memories, and when he fought, the whole world stopped to watch. Muhammad Ali fought 62 times over the course of his career, and it was a fools’ errand to cut down his greatest ones to just five, but these are the ones that helped define his legacy the most.
Of course, Ali wasn’t just known as a great fighter, but also as a great trash-talker and promoter. The way that he verbally abused his opponents meant that people had already lost before stepping into the ring with him. Many have tried to imitate his fearless personality, but none has come close.
These are the fights that turned Ali into the immortal figure that he is, and there’s no better way to celebrate his legacy than by remembering his greatest hits.
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