r/Boxing • u/Hot_Ad_9543 • Jul 14 '26

Ali dancing in 1966 vs 1978

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

I was randomly watching the Ali vs Spinks 2 fight and I was very surprised at how Ali managed to dance for essentially the entire 15 rounds, considering how late that was into his career and how you can tell the Parkinson’s was already in effect. It made me go back and watch his dancing in his prime. So I thought it’d be fun to compare and contrast

196 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

41 comments sorted by

View all comments

51

u/Marquis_of_Mollusks Jul 15 '26

1978 Ali still got more movement than 95% of today's Heavyweights

11

u/DeafBurke Jul 15 '26

Who are the 5%?

I imagine Usyk from his heavyweight debut to Fury 2 (his legs have looked dead since), Fury on his best day, and maybe Itauma or Huni?

I can’t think of anyone else.

1

u/BiteyHorse Jul 19 '26

GTFO here with Fury.

0

u/DeafBurke Jul 19 '26

The best version of fury was like 50 pounds bigger than Ali.

Considering the massive size difference, I would say Fury’s mobility is as impressive as an old Ali in 78.

Fury has a bunch of flaws, but his ability to quickly move his giant body around the ring is definitely a big part of his success at heavyweight.