{"id":320559,"date":"2025-08-05T19:12:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T19:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/320559\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T19:12:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T19:12:16","slug":"muhammad-ali-said-former-opponent-was-the-greatest-fighter-of-all-time-next-to-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/320559\/","title":{"rendered":"Muhammad Ali Said Former Opponent Was ‘The Greatest Fighter Of All Time Next To Me’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Muhammad Ali<\/a> believed there was one fighter in boxing history that ranks as the greatest of all time alongside himself.<\/p>\n

The late-great heavyweight icon is widely considered to be one of, if not the greatest to have ever laced up the gloves, proving his credentials throughout the course of his storied 21-year professional career which spanned between 1960 and 1981.<\/p>\n

He captured the world heavyweight championship on three occasions during his career, racking up victories against the likes of Ken Norton, Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier<\/a> and George Foreman<\/a> amongst a number of others.<\/p>\n

His 1974 showdown with Foreman, which is more commonly known as the \u2018Rumble In The Jungle\u2019<\/a>, is often commended for being one of the most memorable moments in the sport\u2019s long and storied history.<\/p>\n

Another memorable night in the career of Ali came when he locked horns with Joe Frazier for the third and final time<\/a> in October of 1975, a bout that is more commonly referred to as the \u2018Thrilla in Manila\u2019.<\/p>\n

Frazier\u2019s trainer Eddie Futch pulled his fighter out of the fight at the end of the 14th round, putting an end to Ali and Frazier\u2019s bitter rivalry which stretched back to their first encounter that took place in 1971.<\/p>\n

Speaking in an interview after their third battle<\/a>, Ali paid homage to fellow countryman Frazier, admitting that he ranks his former rival as the \u2018greatest of all time\u2019 next to himself.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThat was the closest thing to dying that I know. Why would I want to go back and see Hell? He\u2019s the greatest fighter of all times next to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

After getting the better of Frazier, Ali would go on to make a further six defences of his world heavyweight championship before he was beaten by Leon Spinks in February of 1978, although he would regain his WBA crown in their rematch seven months later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Muhammad Ali believed there was one fighter in boxing history that ranks as the greatest of all time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-320559","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114977750601189517","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}