By David Martinez / Boxing Historian / dmboxing.com

In the second installment of my six in a series, I will answer a question
that is most often asked of me, with regards to Muhammad Ali. That
question is – when was Ali at the height of his career?

First of all, I must say that it has been a blessing to witness the greatest
heavyweight champion of this era fight throughout his career (1960 – 1981).

In my opinion, Ali was at his pinnacle during a stretch after the first Floyd
Patterson fight (November 1965) to his final defense against Zora Folley (March 1967) before he was stripped of the heavyweight title.

During those years he defeated, in order: Floyd Patterson, George Chuvalo,
Henry Cooper, Brian London, Karl Mildenberger, Cleveland Williams, Ernie
Terrell, and Zora Folley with the Williams fight being his finest
performance.

Boxing fans will never know just how great Ali could have been,
considering he spent three and a half years, while still in his prime, in exile
from the sport (April 1967 – September 1970). I would be one to speculate
that those would have been his best years as a professional.

Later in his career came the Frazier, Norton, Foreman, Lyle, Bugner,
Shavers, and Spinks fights. Ali, despite being past his prime, certainly made
many of those encounters, as we say in boxing – “super fights!” Two of his
three meetings with Joe Frazier were labeled as simply: “The Fight of the
Century” (March 1971) and “Ali’s greatest fight ever” (September 1975).

*** NOTE *** With no current or scheduled fights happening on which to report due to the Coronavirus situation, I am posting six of my personal accounts on Muhammad Ali on a weekly basis and will include selected Ali photos from my private collection for viewing.