Muhammad Ali Admitted He Could ‘Never Truly Beat’ One Heavyweight Rival After He Was ‘Gifted Victory’

Muhammad Ali is held in high regard as being arguably the greatest fighter of all time.

In a career that stretched over 20-years, ‘The Greatest’ captured the world heavyweight championship on multiple occasions, where he defeated a number of legendary fighters along the way including the likes of Sonny Liston, George Foreman and Joe Frazier.

Ali’s legendary showdown against Foreman, which is best known as ‘The Rumble In The Jungle’, remains one of the most iconic moments in the history of boxing. The infamous ‘rope-a-dope’ style of Ali proved to be too much for an exhausted ‘Big’ George, who suffered an eighth round stoppage to surrender his WBC and WBA heavyweight titles.

Despite holding impressive victories against so many of the best heavyweight’s that boxing has ever seen, ‘The Greatest’ once revealed his reluctance in facing an ex-opponent after the frustration of their previous bouts.

In an interview with Mark Cronin, Ali revealed how he felt he struggled to defeat Ken Norton, claiming how he got lucky in a decision against him in 1976.

“Kenny’s style it too difficult for me. I can’t beat him, and I sure don’t want to fight him again.

I honestly thought he beat me in Yankee Stadium, but the judges gave it to me, and I’m grateful to them. I sure don’t want a ‘4th’ fight with him, even though everybody says we should do it again. I can’t spend my whole life fighting Norton. I mean, how many more times will the judges give me a break.”

Ali’s third fight against Norton would end up being the last time the heavyweight duo would face one another before their respective retirements. Norton defeated ‘The Greatest’ in their first showdown in 1973, although Ali did go on to get his revenge in their second and third fights to put their historic trilogy to bed.