Muhammad Ali Didn’t Hesitate To Name The One Heavyweight He Thought He Couldn’t Beat

Muhammad Ali took on all comers throughout his illustrious boxing career.

After winning a gold medal at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Ali turned professional, and within four years he challenged Sonny Liston for his world heavyweight titles.

Ali claimed a sixth round retirement win to claim world honours at the age of just 22, and what then followed was fights with some of the biggest names in the sport.

He defeated Liston in a rematch, and also defeated the likes of Floyd Patterson and Henry Cooper, before he was then stripped of his titles in 1967 and forced to halt his boxing career due to his refusal to be drafted into the military for the Vietnam War.

He was finally able to return in 1970, losing out on some of his prime years in the sport, before he then suffered his first defeat at the hands of Joe Frazier.

Ali rebuilt his career and then regained his world heavyweight titles with a famous win in the ‘Rumble In The Jungle’ against George Foreman, before also avenging his loss to Frazier by claiming two wins over ‘Smokin Joe.’

Ali was far past his best when he ended his career with defeats to the likes of Leon Spinks, Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick, but before sadly passing away in 2016, he admitted there was one fighter he didn’t think he could beat.

The boxing legend was told in a clip by an interviewer that he thought Ali wouldn’t be able to defeat Foreman, and ‘The Greatest’ revealed he agreed.

“Me neither. I was nervous.”

Just like Ali, Foreman also had an illustrious career, having first become world heavyweight champion with a second round knockout win over Frazier in 1973.

After losing his titles to Ali, Foreman would eventually take a ten-year absence from the sport, before returning and eventually becoming world heavyweight champion again when he knocked out Michael Moorer in 1994.

At the age of 46 years and 169 days old, Foreman remains the oldest world heavyweight champion in history, but sadly passed away in March at the age of 76.