Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fights: The Match Against Cleveland Williams

The great ones battles on Mohammed Ali: The match withrest Cleveland Williams

Another dominance of the Great One, in which he met no resistance

Muhammad Ali's fights in the boxing ring make him one of the greatest boxers ever. Every sports fan, regardless of age, should watch the most iconic matches of the American fighter to understand that the beauty of the heavyweight division is not only about bombastic, heavy blows to the head of the opponent, but also about technique, tactics and a lot of thought during the fights themselves.

One of the most iconic matches of the longtime heavyweight champion was his title defense against Cleveland Williams. On November 14, 1966 at the Astrodome in Texas, the two put on a real show that didn't last all that long, but once again highlighted Ali's dominance.

It is a curious fact that less than two years before the date of the match, Williams was shot in the stomach by a patrolling police officer for resisting arrest. The shot caused damage to the large intestine and the right kidney, which was subsequently removed and the boxer lost a significant portion of his weight. After a long recovery process, he returned to the ring in 1966. and after four consecutive victories he managed to secure a match for the world title against the champion - Muhammad Ali.

"The Great One" is in the form of his life at the moment and just over two months ago he successfully defended his titles, defeating Germany's Karl Mildenberger and five more challengers before that, followed by Henry Cooper, Floyd Patterson and Sonny Liston. The champion's physical and mental condition seem to be at their best, and he also has a significant height advantage of 11 centimeters compared to the "Big Cat".

It was clear from the first round that this fight was going to be a total nightmare for Williams. Ali's footwork and speed seem like an alien advantage. The champion avoids almost every blow from his opponent and simply waits for his moment to channel all his energy into one blow to knock him down in the ring. Already in the second round Ali makes a powerful combination of right straights and left hooks with which Williams is on the ground, if only for seconds. At the end of the segment, the champion was landing an extremely heavy blow on his opponent and it looked like the third round would be the last that viewers could see as only the gong saved Williams from losing after less than 6 minutes.

In the first seconds of the third part of the fight, Williams tried to find the opponent's head, but even with his guard down, Ali did not receive a blow and after another wonderful combination, he knocked down his opponent in another knockdown. Williams is now barely holding her guard and has no answer to the incessant bombs from the champion, forcing the referee to stop the match.

A new, memorable victory. Another success that proves that the speed and technique in the style of Muhammad Ali was unattainable by the boxers of his time, and hardly anyone will take the crown of "The Great" just like that.

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