Today I want to set aside a few moments to talk about the incredible and inimitable Muhammad Ali. Ali turned 71 at the weekend and while this received plenty of media attention I am ashamed to say that I have never talked at any great length about The Greatest of All Time. Ali was at one point the most famous man on earth and children in Africa would have no idea who Richard Nixon was but could tell you all about Muhammad Ali. Ali truly transcended the sport of boxing with his outspoken positions on civil rights and the Vietnam war, but in truth he had gone far beyond traditional boxing even inside the ring.

It is an oft recited cliche that textbooks do not have all of life's answers yet in boxing the "textbook style" is considered the pinnacle of boxing technique. Muhammad Ali had the hand speed, foot speed, endurance and reach to be a very good fighter if he chose to follow the orthodox methods laid out by other greats. Instead, however, Ali developed his own style which was different to anything before seen in the heavyweight division as he carried his hands low, drew punches with his face and pulled straight back out of range of them. Read on and we will pull back the curtain on some of the tricks which made Muhammad Ali the best fighter in the world during the heavyweight division's greatest era.

Ali's Inside Slip

The stories of Ali developing his style in Florida do not cast him as a world beater - they describe him instead as a gangly young man who refused to defend himself in the orthodox manner, often getting beaten up while sparring as a result. However the hours of practice paid dividends and Ali's style became something which was extremely difficult to predict or train for. One of Ali's most peculiar quirks was his method of performing an inside slip. As his opponent jabbed Ali would slip slightly to the left but seem to be committed to leaning back as he did so in order to keep his head away from their right hand.





Here is an example of Ali's bizarre slip in his bout with Zora Folley. Notice how Ali is almost leaning backwards as opposed to hunched slightly over in the traditional method of slipping. The inside slip is the much less often used slip against a jab and it is never done without a guard in orthodox boxing because it carries a fighter's head towards his opponent's power hand. Ali's upright posture maintained distance from his opponent's right hand, however, and he was able to slip it when and if it came.





Ignore the atrocious music and watch this short highlight of some of Ali's evasions.



