what would be Alis standing today if he hadnt come back fron exile?

He'd definitely been a top 5 in the ratings. There would have been endless threads on this forum about an Ali-Frazier hypothetical fight.

 

He'd rank just a little bit lower than whatever he is ranked now.
And that depends on who is doing to ranking.

I actually think his win over Ernie Terrell is among his best wins, and on paper his first win over Sonny Liston might be the best he has.
Two of his best wins came in the 1960s.

I think his two wins over Frazier in 1974 and '75 are overrated by most in the grand scheme of things.
Of course, the win over Foreman in 1974 raises his standing. But the rest of the 1970s is a bit patchy.

I suppose it comes down as well to how much people rate him 'proving his toughness' in the 1970s.

 

The Foreman win was the one which cemented his legacy. The third Frazier one added to it a little. No fight after those meant anything legacy wise. The third title win against Leon Spinks was meaningless.

 

Ali wasn't really thought of as great his best win was the first Liston fight which people thought was very controversial and mob controlled ect, so he wouldn't of been thought of as much

 

Fleischer published his top 10 rankings in every division in 1958. As of his death in 1972 he officially had not changed his hwt rankings. His thought was to add Ali he would have had to bump out Marciano and, although no huge fan of Rocky, he felt there was no way Ali would have beaten him. Nat explained his rankings in his book 50 years at ringside. He felt the old timers were technically just much better and tougher than most of the modern champions. He owed this to the lack of boxing gyms and great trainers. In the past every city had multiple boxing gyms loaded with excellent trainers.