I could see both men winning but I would favor Louis, He was much faster than Liston, Had a more accurate left hook than Frazier and a tremendous right hand and Jab....Ali's movement may give him problems but Brown Bomber is my # 1
The conventional wisdom is that Ali had the size and style to decision Joe and I think there is another way to look at this .. Ali was not that much bigger than Louis .. Ali was 6'3" .. Louis was 6' 2" fully grown .. their weights were comparable .. Ali has two inches on reach .. I then think of the success Ken Norton had against Ali .. Louis had at least as good a jab and hand speed as Norton .. if Louis jabbed big time at Ali and chased him instead of stalking him like he did against a Conn I see this as a very tough fight for Ali ..
It would be one hell of a fight. Prime Louis was a quick killing machine with all the tools to give anyone hell and then some. It could go either way easily. Louis had the power and more importantly the ATG ability to do what no other fighter was able to do with Ali. Ali with his speed was hard to beat but he did leave himself open to a hook and Joe had a great one. That hook would be followed by the best straight right in hwt history.
Your OP mentioned 74 Ali. Shavers was against 77 Ali. Ali's career had THREE phases. 1) From turning pro to the 'exile.' 2) From the return against Quarry to the thrilla against Joe in Manila. 3) Post Frazier (3). My take: Pre-Ali takes Louis. Phase 2 ? It's a competitive bout, a toss-up. Post Manila, Louis takes it.
Many people would realise how much overrated is Joe Luis after this fight.ali would beat him easy and would humiliate louis during the fight.mercy stoppage. There are clear reasons because tyson(a boxing student) picked himself to stop Louis,he said ali would beat me and forman would be a tough close fight
Exactly. I favour Louis, but there is no way it is a cakewalk for either man. Each has strengths that can be used against the others weaknesses.
I think the jab would be key for Louis; if he can establish it Ali is in trouble. I think Joe would nullify Ali with the jab like Norton did.
Prime for prime I think Ali has the stylistic advantage, but against the 74 version I would pick Joe. Ali would probably outbox him for a few rounds, but he will slow down at some point and then what is he going to do? Rope a dope would be suicide against Louis. I think Louis will stop him late.
Prime for prime I'd favor Muhammad Ali. But by 1974 Muhammad was getting increasingly more and more hittable. Using a technique like the rope a dope against a combination puncher like Louis would be a fatal mistake. It's not out of the question that Ali still could have pulled it off but I'm not certain he should be favored in this context
Here's what Louis said in 1967:- “The kid has speed and there’s no one around to outbox him, and the opponent who tries is in his grave, especially in the middle if the ring. I’d see to it that Clay didn’t stay in ring center. No. He’d be hit into those ropes as near a corner as I could get him. If he stayed on the ropes he would get hurt. Sooner or later he’d try to bounce off, when he did he would get hurt more. I’d press him, cut down his speed, and bang him around the ribs. I’d punish the body. “Kill the body and the head will die”, Chappie use to tell me. It figures. Sooner or later he’d forget about that face of his and he would start dropping that left hand like he did against Mildenberger and Chuvalo. Those fellows got their openings by accident, and fouled it up. I would work for it and wouldn’t reckon to miss when it arrived. Cassius Clay is a nice boy and a smart fighter. But I am sure Joe Louis would have licked him.” Pretty sure that's what Frazier did 4 years later, and Futch trained Norton to fight like a poor man's Louis with great effect later.
Louis didn't have the speed of foot to ensure Ali stayed on the ropes, he'd run rings around Joe IMO.