Sometimes I think that the Ali of early 1972, back after multiple fights and fit may have been the best version of Ali that ever stepped into a ring ..the universally viewed li of Williams was younger and less physically mature .. when you with Ali in 72 he was strong, fast, powerful, supremely conditioned and dominate ..
I think he was about 4 lbs heavier and I don't think that was only muscle. Ali of the Williams fight had a more pronounced muscle tone, I'd say. So I see no big change there. I think Ali put on a hell of a performance, but Quarry didn't press him. Ali never had the need to tap into the stamina he had lost since the 60's. This was shortly after or before the Chuvalo rematch. Just watch the two Chuvalo fights and look at the difference in punch output from Ali. This despite the fact that the first fight was 3 rds longer and that Ali hadn't had a proper training camp (less than 3 weeks) for it.