How much would Ali weigh if he weight trained the way AJ does in this era?

Probably about the same, I don't think it's the training.

Joshua's training (that I've seen), really doesn't look like how you'd go about putting on muscle mass.

 

Admittedly Ali isn't that much shorter than Joshua. Ali was 190cm (6'3") while Joshua is 197cm (6'5.5"), which makes Joshua 2.5 inches taller. Also, Ali walked around at 240lb, so he had no problem adjusting his diet and roadwork to come in at the appropriate weight for his given oppoent. For opponents that were very mobile and had handspeed Ali would come in under 220, but for larger opponents that he'd need to stand his ground against Ali would come in between 220-230. Therefore, Ali wouldn't need to weight train in order to fit in with this current heavyweight crowd. In the 60's most of Ali's opponents were under 210 lbs, so in order to keep up with lighter and faster opponents Ali had to train down as low as possible.

From 1971-1975 Ali had 20 fights and was in the same as group as Joshua, Whyte, Fury, and Wilder.

Ali's weight against taller and heavier opponents. Ali's Age from 1971-1975 (29-32)

1971
Buster Mathis 227 lbs

1972
Mac Foster 226 lbs

1973
Ken Norton 221 lbs

1975
Chuck Wepner 223 lbs
Ron Lyle 224 lbs
Joe Bugner 224 lbs

Ali's weight against shorter (usually) and lighter opponents. Ali's Age from 1971-1975 (29-32)

1971
Joe Frazier 215 lbs
Jimmy Ellis 220lbs
Jurgen Blin 220lbs

1972
George Chuvalo 217 lbs
Jerry Quarry 216 lbs
Alvin Blue Lewis 217 lbs
Floyd Patterson 218 lbs
Bob Foster 221 lbs

1973
Joe Bugner 217 lbs
Ken Norton 212 lbs
Rudi Lubbers 217 lbs

1974
Joe Frazier 212 lbs
George Foreman 216 lbs

1975
Chuck Wepner 223 lbs
Ron Lyle 224 lbs
Joe Bugner 224 lbs

 

I'm not saying it's bad training, but nothing I see there is the type of training you'd do to put on muscle.

 

Joshua was 245 lbs against Povetkin and was slow. In my opinion Joshua would be better off fighting between 230 lbs to 240lbs. When Joshua goes over 240 lbs his handspeed, timing, and mobility suffer. When Joshua turned pro he ranged between 230-240lbs and threw more combinations and didn't tire as easily.

Also, as I said Ali adjusted his weight based on his opponent. Mathis didn't have blistering handspeed like a Floyd Patterson, head movement like Joe Frazier, or a gas tank like Ernie Terrell. Instead Mathis instead was get in position and use his jab and plenty of times tried to use his weight against Ali similar to how Wlad used his weight against Povetkin and plenty of other smaller and lighter opponents. Ali coming in at 229 lbs made all the difference. Joe Louis, Wilder, and Wlad also adjust their weight to their opponent, but fighters sometimes screw the timing up. Wlad in my opinion came in too heavy against Fury while he came in at the perfect weight against Joshua, but inactivity and age caught up with him. Joshua came in too heavy in his fights against Whyte, Wlad, Takam, and Povetkin, but he also only has 22 fights. As Joshua gets more fights if he wants to stay undefeated he'll also have to get better at adjusting his weight to his opponent.

Joshua at 240 lbs against Konstantin Airich 6'1" 225 lbs

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Muhammad Ali 229 lbs vs. Buster Mathis 6'3" 256 lbs

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Ali looked soft over 215 lbs. With weight training and a careful diet he'd probably be more cut, but probably still around 215-220 lbs. He'd a bit stronger and more explosive is my guess, but don't know if he'd be that much bigger in weight. What 6'3 mobile guys do we have that's been over 220 lbs? Douglas, but he had a naturally wider frame than Ali. Haye and Usyk are about Ali's height and are trained with modern methods and both are probably around 210-215 lbs.

Ali had about a 230 walk around weight, though, even in his 20's. Probably closer to 240 in his 30's. He was a big guy, so maybe around 220 lbs and more cut for a fight with today's nutrition and training methods. I can probably see that.

 

Ali was 227 for the Mathis fight, but that weigh in might have been with Ali in his clothes and shoes. Foreman weighed in for the Norton fight at 224 with pants and boots on. https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/foreman-weighed-in-for-norton-in-street-clothes.595898/ When Foreman came into the Foreman vs. Five Men fight he was 232 (street clothes and shoes?)and Cosell mentioned that he looked out of shape. It was a different time.

Also, for Mathis, the Ali fight was his first fight in almost 3 years but he managed to go the distance. One look at Mathis and it is obvious that he doesn't carry his weight the way Joshua, WK, VK, Lewis, etc. carry/carried their weight.

 

Ali likely never lifted a weight in his life .. he had bigger legs than Joshua .. if Ali trained like him he'd be 225 or so ripped.

 

Ali was 6'2 1/2

 

Weight lifting wouldn’t make him 6’5.

But of course. If he and countless other world class boxers, especially historically when training down was more common, had the goal of making themselves as big as possible without sacrificing their ability to win, they could gain a good amount.

 

You obviously missed the dead lifts and bench pressing.