What would a HW boxer from this era have to do to surpass or be on the same level as Ali?

From a boxing legacy standpoint. Yeah I know Ali transcended the sport and standing up for his people enhanced his legacy greatly.

But boxing legacy wise, what would a HW champion have to do to be mentioned in the same breath as Ali?

Would any of the current HW champions ever have a chance?
E.g. What if Deontay Wilder manages to knock out Anthony Joshua two times, and knock out Tyson Fury two times, Andy Ruiz two times and beat another 20 top 10 HW's, would he be close to Ali?

 

Literally beat everyone in the division (including top contenders) decisively as you said, since there are no ATG opponents at the moment ala Frazier and Foreman.

 

Fight three times a year for about ten years, unifying the belts, beating the number one contender each time. He'd need Wilder, Joshua, Fury, Ruiz, Povetkin, Whyte, Parker, Usyk, Breazeale, Joyce on his record as well as some future stars/champions which haven't come to prominence yet. It looked like Joshua was on his way before getting derailed by Ruiz. He'd beaten two old lions and three young ones.

 

Beat all the top guys in the division and surpass or match Joe Louis' number of title defenses.

 

Fighting each other would be a good start.

 

Not possible - even if an ATG heavy came on the scene there just isn’t anyone good enough to test on

 

Wilder does not fight the best if he did we'd have seen AJ/Whyte/Povetkin/Parker/Chisora by now.
or @ least Miller & Ruiz as thay are from the USA the best Wilder has faced is Fury.

 

I'll use fury as an example because of somewhat similar styles, charisma and a layoff during his prime(even if for different reasons)

Klitschko was his Liston,
wilder 1 was his FOTC.

Fury would need another 2 wins Vs wilder.
Several wins over top contenders like Whyte,usyk to equal Ali's wins over Norton, shavers, young, Lyle.

Fury also needs a big win over a prime ATG while being on the decline himself
Like Ali Vs foreman

 

This was a top 10 ranked guy 1969:

[url]https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/000110[/url]

And this is his equivalent of today:

[url]https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/381739[/url]

I would bet on delboy.

 

@Rumsfeld had a video making a top10 HW ranking for each decade based on their yearly rankings by the ring throghout the decade. I remember Ali having fought each and every last one of the fighters who are ranked in the top10 in both 60s and 70s.

Good luck trumping that.

 

Nothing . Didn't you know no one today is allowed to lose and pick easy fights in between here and there nor have close fights or have to work hard at getting by someone without being labled a bum ?

 

He would at least once a year, fight a consensus top 5 HW contender or belt holder for at least a decade, and lose only a handful of those fights. Ali doesn’t have his resume because he never fought bums, he did. It’s because he fought the the generally agreed upon top fighters in the division with a high level consistency. We don’t have a champion who does this right now, and I’ll doubt we’ll see it anytime soon for 2 main reasons:

1. boxers just don’t fight as frequently as they used to.

2. Fighters who get into the top 10 tend to sit on their status until they get a title shot, so it’s very hard to establish who the top contenders really are. This also mean there are very few fighters who have a resume that would help a potential Ali level fighter build their own.

 

You can't talk about Ali's boxing status without talking about what he did outside of the ring. He became the legend and beat all those guys because he fought for something bigger than an undefeated record.

 

Avoid fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Have a trilogy with a midget cruiserweight. Have a one off win against a so called physical monster who is the same size as himself and then never fight him again. Jab and grab in most fights.

That should do it.

 

Be American