Early 70s Muhammad Ali vs these 80s fighters

Beats them all no problem

 

Ali from early seventy s, Beats em all

 

A fully trained and motivated Muhammad Ali circa 1970 - 75 beats them all -

Smith gets shut out over the distance or stopped on cuts.
Cooney gets rescued by ref late in the fight.
Thomas suffers a similar fate to Cooney,albeit making bout slightly more competitive..
Douglas (of the Tyson fight) and Witherspoon are outpointed.


Tim and Buster put up great battles.

 

No he doesn't. He will have very tough fights. He only has a field day against Cooney.

 

I think a better question would be matching the Muhammad Ali of 1964-1967 against the 1980's opponents. The Ali of the early 1970's was wat too vulnerable. The Ali of his first title reign was not, too much speed, endless stamina, great footwork, and got into his opponents head as he did to Sonny Liston, and Ernie Terrell. When he fought Joe Frazier in their Fight Of The Century, he had two fights in 43 months, not the same fighter. Watching the 1970's Ali was like waiting for the other shoe to drop, too much drama.

 

Hi Richard - The Ali of the early/middle seventies,especially in the window of 1972/74 which was Muhammad's seventies best when in shape,he would have still been too good for all those guys mentioned.

 

Smith is an easy fight for Ali the rest if they show up might present some challenge but Ali would still likely beat them all. Ali went through everyone in the 70's and I think with his skills could've done the same in any era. Witherspoon and Thomas in their primes would be tough fights for anyone but I'd pick Ali of the 70's to prevail over them. Ali was big enough and had the skills that I like him up until the Foreman over any heavyweight in any era.

 

He should beat then all. I wouldn't even favor 80s Holmes over early 70s Ali. But if forced to fight all in a row it might be tough.

 

Witherspoon took away Holmes's jab using a defense similar to that of Norton. It was a main reason he gave Larry Holmes hell. I think Ali would beat Tim though.

 

He did give Larry trouble. I think Ali early 70s still had quicker hands than Holmes. Later on Tim had major problems with Pinky's jab. He couldn't control it. It was a heavy jab but Thomas rode that to the title.